Not sure what to do for the best….

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I am really Not sure of what to do for the best?

In need of some financial advice from the more experienced ladies out there.

currently own a 2 bed maisonette in London in nice street, good neighbours etc but generally borough as a whole is thought badly of.

I have two children of same sex who share a room and property has about £100k equity in it. I am now torn on whether to try to buy a house for around £450k in south London or to invest in a second property in the West Midlands for around £185k using some of my existing equity.

I am a single parent on a good income (70k) but thinking long term that I would like to leave London and live in the house in the midlands and rent out existing home.

I am not thinking of renting the second property out immediately but will find something that needs doing up slowly and stay there occasionally during my periods of leave from work as maybe able to put on interest only mortgage to lower the costs as a long term financial strategy to have two properties, so I could rent one when I retire or sell to help kids out financially.

If I do try to buy bigger family home locally, I would need to stay in same general area which I don’t love but would be ok, part of me can’t be arsed with a whole house move but also thinking that this is a more sensible thing to do

I have no family financial help and want to make a sensible decision either way. I am in my early 40’s and kids are both in secondary school now.

what would you do?

I think I'd invest in a bigger property.

Getting a doer upper might prove to be a very big time commitment. A bigger house whilst your kids are still at home would benefit you all.

Thank you, this feels like the right thing to do, but a part of me is also attracted to having 2 properties as it gives options later in life in terms of which to rent and which to live in hence the confusion…. I have a valuation tomorrow morning so I guess we shall see how that goes

There's a lot of legislation (currently and in the pipeline) around being a landlord. It's no longer as simple as just renting out one property whilst living in the other. There's insurance, safety certificates, repairs, putting deposits in the right scheme, what happens if your tenant does a runner without paying, or you want to sell up? I listened to a radio show about it recently (stuck in traffic) and many small landlords are trying to sell because they are barely covering all the costs.

I'd buy a bigger home so that there's more space for your family as they may stay at home a lot longer than you think! Downsize later and hopefully you'll have a decent amount left over after that.

I agree with @SleepingisanArt and @SissySpacekAteMyHamster

I would buy a larger property in London, no matter the area. You can all benefit from it medium term. I would expect its value to rise more than property values in other regions of the UK and, who knows, maybe the area will become trendy. In general, I think the bigger, more valuable house will give you more options in 5 - 10 years time. You'll probably still be able to buy a doer-upper outside London for £185K ...

I think being tied to somewhere in the West Midlands (or anywhere) might prove awkward later and a doer-upper sounds like a way to ruin every holiday from now until whenever ... Plus, running a second house requires lots of brain space for admin.

Don't buy a second property. You will have to deal with the property from a distance and tax wise it is very unattractive.

In terms of giving you options when you retire, you would need to turf the tenant out if you wanted to switch. The chances of that particular second property being the one you truly want to live in at retirement are slim.

Personally I would invest in stocks and shares first by maxxing out pension contributions and then stocks and shares ISAs. Far more tax incentive to do that, much cheaper to do it, much less agro and in terms of ISAs far more accessible.