First purchase - go for flat or stretch to a house?

dimbo61

With the recent lockdown I think flats in big cities will be less popular and maybe cheaper.
However we enjoyed our garden and parking on the driveway, garage, 4 bedrooms to store your belongings and have family and friends stay.
My 27 yo son has just moved out of a 1 bed flat into a 2 bed house with private drive and rear garden.
If you can afford the leap to a house Just Do It !

steve866

Moving is time consuming, costly and stressful. If it isn't too much of a stretch, go for a house. The price difference will seem insignificant in a few years.

getmore4less

26yo  good for a 40y mortgage
deposit 15% on £420k say £60k and mortgage £360k   
income say £70k  but need to keep that tax down so  keep working income below 40% tax
say £59k  net £3500pm  and a decent amount going into pensions.

85% LTV 40y mortgage
£360k 2%  £1,100pm
(there are cheaper than 2% but it does not make a big difference to the monthly amount 1.5% is still £1k)
£1kpm to live off 
£1,400 spare a month
no brainer,
biggest house you can get plenty of cashflow to do it up over the first couple of years.

gwynlas

If you are happy with a house in the area shown then definetly go for it. You can have work done to add value once you are living there. Never underestimate ground rent, service charge and possible contribution to sinking fund if you fo for a flat and there is little to be gained by being a landlord of a single property.

NameUnavailable

House - freehold, no management company or service charges to worry about, easier to sell, outside space. Also, you pay for all the work needed, you have to do or get the work done, no guarantee of noisy or bad neighbours, potentially less secure if you are away a lot, you'll be gardening every weekend.

Flat - all the property maintenance is taken care of, maybe more space for your money, private parking, can be more secure. OTOH service charges are uncapped (might be £1200 now but you could get a bill for £30K tomorrow), terms of the lease must be adhered to (check what they are), noise can be an issue especially in conversion flats, you need permission to do any kind of work to your flat apart from basic painting/wallpapering - for which your management company will charge you, and the same if you want to sell.

I sold a flat and vowed never to buy another one. The financial realities are though that I probably have to, but at least I know a bit more about what to look out for to avoid potential problems.

A 'block' with managment in place is preferable to somewhere that is shared maintenance. Getting neigbours to agree to spend money is difficult at the best of times. Go for one with a long lease. Outside walls mean potentially less noise, same with going for ground or top floor.

NameUnavailable

I would add, when you 'buy' a flat you're not buying the flat, you're buying about 30 pages of A4 paper (the lease). This document gives you the legal right to live in the property for the number of years remaining on the lease (subject to adhering to the terms of the lease including payment of any service charges and ground rents).

You can sell the lease on, and if property prices have increased you'll benefit as the value of your lease will also have increased, unless it drops below about 90 years and it will become a bit of an issue for prospective buyers. If it drops below 80 years your freeholder then becomes entitled to a share of the increase in value that the lease will make to the property - marriage value.

blue_max_3

Flats can often be in the centre of town. You can literally be in the heart of it all! I'm no spring chicken, but that really fires me up! Living on a new estate where everyone is competing to have the newest car in the drive, is my idea of purgatory.

hazyjo

Not sure you're comparing like for like though. That part of Chingford around the estates of Friday Hill isn't a patch on North Chingford or most of Highams Park.

Are there other areas you are considering? Do you work in London and what's the station/ area you need to get to?

[Deleted User]

blue_max_3 said:

Living on a new estate where everyone is competing to have the newest car in the drive, is my idea of purgatory.

This is so true. These people always live in new house build estate and most likely have cars on finance. That and a duck lip job.

Grumpy_chap

Stretch to a house.

Not often such a direct and unqualified answer to the question can be given.