Buying my first flat (Liverpool) after always living in a house. Would really love to hear your thoughts from personal experience!

[FlatFlatEric]

I'm living in a small, three bedroom house where there used to be six of us and now it's just me. Despite it not being that big, it's more than I want to maintain. I find myself living totally in my bedroom and just using the kitchen occasionally. I'm in the process of selling up and I'm looking to downsize to a flat so I can have more money to travel and to decorate a place totally to my taste, which I've not been able to afford to do where I am.

I know there will be pros and cons to living in a flat, noise and bad neighbours being one potential downside, but I would love to hear any opinions on what to go for and what to avoid because I think I've pretty much made my mind up.

One thing putting me off is that I could have a smaller mortgage but to live in a nicer flat I'm going to have to pay more of a maintenance charge which kind of feels like dead money. Also I'm worried about how much they can put ground rent and maintenance up by.

I'm looking at Liverpool City centre and had a walk around yesterday and again would love to hear anyone's personal pros and cons and things to avoid or look out for!

There is a definite sense of community, but not a suffocating one, if you see what I mean! We have a WhatsApp group with the odd friendly ask such as 'might anyone have a corkscrew I could borrow please?' or 'is anyone around today to take in a parcel for me', and we have a small table in the hall where people can leave anything they dont want that anyone else could use.

There are 4 flats that aren't on the WhatsApp, and the occupants keep themselves to themselves, but that's to be expected and everyone is respected just the same, of course.

I'd be wary of share of freehold flats especially where a larger number of flats. I had an experience where, even with a management company supporting and the funds, the building was in a bad state as the residents who volunteered to manage the block couldn't agree on how to proceed.

The existing resident volunteers tried their best but it was a lot of work for them, even with the management company and nobody else was willing to take over the work. They were stuck with other residents making demands of them but not helping.

I didn't enjoy living there even if l my flat itself was maintained ok. If I had my time again, I'd try to find a small house.

My first property was a flat and I would never willingly live in one again. I remember we had to have some external work done . It cost loads it didn’t even need it really it was just as it was in the clause or whatever of it needed doing every X years. We also had our own management company, two flats inc me were bothered, one was used as a holiday home and the other one just didn’t care.

Wow everybody! I genuinely thought they would be more than a couple of people throughout this many posts with more positive responses. I was really hoping to live close to the city centre and I really didn't want to maintain a house like I am right now but I'm so glad I asked for advice here and I'm going to give it time to have a really good think. My house sale is finally progressing but I am in a position where I can put stuff in storage and move in with my parents for a bit and pay them some rent rather than jump into something. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort you've spent in replying. It's such a big and life-changing decision.

A flat isn't a bad thing OP you just have to be very careful on what you buy I gave some pointers up thread

I'd look more at areas on the edge of town like Baltic Triangle, flats around Brunswick/Queen's Dock or the north docks. You can still live in a quiet area (neighbours permitting obviously) but you can walk into town.

The housing property market is crap for single people (Liverpool). Only bad areas are affordable in this market unless you've got a big income, so in that sense it's worth considering a flat.