Please talk me out of buying this beautiful apartment

[Nstarr]

Myself, partner, plus 2 under 2. Kids need a garden right? So please talk us out of buying this absolutely stunning apartment.

-new build with loads of character and history.
-high ceilings, huge windows, spacious rooms
-luxury very high end finish similar to a 5* hotel, very much our style.
-‘Good’ local school

BUT

Maintenance fees of £1700 a year, slightly further from family moving from Surrey to Hampshire, no garden!!!

There may be plots next year with small gardens, we’re not in a rush. It’s generally just not practical. We could easily afford the 2 beds. The 3 beds are same price of a house. But a house would take £££££’s to get to that standard. Please talk us out of this ridiculous idea.

You may very well resent that place when the maintenance fees go up or the people above have leak.

New builds IMO whilst they look shiny and new and are beautiful are overpriced.

Just imagine the bump up in fees when they decide to do an upgrade on the windows and the fees go up.

Buy your house and renovate at your own pace to your specification.

Buying this apartment is just seeking instant gratification that you know doesn't make any sense hence why you want us to talk you out of it.

You know it's not the best idea.

Wait until the Kids are off your hands then get a posh apartment. You will regret it if you buy it now. Kids and posh apartments do not mix. People who buy these are generally older or childless and will not take kindly to your children.

Don’t buy a flat with kids if you can avoid it. The kids will wreck the gorgeous finish and couldn’t give two hoots about it. Think of play dates - get a garden if you can.

My 2 children and I live in a ground floor flat. We have communal gardens but not our own exclusively. We have plenty of parks nearby and lovely places to walk. It is good and works for us. Our service charge covers a lot including window cleaning, water, grass cutting, general maintenance, cleaning of communal hallway etc. I do miss planting things but other than that it works well for us.

And the person who commented that they see a flat as a temporary solution for someone who can't afford a house- I had a house and we sold it. My lung is damaged and I can't manage stairs anymore. So not everyone who lives in a flat wants a house.

You definitely need a garden, my two have spent the entire afternoon out in the garden, they would be climbing the walls if cooped up all day! I don’t mind going to the park but it’s not the same as the garden, when they are older they can go outside unsupervised but they can’t go to the park alone. I wouldn’t touch a home without a garden.

Mad idea.
Save that sort of place for when you’re 60 plus and downsizing, with all kids having fled the nest.

And even then I wouldn’t do it if there’s no outside space. I would need a nice big balcony at the very least.

How can a new build have "history"

Look out for cladding!!

@LowlandLucky

How can a new build have "history"

😂

I think that you just bundle the history of that land to make the new build more interesting, and more expensive!

@LowlandLucky

How can a new build have "history"

My son rents an amazing and very tiny flat in a converted warehouse. There are loads of amazing original features, high ceilings, gorgeous windows... but also a high spec kitchen area, 5*luxury bathroom etc. I also know someone who bought a newly converted flat in a former stately home. Loads of history but with a 21st Century refit. They didn't have small children though

I thought you meant this one to start with! Eye-watering price

secretldn.com/st-pancras-clock-tower-flat/?fbclid=IwAR2p7id7jZS3wxYDxdXH6LoKu7gq87cwbhz-kWbuAE7iIBABB1TI4auMX2k

Hard to say... I rented a beautiful apartment - just me and my dd (she was just turned 3 when we moved in, and 7 when we moved out). There was a lovely big park across the road, plus school library coffee shops etc all down the road too. We loved it! Now I'm in a house as I have a little boy as well and we didn't have enough space. But never regretted that flat. I realise that renting is different however!

We moved from a flat to a house back to an apartment in a listed building and it was the best move for our family. The flat is spacious and quirky. We’re surrounded by farms and lots of open space so don’t miss the garden - even during lock down. If you love it, go for it :)

I love the idea of a high spec flat! BUT another lockdown would soon take off all the gloss for me. Floating in and out of the garden and kitchen with a glass of wine on a hot evening is wonderful. When our children were small, I wouldn't even have considered a place with no garden. My kitchen door was open most of the year. In spring our toddlers wandered in and out with their spades (Okay. They'd dug up the flower borders. But they were quiet for ages.) In summer they played in the sandpit for hours. In autumn, they dug for worms and splashed in muddy puddles (my kids were often dirty). In winter I threw them outside in jackets and hats. And when they were busy outside, I did inside stuff or joined them. You can buy a pristine, high end flat when your kids leave home. For now, enjoy a garden with them. Sadly (?) for us, the high end flat still isn't an option. Our grandchildren would be really upset if we moved to a place without slow worms!

If we have another lockdown when your children are 4, or 8, you will regret not having a garden. When it is boiling hot and your children want to spend all afternoon spraying each other with the hose, you will regret not having a garden.

We have no garden, and have a four year old who actively looks forward to going to nursery each morning specifically to play in their garden.

If you can afford a garden (we can‘t), you would be crazy to buy without one when you have two kids.

Don’t do it you will regret not having a garden so much and those fees seem pretty extortionate, I’d expect a weekly personal maid for those tbh

Maintenance fees always go up after section is fully occupied. Watch out! Keep looking as you will find a better deal with everything you want.

Don't do it.

(a) Yes, kids are far better off with a garden.

(b) My son had to sell a flat he loved in Brighton because every year the Maintenance fees increased dramatically until he could no longer afford to live there.

The high end finish is going to be trashed by your soon to be turdlers! Imagine another lockdown trapped in a flat with no garden with 2 small kids...

Move to Burnley in what you would save in just maintence fee’s you could take out a mortgage for a cottage, with the backdrop of a valley with acres of garden space

I’m sure it’s lovely, we are buying too and nearly fell for a large apartment in a converted brewery, beautiful.
But no outside space and no way to extend.
Think ahead.

First thing that comes to , where would you dry all your washing?

No garden and you have kids?

@HareofEasttown

No garden and you have kids?

No brain and you are able to write a post?