First time buyer house or flat

Maisie78

Hi everyone. Soon I will be eligible to buy my first home. I am very limited with my budget as I am a buying on my own and earn £24k a year and so can only afford a mortgage of around £130k with my deposit. I need to live not too far from work and the options are either a small house in unfamiliar/ not too nice area and around 40 minutes from work. Or a nice 2 bed flat around 20 mins from work and 20 mins to the rest of my family in a nice area. The difficulty is people keep telling me not to buy a flat because they are difficult to sell and you have to pay ground rent and service charges. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

diggingdude

it all depends on whether you want to live in a house or a flat and what you are prepared to compromise on

AFF8879

Do you expect 1) your income to rise materially over the next 10-15 years, 2) to meet/settle down with a potential partner who could add a second income to the equation? If the answer to both of these is no/unlikely, I would definitely be buying the flat. I don’t think any house is worth living in a shady area.

Flats are not inherently “difficult to sell”, they probably get a bad reputation from some new builds which contain onerous ground rent clauses. On a normal flat, you’d likely be no better or worse off than a house - you will pay a monthly service charge with a flat but this generally covers all maintenance and repairs, with a house you may pay nothing for several years and then face a 10k roof repair bill or other similar major expense.

Maisie78

Thanks for that. The answer would be yes to your 2 questions. I definitely value area first. I just want to consider long term consequences and therefore need to get it right first time. It’s taken a very long time to get my deposit so I wouldn’t want to waste money. And good point about maintenance comparison. Never thought of it like that

RelievedSheff

It all comes down to which you prefer.

No one on here can make your mind up for you.

We moved to a two bedroom house in a not so nice area for our first home. We stayed for 12 years and have only recently moved but it was never an area we liked. We couldn't imagine staying there longer term.

On the plus side it got us on the ladder, provided cheap housing and enabled us to buy our current home which we expect will now be the forever home unless something drastically changes in the future.

I would look at how easily property sells in both areas you are considering. The not so nice area we were in was popular with first time buyers so sold really quickly when it was put on the market.

nyc_451

Start viewing available houses and flats, then compare things like the cost, location, layout, maintenance fees, leasehold etc. You can post some links here for a second opinion.

I was in a similar position and chose a small 2 bed flat in an area that suits my needs very well. I see a lot of cheap beatiful houses being sold in the not so pleasant areas of my town; no thank you. Location is very important.

Originally I wanted a house due to everyone being so negative towards flats, however, I think I made the right choice in my circumstances. But everyone is different, you need to consider factors that are important to you.

Cakeguts

Some people really prefer flats. The service charge covers all repairs to the building. You don't have to go and sort the garden out every fine weekend you can just go out and enjoy yourself.



20mins to work from the flat will mean 20 mins more time for yourself rather than 40 mins commute from the house. With a flat you will know what all your outgoings are going to be. In a house you would have to budget very carefully incase something major broke.



I think a flat for a first purchase by someone on a tight budget would be far more sensible than a house in a rough area.

bouicca21

20 minutes rather than 40 would probably swing it for me, depending on how easy the journey was. But I would also be considering space - which would be bigger, have nicer rooms, have access to a garden, etc. Personally I would steer clear of a one bed flat, as when the market is slow, they are the slowest to sell.

Flats aren’t inherently more difficult to sell, but you need to read the lease early on to see if there are clauses you would find dodgy - high ground rent, no pets, short lease, inadequate maintenance arrangements, etc.

davidmcn

Maisie78 wrote: »

Hi everyone. Soon I will be eligible to buy my first home. I am very limited with my budget as I am a buying on my own and earn £24k a year and so can only afford a mortgage of around £130k with my deposit. I need to live not too far from work and the options are either a small house in unfamiliar/ not too nice area and around 40 minutes from work. Or a nice 2 bed flat around 20 mins from work and 20 mins to the rest of my family in a nice area. The difficulty is people keep telling me not to buy a flat because they are difficult to sell and you have to pay ground rent and service charges.

Much of this will come down to the local market(s) for properties - not sure we can generalise too much. But I've never heard of "flats being difficult to sell" in general. Whereas properties (of any sort) in "not too nice" areas are more difficult to sell. I would go for the preferred area anyway.

And bear in mind that houses can come with ground rent and service charges too.

Zero_Sum

Outside of London, flats can be difficult to sell. Also theres sometimes maintanence charges to pay on top of mortgage. Theres noisy neighbours not just from next door, but also up above & now below. flats usually have a lot of renters who generally dont look after their home as much as a owner.

Personally i wouldnt buy a flat.

VincentVincent

Cakeguts wrote: »

Some people really prefer flats. The service charge covers all repairs to the building. You don't have to go and sort the garden out every fine weekend you can just go out and enjoy yourself.



20mins to work from the flat will mean 20 mins more time for yourself rather than 40 mins commute from the house. With a flat you will know what all your outgoings are going to be. In a house you would have to budget very carefully incase something major broke.



I think a flat for a first purchase by someone on a tight budget would be far more sensible than a house in a rough area.

"All repairs"? No, small, general inexpensive repairs. Major repairs often require additional costs of anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of pounds per flat owner. Maybe even into six figures if you live in a council run block.