If I can't afford a house, what's the next best type of property

missbiggles1

Brown_Eyed_Girl wrote: »

The maintenance costs for a leasehold can be anything from a few hundred to a few thousand (the latter is rarer). If your freehold or share of freehold you'll still have maintance as house always need stuff done to them.

I assume you mean pa?

Lemonsqueezer78

Brown_Eyed_Girl wrote: »

The maintenance costs for a leasehold can be anything from a few hundred to a few thousand (the latter is rarer). If your freehold or share of freehold you'll still have maintance as house always need stuff done to them.

Technically, charges can range from nothing. I'm in a leasehold flat and pay no service charges, maintenance fees or ground rent (although I do have to fork out a peppercorn if requested).

But yes, I do still have to set aside money for any maintenance costs.

Brown_Eyed_Girl

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I assume you mean pa?

Yes. unless it's some swanky place in Knightsbridge in which case it'd be the latter monthly

Marvel1

csgohan4 wrote: »

Don't forget to factor in fees for insurance, maintenance, council tax, utilities e.t.c.


Can you afford to have more than 1k deducted and live?

After deducting the mortgage of £1000, they have about £1700 left over, that is more than my monthly pay, my mortgage I pay standard is £255 (I top it to £400). I cope just fine.

OP:
I can assure you £300 for food shopping will not be near that, maybe at most £200 and even then you cut that down.

Also with the mortgage repayments, have you tried it with different interest %'s, meaning going higher?

kinger101

Bear in mind, moving from the property you don't like to one you do like will cost money. Selling and buying is expensive.

Other things to consider are;

(a) your bank will want to know if you can make repayments a 7%
(b) as an interim measure, you could get a lodger. From April 2016, you can get £7,500 tax free for renting rooms in your house.
(c) 37% or your take home salary might sound a lot to spend on a mortgage, but £1,700 a month should really be enough to cover bills AND have still have plenty of discretionary spending.

I'd do a bit more research on areas, and go for the 2 bed semi if you can.