Buy a stop gap property or a 2 bed in a nice area?

YoungGentry

I find myself in a conundrum, I split from my partner last year, and have moved back into my 1 bed flat.  I would like a bigger place, after being there for 8 years, emotionally, I no longer want to live there.  I put my flat onto the market, with the expectation that I will sell during the year at some point.

Currently deliberating between getting a stop gap property, or getting a 2 bed flat in my shortlist areas.

My thoughts are that a stop gap property, would allow me to move without spending too much on a flat like 350k, where as a 2 bed in my shortlist areas range from 475 to 650k. 600k would be stretching what I could do by myself and push my financial limit.  Other things playing on my mind is if I meet someone I don't want to pay high stamp duty just to move again 2-3 years later. 

Thoughts?

Other key facts: Current Property(45sqm) is a 1 bed flat in a housing development with 9 years left on the mortgage. I am a early mid thirties man.

 

gwynlas

I would always advocate going for a house rather than a leasehold flat but understand you wanting to move forward. You need to decide whether it is worth the costs of moving rather than waiting service charges etc.

lika_86

It seems a bit pointless to me to swap your current one bed for another one bed that's no bigger just because you emotionally no longer want to live there, you could probably rip out everything in it and re-decorate the whole place (making it seem like a whole new flat) for less money than it would cost to move. 

prettyandfluffy

I would go for property in your shortlist area, no point in wasting money on solicitors, surveys, stamp duty etc to buy a stopgap place if you're able to afford to skip that step.

Olinda99

I would go for the 2 bed

annetheman

The advice I've heard with buying your home is always to get from A to Z with as few stops in the alphabet in between as possible, A being your first purchase, and Z being the "forever home".

Go with the 2 beds, avoid leasehold nonsense - there is absolutely no reason to endure it if you can avoid it.

RelievedSheff

Can only echo what the others have said. Go for the two bed.

YoungGentry

gwynlas said:

I would always advocate going for a house rather than a leasehold flat but understand you wanting to move forward. You need to decide whether it is worth the costs of moving rather than waiting service charges etc.

Sadly i cant buy a house in the areas i want. They cost around around 800k.

Houses where i live now is 450k, but the area has gone downhill with public drug exchanges near the main station.

YoungGentry

lika_86 said:

It seems a bit pointless to me to swap your current one bed for another one bed that's no bigger just because you emotionally no longer want to live there, you could probably rip out everything in it and re-decorate the whole place (making it seem like a whole new flat) for less money than it would cost to move. 

A stop gap property would be bigger.  I found one for 225k, with an extra 10 sqm, a proper garden, and 2.5k less service charge.

The SC on my property is £4k. This building 85% social housing, with the damages and criminality that comes long with that percentage (majority are lovely, it is an unfortunate handful)

There are a alot of negatives to where i live, once i am in my flat great, everything else is dreadful

YoungGentry

annetheman said:

The advice I've heard with buying your home is always to get from A to Z with as few stops in the alphabet in between as possible, A being your first purchase, and Z being the "forever home".

Go with the 2 beds, avoid leasehold nonsense - there is absolutely no reason to endure it if you can avoid it.

My SC is 4k, with nunerous issues, and our HA treats us like a wallet, i am done with Leasehold, it is share of freehold/freehold or nothing at all.

That is excellent advice re A to Z.

Tiglet2

YoungGentry said:

annetheman said:

The advice I've heard with buying your home is always to get from A to Z with as few stops in the alphabet in between as possible, A being your first purchase, and Z being the "forever home".

Go with the 2 beds, avoid leasehold nonsense - there is absolutely no reason to endure it if you can avoid it.

My SC is 4k, with nunerous issues, and our HA treats us like a wallet, i am done with Leasehold, it is share of freehold/freehold or nothing at all.

That is excellent advice re A to Z.

Share of freehold is still leasehold.  You buy the leasehold to a property the same way you have with your current property, but in addition, you might also own a part share in the freehold or one share in the management company that manages the block.