I can't decide what sort of property to go for.

moneywow1

Hi everyone,

I'm currently living in a detached house which I inherited 50/50 with my brother. I'm currently living here by myself and just paying a bit of rent to him. However, it's a big house (4 bedrooms) and fairly old (late 60s/early 70s) It's cold and heating it costs a fortune. Council tax is fairly high (band E).

It also does a bad job of keeping sound out. I can hear cars going by and people talking outside, neighbours closing their house/car doors, etc. it's also not a great area. I mean I've never really had issues, but I'm not interested in buying out the other half.

I have about £160k in savings, and this house is worth about £300k (so conservatively £300k cash by the time I'm ready to buy).

I have about £1800/mo left (conservatively) over after all outgoing expenses, excluding the bit of rent that I pay to my brother as I'm staying here as that won't be a thing. I live in the north of England.

I've been looking at properties, and mostly new builds as I'm not interested in doing any kind of renovation. As I live alone and don't have kids I'm not really limited to where I can go. I work from home with occasional visits to the office (every few months, but I'd like to stay at least within an hour or so so I can go in more often than that).

My dilemma is the following:

I could buy a detached house in a decent area and put all my cash into it, plus get a mortgage, but then I'd have little in savings. ~400K

This would be overkill since they're usually 2-3 bedrooms and would mostly be empty, but I wouldn't have to worry about neighbours, making noise, etc. and I'd have plenty of space, even if it's unused.

I could buy a semi-detached in a decent area, and keep some cash in savings. ~240K

This would also be a smaller house to heat, clean, etc. but I might get unlucky with neighbours being noisy. on one side.

The third option is to buy an apartment in the city centre. This would be similar in price to the semi-detached, and a little smaller. Same bedrooms but less other rooms. The advantage is it'd be a little smaller, and I'd have the advantage of being in the city centre. Close to shops, close to a train station, etc. I would probably get rid of my car. Also no need to worry about gardening, etc. I also feel like it would be a bit safer.

The biggest problem with this is sound from neighbours, although I've looked online and seen a lot of people say that in newer builds, they're built with better soundproofing. I think being higher up would also eliminate road noise? (I'm looking at tall apartment buildings, not houses converted into flats)

An example of one of the apartments I was looking at

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7913785,-1.5625588,3a,53.2y,360.31h,112.48t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sCcp87OaRw__fo58DeF-hiA!2e0!5s20220701T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-22.481459211531728&panoid=Ccp87OaRw__fo58DeF-hiA&yaw=0.3089688628728595!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTIxMS4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExMjMzSAFQAw==

From the street view pics it looks to have fairly thick concrete floors between levels. Is it a fair assumption to assume a place like this would have good soundproofing?

Sorry, ended up being a lot of information but I'm just looking for someone to point out things I might be overlooking.

I know it might look like the obvious choice to just go for a detached (or at least semi-detached) house, but I have also considered buying another property abroad, as I have the option to work remotely, so I can spend most of the year elsewhere and come back to the UK occasionally. I feel like with this route, an apartment might be the better choice?

Thanks if you made it this far lol

FlorayG

It sounds from your post that noise is a really big issue for you in which case you really need a detached house or a much, much older semi. Semi detached built in the 1930's and 40's have really thick brick walls - I only ever heard my neighbours when they had their regular Christmas Day screaming row (then she left him one Boxing Day and all was quiet ever after) and even then it was just a mumbling in the background. In modern houses you would have heard every word.
I think you need to sort out for yourself just how much a noisy neighbour would bother you, because there's very little you can do about them once they are there

Emmia

moneywow1 said:

Hi everyone,

I'm currently living in a detached house which I inherited 50/50 with my brother. I'm currently living here by myself and just paying a bit of rent to him. However, it's a big house (4 bedrooms) and fairly old (late 60s/early 70s) It's cold and heating it costs a fortune. Council tax is fairly high (band E).

It also does a bad job of keeping sound out. I can hear cars going by and people talking outside, neighbours closing their house/car doors, etc. it's also not a great area. I mean I've never really had issues, but I'm not interested in buying out the other half.

I have about £160k in savings, and this house is worth about £300k (so conservatively £300k cash by the time I'm ready to buy).

I have about £1800/mo left (conservatively) over after all outgoing expenses, excluding the bit of rent that I pay to my brother as I'm staying here as that won't be a thing. I live in the north of England.

I've been looking at properties, and mostly new builds as I'm not interested in doing any kind of renovation. As I live alone and don't have kids I'm not really limited to where I can go. I work from home with occasional visits to the office (every few months, but I'd like to stay at least within an hour or so so I can go in more often than that).

My dilemma is the following:

I could buy a detached house in a decent area and put all my cash into it, plus get a mortgage, but then I'd have little in savings. ~400K

This would be overkill since they're usually 2-3 bedrooms and would mostly be empty, but I wouldn't have to worry about neighbours, making noise, etc. and I'd have plenty of space, even if it's unused.

I could buy a semi-detached in a decent area, and keep some cash in savings. ~240K

This would also be a smaller house to heat, clean, etc. but I might get unlucky with neighbours being noisy. on one side.

The third option is to buy an apartment in the city centre. This would be similar in price to the semi-detached, and a little smaller. Same bedrooms but less other rooms. The advantage is it'd be a little smaller, and I'd have the advantage of being in the city centre. Close to shops, close to a train station, etc. I would probably get rid of my car. Also no need to worry about gardening, etc. I also feel like it would be a bit safer.

The biggest problem with this is sound from neighbours, although I've looked online and seen a lot of people say that in newer builds, they're built with better soundproofing. I think being higher up would also eliminate road noise? (I'm looking at tall apartment buildings, not houses converted into flats)

An example of one of the apartments I was looking at

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7913785,-1.5625588,3a,53.2y,360.31h,112.48t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sCcp87OaRw__fo58DeF-hiA!2e0!5s20220701T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-22.481459211531728&panoid=Ccp87OaRw__fo58DeF-hiA&yaw=0.3089688628728595!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTIxMS4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExMjMzSAFQAw==

From the street view pics it looks to have fairly thick concrete floors between levels. Is it a fair assumption to assume a place like this would have good soundproofing?

Sorry, ended up being a lot of information but I'm just looking for someone to point out things I might be overlooking.

I know it might look like the obvious choice to just go for a detached (or at least semi-detached) house, but I have also considered buying another property abroad, as I have the option to work remotely, so I can spend most of the year elsewhere and come back to the UK occasionally. I feel like with this route, an apartment might be the better choice?

Thanks if you made it this far lol

In your position I'd go for a detached house.

I wouldn't go for an apartment, these have downsides like service charges, cost of building maintenance being shared (and not up to you), things like lifts breaking down (how many floors do you want to be up?) and usually no outside space other than a small balcony.

GDB2222

I’m surprised at the idea that a city centre flat is viewed as safer than a home in suburbia. Yes, the flat itself would be safe, but at some point you would need to go outside. 

gwynlas

Perhaps you could start by visiting a few different syles of properties in your areas of choice. Often a certain type of home will feel right

An older semi might be quite solidly built but comes with  gardens possibly children playing and maintenance issues 

Apartments can be okay depending on neighbours, management arrangements and service charges but ideal for lock up an leave.

Small detached bumgalows can have low maintenance gardens and feel quite cosy.

Otherwise start with a list of must haves, likes etc to help you make up your mind.

our_des

GDB2222 said:

I’m surprised at the idea that a city centre flat is viewed as safer than a home in suburbia. Yes, the flat itself would be safe, but at some point you would need to go outside. 

It's certainly not the safest area, the link is one of the former managed red light district streets.

OP knowing Leeds, opt for a detached house or semi rather than a city centre flat. Areas like Brewery Wharf and Leeds Dock on the edge can still bring a lot of noise or you can have a revolving door of neighbours and never know if you'll have respectful ones or not

Albermarle

Probably you have too many options so will find it difficult to reach a decision. Firstly I would step back and decide whether I wanted a house in the UK, or in another country. That is a much bigger decision than whether you buy a detached/semi/flat in UK. 

RelievedSheff

FlorayG said:

It sounds from your post that noise is a really big issue for you in which case you really need a detached house or a much, much older semi. Semi detached built in the 1930's and 40's have really thick brick walls - I only ever heard my neighbours when they had their regular Christmas Day screaming row (then she left him one Boxing Day and all was quiet ever after) and even then it was just a mumbling in the background. In modern houses you would have heard every word.
I think you need to sort out for yourself just how much a noisy neighbour would bother you, because there's very little you can do about them once they are there

Yet our last property was a 1930's semi and the noise transmission between properties was terrible. You could hear everything from next door.

On the back of that we moved to a detached property. We certainly would not move back to an attached property now.

user1977

RelievedSheff said:

FlorayG said:

It sounds from your post that noise is a really big issue for you in which case you really need a detached house or a much, much older semi. Semi detached built in the 1930's and 40's have really thick brick walls - I only ever heard my neighbours when they had their regular Christmas Day screaming row (then she left him one Boxing Day and all was quiet ever after) and even then it was just a mumbling in the background. In modern houses you would have heard every word.
I think you need to sort out for yourself just how much a noisy neighbour would bother you, because there's very little you can do about them once they are there

Yet our last property was a 1930's semi and the noise transmission between properties was terrible. You could hear everything from next door.

Yes, I've lived in two 1920s-ish semis and an 1880s townhouse, and all have had pretty poor soundproofing on the party walls - but another Victorian townhouse where I never heard anything from next door.

Herzlos

What would you want to do in your free time? Would you take advantage of the flat to walk into the city centre for the shopping, restaurants, etc, or would you be more likely to stay in and enjoy the peace and quiet?

A top floor flat will be pretty quiet, since most of the noise in flats seems to come from people walking on the 'ceilling', though it also usually means a lot of stairs.

If you want quiet it would also be worth looking at 1 or 2 bedroom bungalows, though they'll cost disproportionately more due to desirability.

Bigphil1474

If you want peace and quiet don't buy an apartment. That would be like playing Russian roulette with 5 bullets in the gun. That part of Leeds is also terrible. 

I would always look to get either a detached house or a detached bungalow. Whilst bungalows are a bit more expensive, they do have advantages. There were also loads around when we were looking earlier this year - not outrageously more expensive either.

I've always lived the east side of Leeds, and I'd generally recommend areas like Roundhay, Temple Newsam, Whitkirk, Colton, Garforth - you can get a nice 2/3 bed detached for around £300k no problem. Garforth has good train and bus links and is well situated for A1 and M1 if you drive. Decent small town.