Help me make a decision: conversion flat or house...

[Iamabarbiegirl]

Name changed for this.
I live in a lovely area in London zone 6 with all the amenities we need, good schools, great commute and generally a really nice community and cute area. We have been here (renting) for a few years and feel at home. DD is still in nursery but we will have to start thinking of applying for primary school next year and we were hoping to be able to buy a house elsewhere before the applications deadline. Now because of current interest rates and a couple of other reasons, I think it's unlikely we will manage to buy a house on time for school applications. This is making me reconsider whether we should just instead try and find a way to stay in this current area, given we love it so much. The issue is only due to costs, as here we'd only be able to afford a 2 bed maisonette (potentially with a garden). We don't have a massive budget and all the areas we'd consider are expensive but we could get a 2 bed cottage or shabby 3 bed elsewhere. I was quite set on moving and getting a house but have recently being wondering whether it would make more sense to stay here.

• We love the area and feel at home
• great commute into London (we work FT)
• good schools
• good amenities and we like being able to walk everywhere, barely use our car and we like it this way

I wonder though, is all this enough to compromise on a flat/maisonette (likely a leasehold property also) for the long term? We are late 30s and with decent salaries but still high childcare costs and not very likely to double our income so our situation will not be drastically better in the future and also not sure I'd like to increase what will be an already very high mortage in my late 40s to more to a bigger house.

We are not planning on having a second DC although you never know what life can bring.
The other areas we are considering are nice commuter towns in the home counties, with a more expensive commute, good schools but maybe less amenities to our doorstep.

Are we mad to consider a flat over a house just because we'd have an "easier" life?

@Iamabarbiegirl if you want to stay in the area (and I totally see why) I think you are going to have to accept it will be a flat or maisonette - which is why I found ones with a garden - the bottom 2 were houses , at around £500k but quite dinky- personally I think I would ideally go for a top 2 floor maisonette with garden (feels more like a house) as they will feel roomier than a pokey house , which is why I thought the east Rd one was really good. You would be suprised too when you look at areas that in my opinion aren't as nice- the houses are still around £600k plus in most of them - I've had 2 leaseholds before and one share of freehold. Never had an issue, but make sure the whole house looks in good Nick- not just the interior of yours. I think I would avoid huge blocks - that's where you can often get a really nasty shock .

Thanks!
This one would be ideal if only it had a garden, as an example. I think the building is also beautiful:

I would be wary of buying a flat at the moment as the dust hasn't settled on the requirements for building safety following the inception of the Building Safety Act, post-Grenfell. The financial effects are likely to be extremely far reaching and I don't think we're going to see the full outcome for years and years. If you are particularly fixed on a flat, I'd go with a maisonette rather than anything with internal common parts. Obviously it depends a lot on the set up of the building but this change is already costing many leaseholders a lot of money.

Surely the OP is in the home counties if she's in zone 6!

Oh right, THAT's why MN always acts as if zone 6 is rural and too far out....I'm zone 6 and regard myself as London. Would never call it home counties.

I know they are not pretty but I've seen some done up really well near a friend of mine

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137338181#/?channel=RES_BUY

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain it depends where you are as some parts are in boroughs like Surrey for example.

I also think as I've said upthread most Z6 areas have more common in the places very close to them as opposed to inner London.

I'm z5/6 borders - we're 20 minutes to Victoria or London Bridge and we get peak time Thameslink trains - and that's at our local station; the 'main' station which is a little further away is a main hub for commuters. It's not all bad out here; I've done a number of jobs where my commute is considerably faster than colleagues who live further in and on tube lines 🤷🏼‍♀️

@LBOCS2 but surely your journey is only 20 mins if you don't need to wait for a train. live on the platform & are not going anywhere else when you get off the other end?

Is that not the same for everyone getting every form of public transport from wherever they live? Unless you drive you're still going to have to get yourself to a transport hub, you're still going to have to wait for it to arrive and you may need to interchange if your mode of transport doesn't go to where you want it to?

Yes of course, hence why it's a meaningless reflection of one's actual commute time. And it's only on here I see people saying I can be in London in 20 mins or whatever.
I mean my tube journey is 20 mins but that's not my commute.

I'd look for a period conversion maisonette or a flat like the one in the link I have posted above, don't think it's an issue?
People are always going to buy flats in London in my opinion, there is only a certain number of houses available. It's different if you plan on reselling in the very short term but that wouldn't be our case

Many people obsess about a garden but in reality when both adults work it's a lot of effort to maintain a garden. If there are good public spaces around your child will be fine without one. Especially as an only child they'll want to be out and about with other kids. Make sure you've room for a tumble dryer, good storage, a usable space and all will be fine!

@watersprites well it depends on your needs though. For example, we both work FT and need to pick up DD at nursery so for me it's not just a matter of the overall commute time but also the mental tranquillity of knowing there are always plenty of trains every hour that take me home in x mount of time. If I miss one, it doesn't matter as there will be a few more within the next 20-25 min. It's not the case with every location and that, in my opinion, makes commute stressful if you have kids.

I have a personal theory that everyone who lives in London has a commute of an hour. Doesn't matter how close they live, what method of transport they use, how many times they interchange. It's about an hour. DH gets the bus to work, it's an hour. I get two trains including an interchange at Clapham Junction and a walk to the station, it's an hour.

I was more talking about the fact that it's not an equivalent journey from (for example), Guildford to London as it is from the reaches of z5/6.

I have a personal theory that everyone who lives in London has a commute of an hour. Doesn't matter how close they live,

That doesn't make any sense. Someone in z1/2 is going to have a quicker overall commute. DHs commute is under an hour now & used to be a bit quicker, mine used to be 40 mins but I don't work in central London anymore. However we have also prioritised living very close to a station which obviously has a premium.

Can't see your link @Iamabarbiegirl - did you post one?

@Crikeyalmighty it was this one:

@Iamabarbiegirl weird as still can't see it

Oh strange. It is a lovely 2 bed flat for £500K - attaching some pic to give an idea

Personally I’d never buy leasehold again. Share of freehold or freehold.

@ScarletWitchM can I ask why?

@Iamabarbiegirl my son rents a 2 bedder exactly like that in Belsize Park -shares with a friend.

I get exactly what you want- I think something like that externally and internally but with garden is going to be over budget. Besides the east road one, I really liked the cranes park one in surbiton on my list and Elmers drive in Teddington is a lovely area too and it has a lovely big garden that you could make really nice and has share of freehold. Lovely area with young kids too

@Crikeyalmighty I love Belsize Park. If only... hehe

We could stretch to £520K ish and my hope is that prices might go down further in the next few months. I have to say, that is so nice that I'd even consider it without a garden.
Yes I saw the Cranes Park one, it's lovely but has a short lease and I think doesn't have a private garden either? I mean we are not buying any of them now anyway but just as a comment :)

@Iamabarbiegirl this was rather nice in Hampton- lovely garden - not as good for trains though. I would def look at things that are £530 etc- they can always say sod off!!

You will get something nice in that area, surbiton has tons of them and I like surbiton - compromise I think will either be'prettiness' or garden- got to be honest when our son was small we had garden but rarely used it much- I wouldn't necessarily have it asa dealbreaker although it does help on resale

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135151487

@Crikeyalmighty this looks stunning... yes less well connected, although I suppose a short bus ride to Kingston.
Thanks for all the advice, I think when the time comes we will definitely focus our search on this area and see what happens.