2 Bed Flat vs 3 Bed House

redundantmortgage

I'm 41 and live with my wife in a 1 bed flat mortgage free and have £57k in savings. We want to stay in the same area but move to a house.

As a rough guide 1 bed flats cost £300k, 2 bed flats £400k and 3 bed houses £600k.

However our flat is probably worth less because it's pretty run down. We paid £260k for it 6 years ago.

Assuming it's still £260k that means borrowing £283k which seems too much. Even the £200k between the 2 bed flat and 3 bed house seems too much but unfortunately there's no middle ground between the two.

I know we paid £260k for our flat but that was with a chunky deposit and even then I was scared we'd never pay it off.

Is it a good idea to buy a 2 bed flat and pay off that mortgage and then buy a 3 bed house after?

mi-key

Would it be worth looking a little bit outside the same area? you can often get more for your money and only be a short drive away. £600K is a lot for a 3 bed house ! 

SusieT

What price are 2 bed houses, how much more are the management fees for the flats you are looking at than where you are now? If you move twice you will have 2 lots of moving + agents + solicitors fees + stamp duty. 
Best is to look at your flat and see if you can do a few little things to help it look less run down, and get a value from a few agents so that you know what sort of price it would make, and then decide how the numbers add up. 

diystarter7

Hi OP

As I read throught your OP, I was thinking, house all day long

But towards the end, you said what I have always taught our kids and our parents taught us, IE
Do Not Run Before You Can Walk

Get the 2 bed in a loction that is deemed nice and close to stations/transport and possibly parking and nice schools, look after it, pay it off or close to it or when you get paid a lot more then move on to a house

When you are feeling more financially secure and have more saving, move at that time

The apartment, consider if its got lifts etc as service charges more - consider the scenario of someone breaking their leg etc and how to get to the apartment if not on the ground floor and no lift

Or buy a cheaper house, i a nice area, do it up gradually and you will not have service charges etc to pay or worry re the lenght of the lease

Thnaks

MFWannabe

redundantmortgage said:

I'm 41 and live with my wife in a 1 bed flat mortgage free and have £57k in savings. We want to stay in the same area but move to a house.

As a rough guide 1 bed flats cost £300k, 2 bed flats £400k and 3 bed houses £600k.

However our flat is probably worth less because it's pretty run down. We paid £260k for it 6 years ago.

Assuming it's still £260k that means borrowing £283k which seems too much. Even the £200k between the 2 bed flat and 3 bed house seems too much but unfortunately there's no middle ground between the two.

I know we paid £260k for our flat but that was with a chunky deposit and even then I was scared we'd never pay it off.

Is it a good idea to buy a 2 bed flat and pay off that mortgage and then buy a 3 bed house after?

Why a 3 bed house? Would a 2 bed house be enough? How much are 2 beds? 

What about a few miles out of area; are they cheaper? 

JReacher1

You seem to have paid off your flat in 6 years and saved almost £60k so you’re obviously good with money. Depending on your financial income I would be tempted to buy the house. 

jonnydeppiwish!

House all day long. You’ll regret not buying one just for the space. Have you looked slightly further afield? 

movilogo

House price depends on location, size and condition.
You can improve condition easily. You can increate size if you extend but that may not be easy.
Location you can't change.

So choose accordingly. Yes, between house and flats, the house always wins for own living i.e. not as investment.

redundantmortgage

Thank you for the replies so far.

A 2 bed house would be OK but there's not many of them around here. We would rather live in a flat round here than a house in a less desirable area.

The only flats we would consider are one up one down converted flats that are share of freehold like where we are now so no service charge etc.

As a rough guide we could borrow up to £400k but that heavily relies on my income and I was made redundant 3 years ago and it took me a long time to find a new job. I really wouldn't feel comfortable borrowing that much.

TBagpuss

I'd get a couple of agents round to get a better idea of what your flat is worth, and maybe look into whether using some of the savings to address the issues that make it run down would make any significant difference to the value - that way, you will have a clearer idea of the actual numbers.

However, assuming you are correct , it sounds lie you would have around £317,000 (less costs of moving) so you could borrow around £300,000 and buy the house. It's a lot, but you would have a big deposit, so in a worst case scenario if you did have a significant fall in income could downsize.

Personally I would probably look for a house, even if it meant looking a bit further out, rather than a flat, but if you have been happy in the flat and location is the most important factor for you, then go for the 2 bed flat. Or look for a 2 bed house and accept that it may take a bit longer to find the right one.