Help - what would you offer on this flat?

[Crash123]

Hi all! I am considering putting an offer in on a property and was wondering a) what to offer and b)if you all can spot any downsides that I cannot.

My situation - I am looking to buy alone after a breakup with my ex. He bought me out of the flat we owned together late last year, and I've been staying with friends ever since. I have a bit of cash from that, a bit of savings, and my parents are willing to help me make up the difference in a deposit if it'll help get me over the line. I have no children, though I wanted a second bedroom as I want to leave my options open to adopting down the line (and could get a lodger in otherwise to help me save money and replenish my emergency savings).

I have found this flat which ticks all my must-have and a lot of my nice to have boxes - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133093493#/?channel=RES_BUY

The boxes it ticks - It's got a nice kitchen, 2 proper bedrooms, a garden, and is in good enough condition that I could move in straight away. I won't have money to decorate for a while so this is good. It's bright and airy, has some decent storage space, is off a main road, is close to transport (the tram) and walkable to different types of transport, which is key with all the London strikes and train works. I could host friends in this flat.

The downsides - It's far away from a buzzy high street - I'd have a long walk or a bus ride to somewhere with nice coffee. There are no grocery stores nearby. The neighbourhood is a bit rough around the edges (and I'll go visit at night to see if I feel unsafe). I think I could cope with these. It's ex-council which I don't mind at all, but some other people have said is a downside. It's also a bit far from the train, but the tram is close by. And the shower room is a bit blah and will need refreshing at some point.

I want somewhere I can stay for a while and not outgrow. After a traumatic 2022, I want to own somewhere that no one can tell me to leave.

I can JUST about make this place work financially. I don't earn enough to get a 10% loan, so I'll have to make up the shortfall with a bigger deposit, which I can do if I work my ass off. The upside is, I'l have lower payments monthly if I put a bigger deposit.

What would you offer on this place? Do you see any downsides apart from the ones I've listed?

The lease as well

This is a nice flat but overpriced for the area. Mitcham is okay, but a little bit rough.

I always check out the recently sold prices of a comparable flat in the same road.

The most recent was sold last May for £315K, but there are no photos and it doesn't say how many bedrooms it has. The one before that sold in March 22, is a 3 bed and sold for £400K.

@KievLoverTwo - Hmm. feeling safe is deffo important to me. I'll go have a walk at night and see how I feel.

That's an interesting one about the heat. Is that just a matter of asking the EA?

And the exact postcode is CR4 4BT. How do I find out the crime rates for there and surrounding??

The lease is too short for me! I'd want to know how much lease costs are (ground rent etc), and I'd want a deal in writing for a lease extension before buying. E.g. If I knew it was £300,000 flat, and would be £5K to extend the lease then I would make sure it was factored into the finances.

In this market I’d go in at £280k and expect to pay around £295k. The flat is nice but the area isn’t the best. The lease length is ok but depending how long you will keep the flat for will dictate if your future buyers think the remaining lease is long enough. Sell yourself when you offer - if you are in no chain, MIP, ready to go and want to move quickly, have got a solicitor and done your AML checks already etc. also beware of escalating service charges and ground rent. Most flats have had service charges increase by over 50% in the last year alone

being in an area that is rough around the edges would put me off a huge amount, especially if you don't drive so are reliant on walking to & from public transport

maybe look at Sutton as you could be closer to amenities or places like New Malden, Worcester Park. They would be smaller flats but you could be very close to the high streets.

Just seems that shorter lease properties are a bit of a minefield. Because when you come to sell the lease will be even shorter. And look into service charges as well. I bet the heating will be electric and not gas. That will be expensive. And ex council also a drawback. Are any in the block still owned by the council or are they now all privately owned. And not great being so far from the shops.

Any sold prices are before the interest rate hikes so I would expect to pay quite a bit less

To be honest it's a nice flat (l love maisonettes) and for Greater London it's decent price- I live 15 minutes walk from a shop , but 2 minutes from a bus stop and a very regular service - I think that matters more- I just got more organised, always had bread and milk in or in freezer. It's not the most salubrious area but you could say that about 'most' of affordable London being honest. Is it mortgageable? Some won't lend on ex council- or want very very high deposits - worth checking in advance !

Those 60s properties are very in vogue just now because they are quite large, square rooms and kind of Scandinavian looking - I like them.
20 minutes walk for shopping sounds just fine to me. As you say you can have an online delivery. Great to get a garden.

I’d be cautious of that lease length (having owned a short lease flat(, it’s ok now but as it drops it will decrease the property value. I’d be offering £280k.

I would move prefer the location of this

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131528567#/?channel=RES_BUY

If it’s council, a lease extension will be £10k minimum so your offer needs to account for that

Yes there were a small number of other offers, but we were chain free so swung it.

It really does depend on the market though. We sold in late 2021 when it was mad and we sold at over the offers over price we had it on for-but we didn’t have to move and the market was in the sellers favour then. But to be fair we also went with a flexible chain free buyer instead of holding out for loads more (we had other offers but they were less attractive and it wasn’t worth the small additional we could’ve held out for).

We had it on for offers over £375k and accepted £380k from someone that was FTB and would wait for us to find something (which took us 4 months!), we had another buyer with £390k but they were in a big chain.

Go look at the area, some parts of Mitcham are really quite isolated & you don't want to be walking/waiting for the bus in the night along the common, the roads are dark. You are paying London prices but not necessarily getting that lifestyle.

The flat looks lovely and light and the garden has a great deal of potential. As others have said though please investigate more about the terms of the lease, they often have a clause for ground rent to go up every few years. Perhaps more importantly though, what is in place for block maintenance and repair and what portion is due from this flat? Is there a sinking fund for example and if so what would be your contribution? Are any major works in the pipeline? The freeholder should be able to supply all of this information but usually only after an offer has been accepted, you can then negotiate further on price based on their responses to the above.

don't forget to check:

what the ground rent is, how much it has been increased by in recent years, what the lease says about how often it can be reviewed/increased.

what the service charge is and whether it includes a sinking fund. If it doesn't and there has been no build up of funds 'in case' and the block needs major works (like recladding for example) you will get stung for a whopping amount.

Have you thought about “the otherside” of Wimbledon, as in the back of Southfields? You should be able to get an ex council for 300ish and there are also quite a few modern shared ownerships flats for more like £250k.
You’d be a 10 min walk from Southfields high st that’s really nice (M&S, Gails, coffee shops, tube on the district line etc) and you’d be near Tibet’s corner (where all the ex council are) to get a bus directly to Balham/ Tooting (if you say your pals are there) and Tibbets corner is the entrance to Wimbledon common for acres and acres of lovely green space. Also a short bus journey to Putney to be close to the river/ Putney high street and transport links.

@proppy - I know it from passing through, living in Tooting and that sort of thing. I've not spent a load of time in this particular area of it though.

@LexMitior - I think the roughness around the edges is what allows me to be able to afford a place like this. Which... I am weighing up if it's what I want to trade off. If that makes sense?

@Hallmark1234 - So this kind of feels in line with those 2 sales, right? Where did you check that BTW?

The flat looks lovely and very spacious. I have a close friend who bought a similar ex-council flat in Southfields and is very happy with it. Some people are just snobbish about ex-council property! The ground rent and service charge are reasonable but do check whether any major work is on the cards.

There are a couple tiny off licences about a 7 min walk away. A grocery store Londis and that kind of thing.

That sounds perfectly reasonable to me, in many parts of London where you don't live on top of a high street and bigger stores. Personally I'd get a big shop delivered every so often and pick up fresh stuff at the weekend.

You are in a great position as a buyer so I'd go for £298K and the fact that you are not in a chain and can proceed quickly. If they say no then say your top offer is £300K and leave that on the table (as Phil and Kirsty would say).

@Crash123 - I think it's a winner. On my divorce, I swapped a crumbling Victorian house for a 1960s property and I don't regret it. It is warm, easy to maintain and a lot cheaper to heat. The rooms have lots of light and the design is really efficient.

1960s homes are underrated but your money goes further and the maintenance costs are peanuts compared to period homes.