deadlocked.....

edwink

I personally would go for the flat. Although the house is 2 beds lots of your couples with a family would probably want more than 2 beds anyway. I would say that the flat would be the easiest to sell if you wanted to do this later. I lived in a flat for 7 years and have lived in houses and I have to say that the flat was the easiest to sell out of all of them.

Hope that is some help.

TBagpuss

Given the descriptions, I'd go for the flat. The think house better than flat is mostly true where the properties are broadly simialr, so if ou were looking at a 2 bed falt and 2 bed house, with similar amounts of spaces, I'd say take the house, but it sounds as though you are getting way more home for your money with the flat.

And while it may not appeal to a family with young children when you come to sell, it sounds as though it could be very attractive to a couple who have hobbies which need space, who work from home, a family with older children / teens or even to younger adults considering buying somwehre and renting out a room or two.

Te 3rd opti0on of course is to decide that neither of them meets your needs, and look for a new property altogether

Kynthia

How long is the lease on the flat? What are the typical service charges and can you afford them? As the flat is non-standard, how long have previous flats on the building been on the market or do they sell reasonably quickly.

As you only intend to stay there for 5ish years then the ability to sell the flat in the future is important.

squeeks

My main concern for the flat would be maintenance costs given the age of the building.

I don't think I would deliberately choose a 45 minute commute so the house would be our for me.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

The things that are offputting about flats are in no particular order; lease length, service charges, efficiency of management company, proximity of neighbours, garden, parking.

It sounds as though it's a spacious, characterful property with good outdoor space, so your only concern should be the small print of the shared freehold and associated charges. I would have thought agreeing maintenance with 3 neighbours would be easier than through a managing company in a massive block.

Tygermoth

Hi All,

Both my, and the dogs health are fine. Thank you for asking

The hound is diddy so can be lifted up and down stairs with ease. The dog is mid-sixties in dog years. We are both later thirties and early forties. He goes to daycare with his mates three days a week so should be out of the flat a large chunk of the time and we are home for the rest.

If the flat suits we could be there longer, in fact stay as long as we wish to. The OH has 5 years in mind as that’s when he thinks we will get some equity and be able to move up from a 2. My argument is if we have a four we won’t need to… and even if we get some equity all the rest of the houses will have gone up in price too!

His final comment is – you always get ‘one’ when you live in flats. When we were a lot younger we lived in three sets of flats and there was always ‘one’ I tried to explain that living in a council high rise is likely to be very different from four privately owned flats with no shared entrances.

Tygermoth

I am not aware of the charges yet. The agent is due to call me back. so as I know I will update.

Person_one

Tygermoth wrote: »

I like the edwardian flat.

Well, I'd never have guessed from the way you described the two options! :rotfl::rotfl:

I'd keep looking, neither sound like they're quite right for you both.

Tygermoth

Hi person one,


these are our main options everything else is way out of our price range and go to sold almost immediately.


We have a large search area (across most of the county) but as we are near London, FTB with a small deposit and on the low end of the budget - 2 beds in one of the big estates - three beds in less than salubrious areas or unusual houses are our options.


I am getting twitchy as prices are going up directly in line with our savings so we are starting to lose ground. When I first started looking 2 beds were £240K, so we saved more to get a better deal... then the 2 beds were £250K and now they are between £260/280K


Even the flat I am looking at was bought in 2013 for £190K and being sold for £260K! and its one of the cheapest in the area.

makeitstop

Tygermoth wrote: »

Hi,

The flat is freehold - no pet restrictions.

The gardens are not shared - the original manor grounds are separated in to four and each flat has their own.

Investment or to live - i think thats where the problem lies. I am thinking about living day to day where the OH is thinking about getting on the ladder and not ending up with a lemon.

a very expensive lemon.

Doesn't sound like a lemon at all OP, and your own sentiments appear to bear that out.

When it comes time to sell, other prospective buyers "may" be in a similar position to you, and no doubt, will be as likely to come to equally similar decisions.

For what I have read so far, it's the flat all day every day.