Buy a house up north or flat in London?

[oneminuteplease]

Not really aibu, posting for traffic.

Can only afford shared ownership on our salary. (Sahm for Atleast another 3 years)

It's either buy a share in a house, in either Warrington/Prestwich/South Manchester

Or buy share/rent to buy in W London,(where we currently live) the flat would be a 3 bed aswell

Or carry on renting our house in west London until I start work again and we can get a better mortgage deal?

2 toddlers!

Which would be the best decision?

Dh thinks buying a house whereas I'd be quite happy in an apartment but he's worried about the cost here in London!

Another vote for the beautiful North, especially South Manchester. Holidays on your doorstep (Lakes, Peaks, Shropshire); multicultural; arts, music, heritage and culture galore; better standard of living, great schools and universities within reach (Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Durham etc.) and presumably free off road parking! A standout for me from the pandemic is the tales of people living in flats with no outside space and the effect of that on their health and wellbeing. At least you will have a front and back garden in the house and if pandemics are the new norm, you won't regret making that choice.

It's just hard!

Yes, I see you are at a tricky level where you COULD stay in London if it was what you definitely wanted or all your family and friends were here, but you could certainly have a more comfortable lifestyle in Manchester or elsewhere.

Makes the decision more difficult.

x2boys, I live in one of the areas you mentioned and it’s beautiful I love it after living in Manchester before children. Some areas of Bolton are beautiful too (I work in a school there) Lostock, Egerton, Bromley Cross and Bradshaw. It’s really not the arse end of no where.

Can I clarify what you mean by shared ownership?
Im guessing if you were buying a house in Manchester with a combined salary of £75k then you’re not actually looking for shared ownership properties there so the door is wide open in terms of where you can buy?

I think you should stay in London for now.

On paper, moving North is definitely the sensible choice but your reluctance says to me your heart is in London!

I thought I’d share some of the things I did in Manchester as a kid- OP I wonder which part of Manchester you’re from
I grew up in Urmston so going to name change after this

Riding straddling the steam train in Chassen Park and fearing for your life
Walking around Lymm Dam and going for Sunday roast after at the Church
Going to Dunham Massey and never quite successfully despite many attempts stroking the deer - I learnt to ride a bike there
I remember my mum taking my sister to see the Tweenies show at the arena so my dad took me to Manchester Museum instead
We went to the museum very regularly and I insisted I was going to be an Egyptologist.
Once I went ‘behind the scenes’ there to see more of the baby lizards and the cool stuff that wasn’t actually exhibited at the time.
Going to the MOSI and going in the big hangar with all the planes.
Back in the day hiding in the spaceship at the Warner Brothers shop in town whenever we went shopping - sadly no more.
Further afield going to Jodrell Bank and Eureka.

As a teen I think you need to be realistic- all we ever did was mooch around the park and the Trafford Centre and complain! Or later on try our luck around the local pubs which ones would serve us. I think those are pretty universal teen experiences.

We would get the bus into town to go to Afflecks palace and sit on the grass outside Urbis- now the football museum.

I did do work experience at the museum and most 15/16 year olds in my year had pretty impressive work experience placements- crown court and the like. In sixth form I went to guest lectures at the university sometimes.

I always got jobs easily and my sister and I both worked at Old Trafford.

When we were the age of going to town we would all gather on the train platform at 10pm and you’d see everyone you’d ever gone to school with. Taxi back later on- you’d book a minibus at 3am for all your pals and then it was like herding cats trying to get them out of the takeaway.

I generally am quite miserable but I feel quite nostalgic and ‘thankful’ writing this! After living in a couple of other cities (not London) nowhere else ever quite tucked the boxes in the same way and I returned to Manchester.

@Jigsawtrain

x2boys, I live in one of the areas you mentioned and it’s beautiful I love it after living in Manchester before children. Some areas of Bolton are beautiful too (I work in a school there) Lostock, Egerton, Bromley Cross and Bradshaw. It’s really not the arse end of no where.

Yes totally, and you can be in manchester city centre within half an hour, my area of Bolton is not so beautiful,, but i agree Egerton and Bromley cross etc are lovely.

@maddening

South Manchester imo.

Seconded. South Manchester has some amazing places to live (I'd recommend Sale - lots of investment going into it at the moment and it's already very nice), very good schools, tons of parks, great transport links, and Manchester is the best place I've ever lived (and I've lived a LOT of places).

@Jemimia

Can I clarify what you mean by shared ownership? Im guessing if you were buying a house in Manchester with a combined salary of £75k then you’re not actually looking for shared ownership properties there so the door is wide open in terms of where you can buy?

The OP has said she can only afford shared ownership and is a stay at home Mum. Where are you getting a combined salary of 75k from?

For salaries, with me working we would have a combined salary of minimum £75000

The OP says this further up the page.

@TheYearOfSmallThings

For salaries, with me working we would have a combined salary of minimum £75000

The OP says this further up the page.

Sorry, to clarify at the moment as I'm a sahm we can only afford a mortgage which would basically be shared ownership.

Then we would buy it outright when we can get a better mortgage when I start work. He thinks that way is a lot better than carrying on renting down south, then while property prices are rising we would be in the midst of relocating/looking for work etc

live in Prestwich like a previous poster and the value of my house has gone up 50% in three years- yes it’s still cheaper than London

Biggest understatement on mumsnet
(But worth every penny extra)

""Then we would buy it outright when we can get a better mortgage when I start work."""

Having a mortgage is not the same e as buying outright.
It means the bank owns x % of the house

Buying outright would be you have saved 300k and buy a house for 300k

Having mortgage is same house for 300k
deposit 30k and 270k on loan from the bank

Sounds like you mean 7f you work you have combined income 75k so potentially a mortgage loan of 3 or 4 x 75 k . You would then be paying the mortgage loan each month and own outright in 20 or 25 or 30 years.

@oneminuteplease

Post cut off.

For salaries, with me working we would have a combined salary of minimum £75000

Which I know goes along way in Manchester and we would be mortgage free on a lovely home and could invest in more.

It's just hard!

When would you be mortgage free? Do you mean after 10 or 20 years or Do you have a huge deposit?

On paper Manchester makes so much more sense than London, so I also wonder if your reluctance stems from a not particularly exciting childhood? As you said, that was your parents’ doing…

I grew up in London - didn’t really like it as a young child when I longed to be in the countryside; loved it as a teenager; would never ever choose to live or raise my kids there as an adult.

Someone may have already said this but presumably you wouldn’t have the same income in the NW as in London? Does that still make buying a house affordable when the difference in income is factored in?

@Marmitemarinaded

*live in Prestwich like a previous poster and the value of my house has gone up 50% in three years- yes it’s still cheaper than London*

Biggest understatement on mumsnet
(But worth every penny extra)

My point was in reference to shared ownership- that they don’t tend to be in desirable up and coming areas!

I paid half as much for my three bed semi as my friends in London did for their two bed flat.
We have completely different lifestyles as families.

No need to be snide- I’m exceptionally happy where I live and can say hand on heart I wouldn’t live in a flat in London if you gave it me for free. Im sure my friends wouldn’t live where I live if it was free either- they have creative industry jobs that are London centric. It doesn’t mean either of us is wrong 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP I’m more just wondering if you’ve actually researched areas available and crunched numbers?

I’m just wondering what salary you have at the moment and any deposit you have at all? It sounds like you are planning on returning to work in the not too distant future- maybe this would all be best waiting until then and you’re in a better position?

Approx figures but example …
A 50% share of a 3 bed house in south Manchester would be about £200000 and you’d need a £10k deposit.
A 25% share of a 3 bed flat in west London approx £150000, you’d need a £15k deposit.
Mortgage on a house without shared ownership in Warrington- you’d need £10k to then get a £200k house which would buy you a three bed semi with garden

You are not comparing like with like and I’m if you can avoid shared ownership, I would

As you grew up in Manchester and presumably you know it well and like it, it would seem to make sense to buy there.

It's not what I would do because we moved from the south to near Manchester many years ago and couldn't settle, particularly because it rained so much more and we had no family there.

I don't think it will make much difference to your children - you will still be moving to a big city and they will have access to similar amenities. Also it sounds like you may have family support if you move to Manchester, which I think is a bonus.

I agree that a flat is a better investment in London then other parts I would personally buy a house elsewhere. You have more scope to extend & more opportunity to gain equity.

@Coldilox

Christ people clearly think the north is a rural cultural wasteland 😂

Where only white people are welcome apparently

A combined salary of 75K won’t go as far as you think in South Manc. Unless you have a good deposit.

A decent house, that doesn’t need renovations in a nice suburb of South Manc will be around 500K minimum and expect to have closed bids when buying! Although it does depend where exactly you are happy to buy. That said I think because the market in Manc is so buoyant it’s a good investment. I have friends who have recently sold flats in London almost for what they paid, whereas I know plenty of people whose homes in Manc have substantially increased in value in a short period of time.

I would try to avoid the shared ownership thing and save a bit longer to buy 100% with mortgage.

@D1sc02000

A combined salary of 75K won’t go as far as you think in South Manc. Unless you have a good deposit.

A decent house, that doesn’t need renovations in a nice suburb of South Manc will be around 500K minimum and expect to have closed bids when buying! Although it does depend where exactly you are happy to buy. That said I think because the market in Manc is so buoyant it’s a good investment. I have friends who have recently sold flats in London almost for what they paid, whereas I know plenty of people whose homes in Manc have substantially increased in value in a short period of time.

500K 😂 plenty of places around Manchester where you can get a decent 3 bed semi or detached for around 200K!

@Justcurious93

I have no idea why you are laughing emoji- as that poster said properties in nice south Manchester suburbs ain’t cheap. Please show me property in south Manchester that’s 3 bed detached for £200k- I’d bloody well buy it!
You can’t even buy property in Prestwich for that price any more!

If you’re talking Salford/ Bolton/Wigan yeah more like it!