Buying first property - Central or Sensible

[hibernianduck]

Looking at buying my first property with my boyfriend. We are both mid 20s. Saved up the 10% deposit and SDLT on our own and London based.

Our budget is roughly £700k. For this we are either looking at a one bedroom that is walkable to work near Shoreditch, or we’re looking for a two bedroom further out, somewhere like Clapham.

I want to go sensible and get the two bedroom further out. Boyfriend wants to buy as central as possible and thinks guests will be fine on a good sofa bed in a sitting room.

I understand the appeal of being central, but I also don’t want to waste another £30,000 on SDLT and moving costs in a couple of years time.

Thoughts?

Currently:

• How often do you have overnight guests?
• How often do you both work from home?

Future:

• Any plans for children? If so, is this some time away?

It's tricky to decide what to do. Moving is very expensive and a 2 bed flat may last you longer, particularly if you plan for children. On the other hand, you may still want to move it somewhere bigger in the future, even with a 2 bed. So you could do e.g.:

• 1 bed for 3-4 years then move out to suburbs for house because you want children
• 2 bed for 7-8 years then move out to the suburbs with a child because you want more space/another child

(Massive generalisations here, plenty stay in flats with children and plenty don't want children, or not for years, it is just to get you thinking.) I wouldn't overly worry about guests.

If you want children then absolutely get a 2 bed. You might even want to think about an area where you could afford a 3 bed potentially in the future. Lots of placez accessible on the train to Shoreditch. If your boyfriend is not ready to think ahead you may need to compromise though.

Wouldn’t worry about guests, would just get a sofa bed/airbed you two can always sleep on that if parents come to visit who are too elderly for a sofa bed. Would consider working from home/child in the future.

At your age, central all the way! There’s time to move out and be sensible later and a flat in Shoreditch is always going to have great resale value. Plus time and money saved commuting!

Clapham really isn’t very far out. It’s v well connected and a great place to live, much nicer than Shoreditch. No-brainer to get the two-bed and be more future proofed too.

this is based on the fact you have quite a big budget - I know plenty people in small houses and are very happy.

2 beds is not enough when you have kids. You’ll find people with 2 beds in Clapham often move to places they can afford 3/4 beds before or after their first child. You’d end up moving twice anyway. So I’d say get the central flat and then move to a suburb when/if you need space for children. Don’t worry about guests - the sofa is fine, but will you need an office?

What’s going to suit you at your age and stage of life? Are you working long hours in demanding jobs? If so, minimise commuting time. If you’re WFH then no brainer to get somewhere bigger.

At your age I'd choose to be central. Also, bring able to walk to work rather than having to commute is a massive bonus.

But as others have said, you need to think about it and when you want children. The two bed flat in Clapham may be better long term.

Clapham. It’s not exactly living in the ‘burbs.

Thanks for the advice so far - reading with interest.

Clapham does feel really suburban to us, but then we have spent the last couple of years living in Manhattan.

Save more and buy a 3-bed house. This is the London way. Flats are money losers over here, unlike in NY.

Clapham is also reasonably central - it's hardly the suburbs.

I thought you were going to say the outer edges of Zone 6!

Agreed flats never seem to hold their value or increase unless youre buying one in which case it’s always increased. Never seems to work in anybody’s favour that I’ve met

Definitely Shoreditch. Clapham isn’t very nice (I had to live there for a while). Do it now whilst you’re young, you’ve got the rest of your life to live in suburbia. You don’t know what’s going to happen in 5-10yrs, you might want to get married and have children, you might decide to go off and do something completely different. Live the life you want now.

If you did want a two bed though you can find somewhere a lot nicer than Clapham.

You haven't said why 2 beds flat would be "sensible" for you. Is isn't closer to work place, so why is it 'sensible'? Is the 1 bed over-priced or has cladding maybe?

Don't know which bit you lived in but Clapham is a big place and much of it is objectively nice. I've no axe to grind and each to their own, but it's a bit perverse to say Clapham isn't very nice and talk about having to live there like it was some hole. Shoreditch is arguably much less nice as it's so built up and scuzzy albeit in a cool way. I like both places for different reasons but wouldn't spend so much on a one-bed in Shoreditch. It's not even that central. I'd get a one-bed in Waterloo or Bloomsbury if central was the priority.

You could also look north of Shoreditch, a walk/bike/train ride up towards Dalston, and I think you’d find plenty of two bed options.

I say neither. Go to Hackney Wick area and get a 2-3 bed.

You don’t seem to be quite there yet for the suburban lifestyle and you are still quite young so I won’t even suggest the most sensible thing which is a 3 bed house. Just be aware that flats of any size don’t hold their value well and you may end up paying even more for a 3 bed house when the time comes. People are wary of buying flats these days because of the leases and services charges. By all means, buy one centrally and live it up for a while but go into it with eyes open that it may not be the best financial decision.

If you’re thinking of moving in a couple of years, do the numbers stack up to buy at all?

Putting the money in investments/ savings while you live the lifestyle you want and avoiding 2x buying costs and stamp duty.

Kentish town or tufnell park. You can get a very nice 2 bed for 700k.

Only buy if you’ll be there 5 years minimum. You’re young enough that you could do either the Shoreditch flat or the Clapham flat before making the move to your long term family home in say 5-10 years. It would be inadvisable to do one then the other, as you’ll then end up needing to buy a third time. So whichever feels the most future proof to you for five years minimum.

It’s a tricky one!

In a similar situation, we went for central - bought a one bed ex-LA flat in an amazing area, 2 minutes from the tube. This was almost a decade ago. We were a bit older than you (28) with a lower budget.

I loved living there, at least for the first three or four years, and I suppose it’s hard to put a price on that. But, in hindsight, it probably wasn’t the most savvy decision. It always felt tricky to host guests as they’d have no space or privacy, and when we had our first child it quickly (/immediately) became unsuitable. We sold it for less than we had purchased it for, after accounting for a major works project that we had to contribute to as leaseholders. In hindsight, I’d have gone for a two bed or possibly rented for a couple more years before buying a more future-proof property.

Like you say, each to their own! I really didn’t like Clapham at all, it feels out of the way and I didn’t like the high street (chains, full of stag and hen dos, felt intimidating). I really didn’t enjoy living there, a friend lived in Battersea which felt a lot nicer. Shoreditch was a lovely place to live, it is central for those that work in the city. I could walk to work, there was always something new, I felt safe, so many independent places, vibrant.

Waterloo and Bloomsbury are fine later in life, but not somewhere I’d want to live in my 20s. I lived in Bloomsbury in my 30s and it was perfect then.

There’s no rush. Mortgage rates aren’t changing rapidly and flats aren’t going up in price.
Spend time in different parts and at varying times of the day. Test the commute from Clapham.
Is outdoor space important to you? Can you buy a freehold flat? Leaseholds are becoming less desirable as service charges increase.
Do you want to have a car, or bikes? Think about storage space. What about a pet?