Just musing......can we buy a maisonette with the plan to buy the top flat in years to come?

[IlanaK]

We are looking at a flat this week that looks great on paper. It is ground and lower ground (3 bedroom) and there is only one flat above which I think must be a one bedroom place. I've been musing about the possibility of buying that flat in the future and turning the whole thing back into a house. It would be at least 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms then and we do us until the boys are all teenagers and beyond!

Am I crazy to be thinking of this? And how likely is it to be able to do this in the future?

You would be depending on it coming on the market.

Its going to be a lot more expensive to buy 2 houses and combine them than it would be to buy 1 bigger house in the first place.

We can't afford a bigger place now - and we don't need one. And they don't really exist where we are looking as they have all been converted.

I am not sure it really does depend on it coming on the market either. My dad bought the flat next door to his (in Florida) by just offering to buy it.

An ex boyfriend of mine got the opportunity to do this (and ballsed it up by mistreating the vendor ) - so the situation can come up.

I guess I'd try to separate out that opportunity in my head when trying to gauge whether I wanted the ground floor flat or not - and just count it as fate if it arises in the future (although I agree it doesn't hurt to ask when you have more cash available).

Yes, us buying the other flat is not conditional in my mind on having the top flat. But it is certainly in the back of my mind that it would make a great place in the future if we could.

A colleague of my dh's did this. The lived in the lower half of a divided villa. I think the owner of the top half was moving abroad and offered them first refusal (so to speak). It is now a gorgeous house.

It's something I would consider doing, it's a way of buying somewhere amzing in stages. My friend has done it, though she continues to rent out the flat. Fab.

Yes, I did think of renting. If it got to a point where we could buy the top flat, but couldn't afford to do it up, we could rent it out and save up the money until we could do it up.

Dreaming......