best option? 2 or 3 bed

Running_Horse

Unless the area is a complete pigsty and if it appeals to families, I would stretch for the 3 bed as this will always sell well. Probably not a great comparison, but sold my 3 bed house the day it came on the market, while the 2 beds are still unsold. And kids will always appreciate their own space.

Poppy9

If you buy share ownership with HA what will be your total outgoings per month on mortgage & rent compared to if you buy independently and your only outgoing is a mortgage? Will you be better off spending less on a house (I know not easy) and getting a 2 bed which will be 100% yours than a 3 bed that the HA own a percentage of?

There are some mortgage advisors on the board who maybe able to give you good advice about your options based on your lump sum and earnings.

If you do go for a 2 bed, look for one with an extra room downstairs i.e. dining room (or even dining area). This will give the girls a bit of extra space for studying or entertaining if they are sharing a bedroom.

I am one of 4 children brought up in a 3 bed house so I shared a room with my 2 sisters and my brother had his own. When my brother and eldest sister had left home, me and my other sister continued to share a room and used brothers bedroom as our entertaining/studying space. We had a rota and we used to sell our slots to one another:D

robwend

thx poppy. i wont have a mortgage when i go with the housing association, its a cash buy, and there puttin in the other half. so my rent will be minimal, i could no way mortgage on my own as my wages dont pay enough, this is why ive gone down this road. divorce is a damm tricky thing

hearts

If you have the choice then 3 bed. Kids ( if they are anything like mine) are fickle. Friends today enemies tomorrow. As they get older they really will need/prefer their own space. And they could be with you till they're 40! ;-)
Ex council does not necessarily mean a bad estate, at least not where I am. Obvioulsy a good look around before buying at all times of day and night are recommended.
Good luck ;-)

robwend

thx hearts, i know this area like the back of my hand and of course ex council dosnt mean bad area, just round here it does lol , if you ever needa police car ive only got to drive to the estate down the road and grab one lol

Doozergirl

Just get out there and look at as many places as you can. You may just find that 4 bed in not such a bad area, maybe verging on a nice bit of town. If you can hang around at all times, visit the pub etc, you might get an idea that it's not that bad.

Don't limit your options straight away.

Village properties are generally more expensive than town. Maybe look at town a bit more closely?

(I can't believe we're doing this with you again so soon Nice to have you back though )

robwend

Doozergirl wrote: »

Just get out there and look at as many places as you can. You may just find that 4 bed in not such a bad area, maybe verging on a nice bit of town. If you can hang around at all times, visit the pub etc, you might get an idea that it's not that bad.

Don't limit your options straight away.

Village properties are generally more expensive than town. Maybe look at town a bit more closely?

(I can't believe we're doing this with you again so soon Nice to have you back though )

tell me about it doozer lol we only moved 18months ago lol, but then i wasnt aware i was going to get divorced, but hey ho theres life for ya lol;)

Poppy9

robwend wrote: »

thx poppy. i wont have a mortgage when i go with the housing association, its a cash buy, and there puttin in the other half. so my rent will be minimal, i could no way mortgage on my own as my wages dont pay enough, this is why ive gone down this road. divorce is a damm tricky thing

If you have a sizeable deposit then a mortgage is a real option and would be my favoured option in the long term. I know many divorced friend working p/time together with tax credits are taking home more than they would full time. Finally your youngest child is 10 so in a couple of years you would be able to look for better paid work.

robwend

thx poppy. id still need a 80 /90 grand mortgage, and my eldest leaves school in 2 years so tax credits go down dramaticly hunny, its great if you can forsee better jobs ect but i have to think realisticly, and obviously a mortgage on my own would be great, but i could not afford the repayments, and the risk of loosing my home is way to much a risk with 2 kids to bring up x

Poppy9

If you go for the shared purchase a couple of questions:

1. what happens if prices go down? Say you bought a house for £180k and you put 50:50 towards it and then the house value drops to £120k. If you had to sell would you still get your 50% share back i.e. now 60k or does HA take first 90k (i.e. what they put in).

2. who pays for upkeep, maintenance, building insurance etc. If it's you do you get an extra %age share to reflect these costs?

Just being nosey because about 14 years ago I sold my house to a HA. They had a large grant and were looking for houses to buy that were suitable for shared ownership. My cousin was working for HA at the time and knew we were looking to sell so told me to write in with my house details. A few days later a suveryor came out to look at the house, asked us what we realistically wanted for the house and a few weeks later the house was theirs. They then sold part of it as shared ownership. A year later a serious damp problem arose with the house which was only partly covered under the 25 year damp proof guarantee we had passed on when we sold. I know from a neighbour that the new owners/tennants had a protracted dispute with the HA over the bill.