crazy to consider a flat with a toddler (and in this market)

[burgundy049]

We're in the proccess of buying a property and what with the CRAZY market, we began considering flats instead of houses as mortgage seems to be more maneagable with minimal maintainance.

We've just had an offer (probably too much) accepted on a mid floor flat which is the same floorspace as our current house.

It's a 6 year old building, with still 'some' development work going on in the area (building allotments down the road at some point) so needs very little upkeep and means we can overpay mortgage and have monies to buy another car and go on holiday, plus have £ for cost of living increase.
I've noticed that of the 6 flats 3 have sold or are for sale recently, but im guessing thats just usual turnover after 5 years of living somewhere 2 bed (hopefully).

We've a DS who will be 1 when we move in..
It's open plan living/kitchen/dining which we should be able to put a divider with a kallax or curtain to create space.

While I liked the space initially I'm now having doubts??
I don't want to be ''that' neighbour which has a really noisy toddler (who's just being their usual selves and not doing anything wrong but making noise as toddlers do) and I don't want DS getting frustrated by no space, or their toys / other stuff taking over EVERYTHING and us having no room.
There's not a garden, but is a little play park literally over the road and near lots of greenery so he'll be able to run about when we go out.

Does anyone have any tips for clever toy storage / other storage and noise dampening rugs etc?

Any ideas for splitting a bedroom for 2 children (for if second child comes along)]

Any tips for living in a flat with a toddler?

Are we crazy to do this?

We live in a flat with our two DSs since babyhood, they are now teens...if you are thinking about buying and staying there long term what I think is that things change a lot over time. It was a bit of a pain always going out to the park etc when they were little but then at preschool and school age they were going out more anyway, and then they could play after school in the park so we had a nice routine going...and then as they get older they will get to the age they can go out themselves more..

Then the location matters more, as they can walk to and from school, park, shops etc as teens it feels a bit like a student flat at times! But it is fine now and we don't miss a garden really (there is a shared one but we don't really use it as close to the park)

@Organictangerine I am in a non open plan flat and we have a communal garden. Over lockdownz there were kids playing and women in bikinis.. the garden is huge almost like a mini park. There are lots of flats with garden space and also not open plan

Bit strange to say don't live in a flat because it was hard living in a townhouse!

We had two children in a 2 bed flat until we moved when they were age 6 and 2 and it was fine. We were in a converion so had the grund floor of a Victorian house, We were in inner London so had a park within 3 minutes walk and everything was on hand. Children shared a room and we all got along fine. Therefore I wouldnt be concerned about living in a flat per se.

What would concern me is the open plan living arrangement - I would be concerned about the safety of the food preparation and cooking area being in the same room as the sofa and dining room table etc. Also how is the ventilation? You need to ensure that the smells of cooking can be dispersed easily.

And I would echo your concerns about keeping things tidy - with everyone in one room how would you keep toys etc apart? And how will you all rub along together? If you are all in one room and the child (ren) want to watch television/ play a game and others dont how will you resolve the issue? And what happens in the future if we are all working from home again? In the lockdowns in our current house I have really valued having several rooms we could use to get away from each other, even if we do all mostly gravitate to the sitting room.

I hope we won't be having any more lockdowns.

On the other hand having had small children in a non-open plan flat I can see the benefits of open plan in that you can keep an eye on them e.g. while cooking..

To be fair though, a 4m flat is goin

I'll continue! A 4m flat is a different ball park to your average flat!

Absolutely nothing wrong with choosing to live in a flat... I just don't think it's mostly driven by choice. I lived in a flat for 19 years and longed for a house. I'd grown up with a garden and used it a lot and really missed it. However, I once went for a job interview in a huge penthouse apartment in canary wharf. It had a wraparound balcony and the views were stunning. Carpets on the stairs and lobby, full concierge, like a hotel. Now that was a flat I happily would have taken over a house. I expect BJ's interior designer's place is similar!

@CellophaneFlower sheerluxe.com/home/cult-furniture-designer-shares-inside-look-her-home

Her style is not my cup of tea at all but it is big- 5 bedrooms and more than 1 sitting room... But if you compared it to a similar house in the area, it is more square footage for less money or she and her husband wouldn't have gone to the trouble of buying up the next door flat and knocking it through..if money is tight or the area is expensive, I would go for more square footage.

In other words, I would go for the bigger property I can get for less money. A lot of houses you can get for the same budget as a flat (in the same area) are actually quite small but they are still seen as 'family homes' despite the third bedroom being the same size as a cupboard. My DH grew up in a house like that. I think a 1000 square feet flat would have been more spacious than their 1000 sq feet Victorian terrace, but my MIL says that in those days the flats were actually quite expensive compared to the run down terraces so she couldn't afford it. It's the opposite today so I think the flat is better value.

My only caution with buying a flat is that it's hard to add value.

This isn't a problem if you plan to stay 10-20 years, but if you're thinking 5 years, it might not be long enough to have gained enough equity to achieve the next step in your location.

It's not always the case if you buy a really run down flat or one that has a garden that you can extend a bit. A new build flat though won't increase much in value in a short time

Christ, that decor is very busy 😝

I do get what you're saying. Private outdoor space is massively important to me though, probably as I appreciated it so much growing up, then was without if for so long. When I was house hunting, the garden was my priority. Had to be largish, lawned, not overlooked and either South or west facing. Obviously I had certain must haves for the house too, but I wouldn't view perfect houses if the garden wasn't right. I would however view houses that weren't quite right to see if I could make them work if the garden was perfect for me. But we are all have different priorities I guess. Many people have gardens and don't even use them, which I find sad. I also get stupidly annoyed when people have gardens but don't dry their washing outside 😳 Think it stems from years of not being able to!

lots for us to discuss- some things and perspectives we hadn't considered which is why posting is helpful...

We think there's just enough flexibility in the rooms to have space when we need to. There's a nook which we can use as an office or reading corner to stop all being in one room all the time. Kid's room can currently have a play space, and then when /if second child comes along we can look into getting a wall bed so that if they need a play space they can.
We're gonna get kallaxes / clever dividing furniture (and researching sound limiting options) for the open plan area. All links for dividing storage furniture or barriers welcome.
We do need to factor in costs vs lifestyle of specific furniture to make a flat work, plus on what is likely to be going out more.

Interest rates mean that having spoken to our broker, the mortgage cost plus fees aren't acually as much as a saving as we thought - but most other houses in our budget either are TINY, in odd locations, near weird things, or need lots of work so we need to weigh up pro's and cons of having a property which may increase in value less but won't need much maintainance.

Re a garden - we'd love one, but we can make not having one work with a playpark just over the road, and kid's nursery has good outdoor space so should be workable for a period of time.

Discussing priorities of needs and wants is a good point - and something we need to do for the property, rather than just '2 bedrooms in the area we want.

Interest rates, trying to futureproof and assess potential longer term suitability is what we need to consider - plus the lifestyle we want and what best thing to do in an unknown market / ridiculous interest rate increases.

Lots to consider, and probably no 'right' decision' which is hard

I'd never really thought about property increasing in value....
It won't increase in much - but our hope is that we won't need to pay for much renovations and therefore be able to consserve funds there as well as energy costs.
Flats are different to what we've previously looked at tho, and a newish one...

Do new builds usually go down in value once the NHBC warranty is finished?

Trying to understand newbuilds and flat values a bit now.

The problem with saving on renovations to help fund a move is that saving rates at the moment are dire.

Ideally with a 5-10 year home you want something that you can improve so you're not just reliant on the market increasing. It can be small improvements like new kitchens or bathrooms, or big ones like a new layout or extension.

New build flats can go down in value or remain very flat. Especially if more flats are being built around them. They are great investment properties as easily rented, but not great if you need to go up the ladder at some point.

That said if you can stretch to a good 3 bed flat that you can stay in for 15-20 years this doesn't matter.

One thing to also keep in mind that whilst a garden is great for kids playing in, the maintenance can be time consuming. I don't have a big garden but cannot be a*d to cut grass after work, after making meals, ironing school uniform, etc. Likewise, a house that needs a bit of renovation. Time is tricky to find when you have kids! A low maintenance property has its positives.