I am 30 and have started househunting around Leeds for my first home.
My issue is that I recently moved to Leeds for my dream job and I have realised over the last few months of househunting that the only houses within my £240k budget are all in “rough” areas, that I keep being warned off living in. I had hoped that people were being overdramatic, but I have visited these areas on house viewings and haven’t felt like I would feel safe as a woman living alone.
My background:
- Buying on my own. I earn 50k. Single. No kids.
- My budget is approx £240k (I have £25k for a deposit, an extra £10k for solicitors & moving expenses and a £215k mortgage in principle).
My non-negotiables:
- I cannot drive for medical reasons, so need to live in a place within train/walk/bus of Leeds city centre.
- I don’t want to buy a flat (I have concerns about leasehold properties with their unregulated potential for service charges to soar and the difficulty of reselling leaseholds - I would not be happy to be a landlord if the flat was unable to sell, so don’t want to risk getting into that position)
- I don’t want to move outside of Yorkshire or change my job because I moved to Yorkshire specifically for this dream job - I have spent my entire career working my way up to get this job!
What would you do if you were me?
A. Buy a house in a bad area and grit my teeth through feeling unsafe for 5 years until I build up enough equity to buy in a nicer area (or meet a partner I suppose).
B. Keep renting and wait a few years to have a slightly bigger budget.
However, I am not convinced that my salary or savings will increase in line with house prices. There is potential for a promotion from £50k now to £65k in 3 years time and then potential for a further promotion 3 years after that. I could also probably save an extra £30k over the next 3 years. So that means I’d potentially be able to borrow £60k more due to that increase in salary, and have extra £30k on my deposit- so my budget would maybe stretch to £330k in 3 years time. But £330k is the price of the houses in not-rough areas at the moment! In 3 years time, those houses will have risen in price won’t they and I will still be priced out of them, and in the same situation but 3 years later, won’t I?
C. Wait to find a partner who will buy with me?
Seems a bit Disney princess to pin my living situation on waiting for a partner to come along, but yet sometimes I think if I just had a partner right now, we could have a £500k budget and not have to worry about all of this. But of course I have no real control in when a partner may come along and that could take years.
D. Continue to attempt to try and find a house in an area that isn’t rough, that perhaps is cheaper due to a long commute to Leeds?
It would need to still be commutable by train though as I cannot drive for medical reasons, and so I am really struggling to find anywhere and I am not sure if this is a dead end.
(If you’re from around West Yorkshire, ideas of places? Harehills, Seacroft, Beeston, Holbeck, Chapeltown are all places I haven't felt safe in and have been warned off. I’ve looked at houses in Headingley, Hyde Park Meanwood, but have heard so many stories of burglaries - I think I might have felt safe as a student in a house of 5, but don’t feel safe as a woman living alone. I have heard people say Garsforth and Woodlesford as places that are cheaper than Leeds itself, commutable by train and nice, but I am struggling to find more than 1 house in my budget there.)
E. Something I haven’t thought of?