Buying a 1 bed flat

[Violetroselily]

Hi everyone

Having a bit of a wobble in my property search and hoping some advice/experience may help me.

I'm a single FTB looking to buy in S/SE London. Budget is quite restrictive - £280k - so in predominantly looking at 1 beds in my preferred areas.

Have found a beautiful, big (650 sq ft) 1 bed but suddenly having a panic that buying a 1 bed is a bad idea. That being said, there are very few 2 beds a) in my budget and b) that I would like to live in. I haven't viewed any because there are mone that fit my criteria on budget. So this may all be worrying for nothing.

Is it madness to buy a great 1 bed when I could maybe stretch to a (shitty) 2 bed?

Will I struggle to sell a 1 bed in the future? Am I destined to not make any money on it?

Any thoughts welcome

Depends on what could happen in the future I guess.

I thought a shitty 3 bed because I knew I wanted kids eventually.

I doubt youll struggle to sell a 1 bed in London as someone will always be in the position you are now

Oooh good God this is so tense

I worry for Steve

Wrong thread

In terms of future plans, kids are not on my radar in the next 5 years, so that doesnt concern me too much.

Then go with the one you love more!

The shitty 2 bed, is it shitty decor or a shitty area? Shitty decor could mean you make a fair bit of money on it with some basic reno?

I made 85k in 2 years on my shitty 3 bed

Its shitty decor in a hideous block. Reno would take me a long time due to maxing out my savings and borrowing capacity to buy it.

Whereas beautiful 1 bed is a lovely conversion and is actually 100 sq ft bigger than the ugly 2 bed...

I'd go for 1 bed then!

Good luck

I think you should absolutely buy what you love and need for now.

I bought a fabulous one bed flat in my 20s, loved living there and it suited me perfectly. I met my now DH and we sold the flat to the first viewer for a good profit. I know that everything’s a bit up in the air now in terms of property and the economy but I think the one bed sounds like the most sensible choice.

My DS has just bought a 1 bed flat for the same reasons you're finding - that 2 beds were not in his budget or were in dodgy areas. A year on and he's a very happy bunny. Sounds to me like the 1 bed will suit you for the next few years and location and area will always be popular with potential buyers in the future.

It's the old location, location, location adage really.

I'd always go for the smaller property in the nicer area, but from what you've said the 1 bed has a larger footprint anyway.

On that basis alone I'd go for larger property with less bedrooms.

There are so many great furniture solutions these days so you still have option to put a vertical hidden Murphy bed (or sofa bed) in the living room for guests if you wanted.

Many of the Murphy beds are part of integrated units that allow dual function (a desk or sofa for example).

Example:

Both the bedroom and living room are approx 18x12, so plenty of space for a sofa bed in the living room

Thanks for your messages. Definitely helping to calm me down a bit.

DH and I bought a one bed as our first property. It was gorgeous. Purpose built Edwardian maisonette. Large rooms and small garden. Lived there for about 4 years then moved on. When we were first looking there were a couple of 2 bed ones we saw but they just weren’t as nice.

100% the bigger 1 bed... might even be an opportunity for you to turn it into a 2 bed in the future dependent on where windows are located