To think flats are not cheaper than houses

[rampagingcat]

Buying first property and all I hear from a relative is to buy a flat. Why am I buying a house when a flat would be better for me?

Now round here, flats are just as if not more expensive than houses!

Is this true everywhere or AIBU

YDANBU if you can afford to buy a house, take my advice and buy a house! When you buy a flat you have to factor in service charges, including extra amounts for essential maintenance such as a new roof which could run to thousands. My DH and I sold our 1 bed flat before DCs came along, and bought a 3 bed house and, even with a slightly higher mortgage, do not pay as much as we did when we had to pay a mortgage and service charge on the flat

I think you missed out the word "always" from your op.

As others have said it all depends on the flat in question and the area on question. I live in a Glasgow tenement in the leafy West End. And it's a good solid, roomy Victorian flat that would sell in less than a week if it went on the market.

New apartment developments don't tempt me in the slightest though, I see them going up and they seem to be constructed from plaster board and sellotape! Not a good investment. But then again your average new build house is just as unappealing for the same reasons. I'd try and buy something that was built pre 1980s.

Oh and flats here are owned outright. No leasehold malarkey.

Also, not all flats have massive service charges. Again, depends on ownership and mainly the freeholder!

I live in one of the 'less desirable' Edinburgh tenements and I would dearly love to move to a house, but I think realistically the best we can hope for is a maindoor flat. We have no back green - people who sell tend to have 'shared rear garden' in the schedule but what it actually is is a square of concrete that's down a flight of steps and overhung by trees. Gets very little light and quite a lot of bird poo so not great for clothes drying. I'm also really getting to the point where I want our own front door and don't have to push past umpteen bikes/abandoned stuff/hope that no drug users have got into the stair (to be fair this is rare since we had the lock fixed, but it took ages to get everyone to agree to pay for that).

I have lived in much nicer stairs though, with a good garden out the back and a stair cleaning rota. But with a flat the dynamic can change very quickly with one or two anti-social people.

If you want a house and can afford a house - get a house.