Buying a Flat in London - Hold Off?

[rillette]

DH and I have been looking for a 2 bed flat in SE London since April. We offered on one last year but the vendor was awkward - didn't respond to our offer for months, was waiting to see what the market did. Eventually came back to us but by that point our heart wasn't in it (and I'd joined the resident's facebook group of the block and read all the horror stories of crime/loud noise etc).

The flat next door to where we currently rent is for sale. This is only a 1 bed, so limits how long we could stay there (hoping to have a baby in the next 2-3 years), but we may be able to get it at a great price. We have lived where we are for 4 years, it's a resident-run management company, peaceful, never any issues with crime, parking spaces aplenty, etc. It seems a great opportunity as we could make the changes we would like to in this current flat (get a dishwasher, storage solutions etc). We're also conscious that if the right thing doesn't come up, we will probably end up still in this flat paying rent, and the mortgage for the flat next door would be less! We'd also have lots left over as it would be a smaller deposit than for the 2 beds we were considering, so we could keep on saving for our next upgrade. On the other hand, I don't want to end up kicking myself if the market does drop and we could have snapped up a nice 2 bed flat within our budget. The prices of current/next door flat have certainly already softened by about 20-30k since the 2018 boom.

Would really appreciate some MN wisdom! I realise no-one can predict what the market will do but any thoughts welcome.

I wouldn’t buy a one bed - if the market crashes they’re hard to sell. And if you’re planning on children you don’t want to be stuck in a one bed flat with a toddler!

@Nightmanagerfan

I wouldn’t buy a one bed - if the market crashes they’re hard to sell. And if you’re planning on children you don’t want to be stuck in a one bed flat with a toddler!

We initially weren't considering one beds at all, we were just intrigued by the prospect of next door! Really important points though, thank you.

I agree with Nightmanagerfan.

Also does the flat have any cladding on the outside walls? If so, avoid like the plague!

If you're planning a family the minimum you want is 2 bed with garden.
Better to have that as a goal and not compromise.

Resounding no for a 1 bed - really helpful, thank you! I think we will have to stick to our guns then.

Better to buy a 2 bed... or even better a large 1 bed that needs work and could be configured into a 2 bed. You could delay doing any work until you needed both bedrooms and had managed some more savings. Yes to a little bit of outside space too if possible.

2 bed with garden in London? Really?

If we go for the one bed we'd only need half of the deposit we have saved. There's no way to make it 2 bed but it does have a huge garden which is a big bonus - it's the most desirable flat in the whole block because of this. Plus the benefits of sticking a dishwasher in the kitchen, making it our own etc.

We can't afford a lot of 2 beds in the area we would need to be - I work the other side of London so need a decent transport connection. The 2 bed we offered on was in need of a lot of cosmetic repair but the vendor messed us about (and it turned out the block had all sorts of issues with drugs, anti-social behaviour etc.) That's also what makes me think about this place as we have lived here 4 years and know the ins and outs!

In every housing recession, one beds have dropped in price the most and are the most difficult to sell. Buying and moving is expensive- go for a two bed.

Are you willing to say the general area? Mumsnetters might be able to suggest areas etc.

@Lightsabre

In every housing recession, one beds have dropped in price the most and are the most difficult to sell. Buying and moving is expensive- go for a two bed.

Are you willing to say the general area? Mumsnetters might be able to suggest areas etc.

Yes, we currently live in Zone 2, SE London. I work in NW London so need a good transport connection, DH works in Greenwich. We had an AIP in April which gave us a budget of £315k. I have since had a small pay rise and DH has a new job so we may be able to get slightly more.

I wouldn’t under estimate the value of the things you’ve mentioned that you have currently - good management company, peaceful, low crime, parking. If you end up somewhere without one/some/any of these, you may really regret it.

@FrankGrillosFloof

I wouldn’t under estimate the value of the things you’ve mentioned that you have currently - good management company, peaceful, low crime, parking. If you end up somewhere without one/some/any of these, you may really regret it.

Yes this really hit home when I joined the resident's facebook group for the place we offered on last year. There were issues with drugs, loud noise at night, and anti-social behaviour, none of which we currently have to deal with.

We are viewing the 1 bed this week. Need to think carefully about what it's worth.

I’m currently in a two bed flat but it was bought as a one bed. It had a separate kitchen that was big enough to turn into a second bedroom, and we made the large lounge into a kitchen/diner/lounge area. A possible option for any other one beds you view maybe.

@Honeylemontea

2 bed with garden in London? Really?

I live in one. They do exist. Admittedly the garden is more like a yard, but there you go.

@FrankGrillosFloof

I wouldn’t under estimate the value of the things you’ve mentioned that you have currently - good management company, peaceful, low crime, parking. If you end up somewhere without one/some/any of these, you may really regret it.

I agree with this.

Places like Hither Green are falling in price for two beds. Nice community and 10 mins to LB on the train and easy to drive to Greenwich.

@Spidey66 my 2 bed flat has a communal garden. I guess you mean private garden? 2 bed with private garden would kinda limit you to places like sutton/bromley as most FTB would want to benefit from stamp duty discount which only applies to 500k and below properties.
Even if we could afford more, I probably wouldn't want to buy a more expensive property esp as a childless couple in our 20s.

As we are in north london, 500k could buy you a 2 bed period conversion flat with small garden. But DH hates period conversions, that isn't an option and I personally think purpose built flats are better for sound insulation. So we went for 2 bed flat in mansion style block with communal garden and RTM company for 400k. I would like to move to a 3 bed flat before we have a child though, not because we couldn't have a child here, but its easier to save to upgrade before having a child.

Mines like the pic here....purpose built edwardian flat with yard, zone 3, north london

PS Mine's a GF flat, looks like terraced housing with two front doors.

@Spidey66 oooh i love those! also in zone 3 north london!

I tried to persuade DH to get one of these, but he is adamant they are conversion. i would be interested to read up more about the history of these edwardian purpose built flats, do you know anything about it?

@Lightsabre

Places like Hither Green are falling in price for two beds. Nice community and 10 mins to LB on the train and easy to drive to Greenwich.

Yes I know it well, used to work in HG. Didn't know that was the case, I'll add that back in to the Rightmove searches!

[quote onlychildandhamster]@Spidey66 oooh i love those! also in zone 3 north london!

I tried to persuade DH to get one of these, but he is adamant they are conversion. i would be interested to read up more about the history of these edwardian purpose built flats, do you know anything about it?[/quote]
You probably live near me then....near a big park with a TV transmitter. I don't really know the history of them but they're definitely purpose built. Our street is half houses, half flats, all the flats are numbered the same as the houses, so like ours is number 70, upstairs is number 72 etc. If they were conversions it would be 70 and 70a, or flat 1 and flat 2. They've also all got their own front and back doors, not a communal door/hall like you'd get with a conversion.

They're nice flats, we've been there 25 years. They're solidly built and the area is always popular so I think would be easy enough to sell if you wanted to move on.

@Spidey66

Mines like the pic here....purpose built edwardian flat with yard, zone 3, north london

Wow, that's beautiful. Unfortunately even in SE London, our budget seems to only stretch to mostly ex-LA flats, and the period property flats tend to be poky conversions. I suppose our dilemma is whether we might expect a softening of prices on a 2 bed flat, but it's not nice trying to play a guessing game with the market.

It’s all relative, it could drop 10k but your next property would have also dropped in price.

@rillette I bought in 2019 and tbh in 2017 i couldn't have afforded my flat. As it was 50k more expensive then. This was because of brexit and because at that time, there was a lot of movement to commuter towns even though most people were still commuting back to london 5 days a week. So there was a lot of demand in places like Hitchin, St Albans, Watford, Reading with a 30 minute connection.

Now that there is wfh with the pandemic, this trend should only accelerate. My company doesn't like wfh and we are all expected back at the office when the pandemic is over (when this would happen is the big question) but basically I can hold off any moves to Cornwall. I think there would definitely be companies like mine, but equally many people may wfh permanently or look for jobs which allow them to do so.