Purchasing a flat in West Bridgeford, Nottingham

AMO

Hi all,

My sis is considering buying a flat off her friend's (housemate) boyfriend.

The nice thing about this is that it can be a private sale and that the flat is nicely decorated.

The asking price is around £97K (although I don't know the specifics of the flat).

My concerns are:
1) The lease has 67 years left.
2) People appear to be deserting flats and looking to buy houses to have children at the moment.

What I want to ask is:
a) Should I tell my sis to get a valuation on the property anyway. I think that she's reluctant to do so as its a friend's boyfriend's place, but I would prefer she got this done for reassurance of the flat's value.
b) Are there problems with a flat that has only 67 years left on the leasehold. Should the property go down in value. The argument at the moment is that the housemate's boyfriend said that he bought it for £100K a year ago and so is losing money on it when selling it on.

Is there anything else I should consider?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

AMO

Richard_Webster

The lease has 67 years left.

Some lenders such as Bristol & West won't lend on it, but even if others will, as the lease gets shorter it become more and more difficult to sell without paying for a lease extension, which at a very rough guess would cost something of the order of £4,000-£7,000 at today's values. As the lease gets shorter the figure relative to the market value of the flat will go up, so you d need to be careful.

Housemate's boyfriend should have been warned about this aspect by his solicitor when he bought the flat. Was he?

pinkshoes

Personally I wouldn't buy anything with less than 80 years.

How much have other flats in the block sold for?

Is it 1 bed or 2 bed? 1 bed flats have a very limited market, and a 2 bed flat is only useful for a family if it has 2 double bedrooms (as you can feasibly have 2 kids sharing a double).

On rightmove, on the NG2 postcode, there's over 100 properties at under £100k!! I don't know the area that well, but you can get a 3 bed terrace for a similar price:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-9733089.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

My hunch is it's overpriced for something with such a short lease.

morg_monster

I know that Nottingham is one of these places where thousands of flats were built in the late 90s / early 00s (I was at uni there at the time) and now there is such a massive oversupply of them prices are dropping like stones. They were designed for yuppies but now there are so many, the only people LL's can get to fill their empty BTLs are students - which then puts off the more desirable tenants. I've heard that some blocks in the Lace Market are basically just like a halls of residence now!
This is possibly mainly in the city centre - but I'm sure the effect isn't just confined to there. I would definitely get a valuation, and think about how long she wants to stay there. If its only a couple of years, I'm not sure it would be worth it. always a bad idea to mix friendships and money...

Phirefly

pinkshoes wrote: »

On rightmove, on the NG2 postcode, there's over 100 properties at under £100k!! I don't know the area that well, but you can get a 3 bed terrace for a similar price:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-9733089.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

Comparing Sneinton to West Bridgford is like comparing Chelsea to Hackney. West Bridgford is the most desirable area in South Nottingham. Most flats are in Victorian conversions and 97K sounds about right...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-19168154.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16546534.rsp?pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

m00m00

Phirefly is spot on,

Sneinton is just not nice at all, West Bridgford is.


you could probably buy a 3 bed semi in nottingham for around 65k now

you wouldn't want to live in it though.

mcdelarich

We have just bought a 3 bed semi in NG17 postcode area for £91,500, large garden, outbuildings, conservatory etc etc. There are many properties in Nottinghamshire for under £100,000.

West Bridgford isnt a bad area - you have worse - St Ann's, Sneinton, Hyson Green etc etc.
Rich

dmg24

mcdelarich wrote: »

We have just bought a 3 bed semi in NG17 postcode area for £91,500, large garden, outbuildings, conservatory etc etc. There are many properties in Nottinghamshire for under £100,000.

West Bridgford isnt a bad area - you have worse - St Ann's, Sneinton, Hyson Green etc etc.
Rich

No disrespect, but you can't compare NG17 to W Bridgford!

Phirefly is right, WB is still a sought after area, and IMO it is one of the areas that will hold its value relatively well.

I would be concerned about the length of the lease, and potential problems with future resale. Your sister will need a valuation for mortgage purposes, so if the property is overpriced, she will find out then x

mcdelarich

Maybe West Bridgeford is "sought after" but it isn't far away from the trouble near the city centre. The only reason it is sought after is due to the amount of re-development it has had and due to it being near the city.

I was only mentioning the NG17 postcode because its obviously in Nottinghamshire(around 12 miles out of the city centre, on good transport links) and there are better buy's to be had rather than settling for something which would break the bank and not necessarily be a good investment.

I suppose it depends what you're looking for - a good investment in a commutable area, or an over priced flat which isn't far from the city.

dmg24

mcdelarich wrote: »

Maybe West Bridgeford is "sought after" but it isn't far away from the trouble near the city centre. The only reason it is sought after is due to the amount of re-development it has had and due to it being near the city.

I was only mentioning the NG17 postcode because its obviously in Nottinghamshire(around 12 miles out of the city centre, on good transport links) and there are better buy's to be had rather than settling for something which would break the bank and not necessarily be a good investment.

I suppose it depends what you're looking for - a good investment in a commutable area, or an over priced flat which isn't far from the city.

W Bridgford has always been nice, irrespective of redevelopment. It is sought after because it has good transport links, excellent schools, and excellent shopping and sporting facilities.

NG17 being 'commutable' to Nottingham is open to debate. Derby is commutable to Nottingham, as is Lincoln and Leicester. Whether I'd want to do it everyday is another matter!

mcdelarich

dmg24 wrote: »

W Bridgford has always been nice, irrespective of redevelopment. It is sought after because it has good transport links, excellent schools, and excellent shopping and sporting facilities.

NG17 being 'commutable' to Nottingham is open to debate. Derby is commutable to Nottingham, as is Lincoln and Leicester. Whether I'd want to do it everyday is another matter!

I can't see how it is debatable when there is the Robin Hood line, plus good bus services. NG17 also has all the above on its doorstep, along with acres of countryside but it depends on the person as to what they think is "sought after"

Anyhow - back to the subject yeah????