Help - really struggling to decide what to do with my property

economic

an update on this: so I have an offer which was a bit below I wanted so I have given my minimum I would accept and will hear soon if they will offer it. if I get an offer then I need to make some serious decisions.

Im pretty set on selling. just want to know your thoughts on whether it is a good idea to, I will look to buy either at same time or after in a location I would want to stay for the long term.

my area isn't exactly well to do its more "up and coming". I am looking at more "established" well to do areas to live in which is obviously a bit more expensive, what would you do in this situation? stay in the "up and coming area" with the hope it will improve (I think it will be very slow) or move to an established nice area? after all isn't property all about location?

Pincher

Don't you like Mapesbury Conservation Area? Very close to Kilburn.


St. Johns Wood, but service charge is ridiculous on flats.
I assume you cannot afford to buy a house there.


For commuting into the city, banking work, Hendon has both rail (Thameslink) AND the Northern line.

bowlhead99

economic wrote: »

Im pretty set on selling. just want to know your thoughts on whether it is a good idea to

As you've been told before - prices may go up or down. In the long long term, generally up. This will apply to your current place and most other pleasant London places you might buy.

Whether you should stay in your current living arrangement, or get a new shared or single living arrangement, and whether you should keep the existing flat or a new flat as an investment property alongside the property you live in depends on what you want!

my area isn't exactly well to do its more "up and coming". I am looking at more "established" well to do areas to live in which is obviously a bit more expensive, what would you do in this situation? stay in the "up and coming area" with the hope it will improve (I think it will be very slow) or move to an established nice area? after all isn't property all about location?

Yes property is about location. People will pay a lot to live in a nice location. People will also pay well to live in an area which is currently up and coming and will eventually be a nice location with a potentially lower price now and a higher capital gain over time. It has always been that way.

But if you think the up-and-coming area will appreciate in value slightly faster, you need to make a decision between purely financial (hold cheap property, have to live in naff area, get gain over time) and quality of life (hold better property, don't have to live in naff area, get gain over time). The hard-nosed financial route can improve overall quality of life in later years as the extra potential wealth generation can allow you to take a more satisfying lower paid job.

But as you say, this could take a long time and over the short and medium term you have to live in an area in which you perhaps don't want to be, which is a negative for quality of life and day-to-day happiness.

And there are no guarantees that the up and coming area that you stay in will definitely up and come, or that the quality area you move to will not degrade when all the up and coming areas overtake it for new services and environment fueled by new money.

Bottom line, as you say, property is all about location. As you haven't told us whether on balance you would prefer to live in location X with £x in your pocket or location Y with £y in your pocket, we can't possibly tell you whether you would be better to live in location X or location Y.

What does your heart tell you? What does your head tell you? Decide where you want the balancing point to be.

I've read the thread from the beginning. You are making a big lifestyle planning decision which you are better placed to answer than we are. In fact after setting out all the options in the first post you were pretty clear on which option you'd immediately reject... and you will have received some answers which you prefer to others... so you are well on the way to resolving everything.

I'm surprised that not once in this have you mentioned the thoughts of your brother the co-owner and co-resident. Are the two of you just content to put your flat on the market and then if the offer comes in, accept it if we tell you to, and then just work out what to do next based on what we tell you to? We are anonymous strangers on the internet who have absolutely nothing invested in your lives.

You have already put up with living in a shared space with family for the last 9 years of your life rather than branching off independently and having your own space and forging your own identity and lifestyle. So now your 20s are gone. But you have cash in the bank. You can continue in the same manner, living in a shared space in an 'up and comer' of an area, putting financial gain above day to day personal happiness or personal development, for another decade. Then you will have even more in the bank.

Then your 30s will be gone. At that point, you might like to settle down for a couple of decades in a less demanding more enjoyable job to live out your 40s and 50s as you cruise to retirement. Depending on how that goes, you might find yourself in ChuckNorris's position above, with a surplus of cash and investments and needing to find a way of spending it in your 60s. Is that your game plan?

If you are happy with being frugal and shared living, there is no reason why you couldn't drop down to a £50k a year job right now instead of a £100k a year job. £50k a year with your frugal lifestyle will get you through life in London especially if you already have £300k cash in the bank, you will just not be accumulating as many tens of thousands of saving a year. If the purpose of accumulating the tens of thousands of savings is just so you can get a more satisfying job, then why not just do that right now?

If it means you have a more satisfying 50 hours a week in the office for 50 weeks of every year, but can't leverage as much salary to upgrade to a home in a more established nice area, it is a trade off. Those 25000 hours of bliss per decade will surely compensate for having to stay put in your 'up and coming' area.

But do go and speak to your brother. I would not want to be responsible for him not taking a £550,000 offer on the flat giving him £200k for his 35% to go and do something useful with his life, because "my big bruv asked the internet and the internet said we should stay where we are". It would be ridiculous.

economic

many thanks for your reply - interesting views and I really do appreciate your thoughts.

I have spoken to my brother and he doesn't mind either way. eventually I will buy him out when he is ready to buy his own place.

I have decided I will sell and move on - the price range for my desired location is similar to my offer. taking a long term into account this makes sense. It has been quite difficult to sell my flat as well so It would be silly to not take this good offer and run whist I can!

economic

just an update on this. I have found a nice flat in the Highgate area which the seller has accepted my offer on. very excited about the move, I hope it all goes smoothly.

ill be owning 100% of the flat.

this looks like such a good move with the only negative is moving out a zone and downsizing slightly (although layout is very good with little wasted space). the pros I see are:
- much nicer area
- closer to station
- communal garden
- share of freehold
- not having to extend my current lease of <90 years

I think I can see myself living in the new place for a very very long time so I really hope it goes to plan and completes as expected.

I'm thinking at these low rates I should borrow around 60% ltv fixed for as long as possible. this means ill have around £340k of debt and have released about 46k of equity from the sale/purchase. my mortgage payments would be around 1.5k a month of which my brother will pay half of. and I can finally move out of my job into something I want to do whilst taking a paycut.

anyone see any pitfalls in this?