Suggestions for buying 3 Bed House under £ 525,000

hazyjo

chami1982 wrote: »

Your response struck quite well with few reservations I have... Why dont I wait another 3-6 months before buying and may be move to my preferred area to get the feel before buying..
Other thing my friends are suggesting is get on a property ladder as soon as possible.. Lets say even if I have to resale a property within 1-2 years, then I would have saved rent for that duration which can compensate the stamp duty... Also sooner I get on property ladded , the more mortgage options will open up for me...and at lower mortgage interest rate as well..

1. It costs thousands to buy a house (stamp duty, solicitors, survey, mortgage, etc - not to mention all the 'little things' that soon add up). That would have to be done twice don't forget if you buy again. It's costing me nigh on £20k to move at the mo.
2. Prices sometimes go down, not up. No guarantee you'll sell for more than you paid.
3. Don't forget mortgage interest. A lot of what you pay off over those 1-2 years will be interest, not just paying off what the house cost/making any profit.


Do the sums - add it all together and divide by say 24 (months). Then work out what your rent would cost (roughly). Compare the two. You can't predict if you'll make anything in that time on what you buy.


'Saving rent' is not as basic as some seem to think.

NineDeuce

London is overrated. What you could get for £525k if you went further out....

zagubov

chami1982 wrote: »

Yes, I think thats a good approach. .One of my friend also did that... Also, I think the prices are not going to drastically increase in next 6 months..

But since I am FTB and new to UK, dont want to change address which may have an impact on my credit history and lead to issues in getting mortgage.. 4-5 months, I was not able to get mortgage upto 475K with 90% LTV since my name was not on electoral, had only £1000 credit ... since they I have added to electoral, increase credit limit to £5K.... so dont want to jeopardise this.... considering I wish to get on property ladder, I may have to find best possible property without relocating now

The smartest plan for now sounds continuing to rent whatever you're living in now while making a project of exploring areas to buy.

I'd be wary of buying unless you're happy to live in the property for at the very least the next three years. Moving and house-buying are stressful events (especially in the London markets.

I'd also be wary of buying too far outside the M25 as commuting into London's both stressful, time-consuming and expensive.

Running_Horse

Wasn't there a sub forum created especially for the house price crash obsessives?

hazyjo

zagubov wrote: »

I'd also be wary of buying too far outside the M25 as commuting into London's both stressful, time-consuming and expensive.

Expensive, yes (most lines) - but the other points aren't always the case. I would much rather travel 25-45 minutes on a train with a handful of fast stops into a mainline station than have to travel half the time on a tube! Especially in summer! I can't think of a more unpleasant way of commuting (in London).


Know this one's ruled out, but when I'm in Leigh-on-Sea, my commute will be 5 or 6 stops, on a train with aircon and free wifi. Give me that any day over the occasional Central Line train I get home now after a night out or if my trains are down.


I also don't particularly mind my 30 mins on a train to/from Chingford every day. Haven't had to commute daily by tube since 1991 - every house move since has been a conscious effort to avoid tube journeys!

justme111

chami1982 wrote: »

Your response struck quite well with few reservations I have... Why dont I wait another 3-6 months before buying and may be move to my preferred area to get the feel before buying..
Other thing my friends are suggesting is get on a property ladder as soon as possible.. Lets say even if I have to resale a property within 1-2 years, then I would have saved rent for that duration which can compensate the stamp duty... Also sooner I get on property ladded , the more mortgage options will open up for me...and at lower mortgage interest rate as well..

Who told you that "the sooner you get on a property ladder the more mortgage options you will have "? In any case it would be relevant only if you tried to get a mortgage while having one and a half providers who could offer it to you. In my time I calculated that each year of renting was costing me £2000. If I was to live somewhere for less than 2 years it would be cheaper for me to continue renting.
3-6 months. I would say you have unrealistic expectations of timescales involved. What would be you mortgage rate ? Does deposit money earn anything now - what is the interest rate on the accounts it is in or is it invested? Do you realise you will have to pay to estate agent as well as stump duty when you sell the house let alone mortgage arrangement fees, surveys, removals , disbursements etc? Do you realise that if you dont like it or have to move out it may take you ages yo sell - have you checked an average time the house takes to sell ( properly, until you move out rather than just receive an offer and agree the price)? What are the chances of you , novice in london property losing money if you have to sell quick?
To which extent it is for show off to your relatives and friends?
By all means chose a few areas and go for viewing , it may take months and years to find what you like and it will familiarise you with the areas and house buying process here.

Crashy_Time

Running_Horse wrote: »

Wasn't there a sub forum created especially for the house price crash obsessives?

I think it is mainly used by HPI enthusiasts?

chami1982

Folks,
I have shortlisted 2 properties which are meeting most of my criterias.
1. KT4 - Worcester park 3 bed house for 495K
2. TW11 - Hampton wick 2 bed flat for 525K.
Hampton offcourse has its advantages of being close to kingston but both are good properties, close to good/outstanding schools and within 60 min commute to bank station.

If you had to purchase, which one will you prefer and why? Do you think Hampton Wick flat will have better resale value? And worth paying extra service charge Vs freehold.

Crashy_Time

chami1982 wrote: »

Folks,
I have shortlisted 2 properties which are meeting most of my criterias.
1. KT4 - Worcester park 3 bed house for 495K
2. TW11 - Hampton wick 2 bed flat for 525K.
Hampton offcourse has its advantages of being close to kingston but both are good properties, close to good/outstanding schools and within 60 min commute to bank station.

If you had to purchase, which one will you prefer and why? Do you think Hampton Wick flat will have better resale value? And worth paying extra service charge Vs freehold.

We would need links to decide I think.

SuboJvR

chami1982 wrote: »

Folks,
I have shortlisted 2 properties which are meeting most of my criterias.
1. KT4 - Worcester park 3 bed house for 495K
2. TW11 - Hampton wick 2 bed flat for 525K.
Hampton offcourse has its advantages of being close to kingston but both are good properties, close to good/outstanding schools and within 60 min commute to bank station.

If you had to purchase, which one will you prefer and why? Do you think Hampton Wick flat will have better resale value? And worth paying extra service charge Vs freehold.

Surely a house has more advantages when you have kids, having a garden one assumes and scope for pets if that's something they nag you for later! Personally I wouldn't want to buy a flat, having lived in them. Worries about upstairs/downstairs neighbour noise (thus preventing or severely limiting the use of indoor bicycle on turbo trainer if one cares about their neighbours), the hassle of carrying things up to your front door... it's so much nicer to be able to carry shopping straight into the house. I probably had a less than optimal experience though, since I had to park on a road some 100m away from the stairwell to my flat, which was then 4 floors up, with no lift.

You need to decide whether you care more about how much your property may sell for in the future, or whether it's the right home for your family now.

Worcester Park is a nice area. The commute to Waterloo is straightforward, and generally even when there are problems there are alternate ways around (e.g. go to Malden Manor, New Malden, and get a bus). Worcester Park also gets slightly increased frequency of train services during peak hours as I believe there's still a few trains with reduced stops, and Worcester Park is always a stop. Worcester Park is a marginally quicker train journey.

Worcester Park sits between Kingston and Sutton on a very frequent bus route (213), so both are close without being too close. There's excellent access to the primary and secondary schools in both directions, including grammar schools (Tiffin in Kingston, Nonsuch in Cheam, Sutton Grammar in Sutton, etc etc). Plenty of green space in the area. Being nearer the A3 will be helpful for travel in the car either into or out of London, Hampton Wick is obviously closer to Heathrow for your family visiting but the journey including the A3 is fine. You're talking about maybe 45 mins-1hr versus 30mins-45mins outside peak traffic.

Probably all sounds a bit one-sided, but yep I'd definitely go for the house in WP. I really doubt property values in the area will drop unless we are affected by a massive crash which would affect all areas, it's prime commuter belt.