smaller mortgage v nicer property

[Greenhats10]

Wasnt sure whether to post this here or AIBU. Was having a glass of wine with a good friend of mine last night who is also trying to buy in London and she told me that she and her husband have almost split up over their property search. My mate thinks they should get a flat and a smaller mortgage because they have small kids and need cash now, her partner thinks they need to buy a house and think of the future. I think price wise it's about 150k-200k difference and I sort of see her point.

I was trying to reassure her that it'll be ok either way but apparently they just can't agree and she was really upset. What would everyone else do? Would you opt for a flat and hope to have more money per month now or stretch yourself to a house but pay more per month.

does everyone really aspire to have a 3bed house? I mean in the case of my mate not sure they can afford a 3bed place, but even we are happy with a 2bed. We only have one DS so I'd be reluctant to pay for a spare room just for the sake of it - though an office might be nice I guess....

@Greenhats10 I aspire to a 3 bed flat in west kensington and I hope to sell my 2 bed flat in East Finchley and upgrade ot that. It sounds really faraway now. But I hope everyone thinks like MNet and moves to sutton/Harpenden/st albans/bucks and west kensington flat that is 800K drops to 600K!

I sound insane now, but with covid, you never know. If I was your friend and had to move now, i had to go for the cheaper property. When house prices drop, it would be very bad for mental health to continue to pay this huge mortgage and then see the value of your house sink, knowing how much money you could have saved. But if your mortgage is lower than your rent previously, then maybe it doesn't feel so bad. As for location, I just read an article the other day that the highest increase in UC claims are in outer london suburbs and commuter towns like guildford and the article attributed it to the fact that low and middle income earners tend to live further out so it may be surprising but outer london may see the worst house price crashes.

However in a post covid world, this does make sense. Outer London only makes sense when you have to commute to work daily. Inner London are for those who love city life and also foreigners who are investing/used to a different lifestyle. If you don't have to commute to work and don't love city life, it makes more sense to move out of London altogether.

I missed the bit about 1 DC. 2 beds sound fine.

@Desiringonlychild Pre-family, you wouldn’t have dragged me outside of zone 2. I think it’s just once people want to have kids many prefer space, greenery etc.

@Desiringonlychild honestly, west ken ain't that great and schools are crap. But you can try Kensal Rise - they do have three beds for 650k or Crouch End -fun but still ok schools wise. Not to revive a different thread - would much rather live in a two bed flat in a central ish area of London than a proper suburb. But that's me...

@JoJoSM2...sort of but what you supposed to do with all that greenery and I speak as someone that grew up one minute from Wimbledon common....great but what you meant to do there. really the best bits of wimbledon is the shopping centre, leisure centre, kids theatre etc...the Common always thought that was for old people

@Greenhats10 in that ideal situation, my child would go to prep school. There are plenty of amazing prep schools in north london but not really walkable. In West Ken, you have so many amazing prep schools within walking distance.

and in the event my child goes to state school, i would choose faith school which doesn't have a catchment. but yeah i did choose to live in north london for the state school reason!

@JoJoSM2 Yeah i just get bored with the greenery if that was the only thing to do. How many times can you walk past trees and grass, they all look the same after a while. I do it for the exercise, i don't even really look at it much. Its nice to look at for the first time but I can see it once, why would i need to go back. Epping Forest is beautiful, but I don't need to live near it to enjoy it. I went back to the the shopping centre and the pubs and the restaurants the day it opened. I value being within walking distance of a gym

I can walk to both hampstead heath and highgate woods so its still there but its equally easy to get to a bustling high street too.

I think we’re just a sporty/outdoorsy family and things like bike rides are much more pleasant along fields with sheep than a busy park.

My PIL have bought and sold 7 homes in their lifetime and their advice to us when buying was to buy the best you can possibly afford because you never know whether you'll be able to move upward so it should be somewhere you'd be content to live forever, if needs be. The key word is 'afford', though - probably not a good idea to overstretch in the current climate, but if your friends can afford something more suitable (the kids will soon want their own rooms), I would definitely do that.

thank you everyone! will send her the thread, maybe that'll help.great to ha e everyone's input