Purchase dilema: go for the fab expensive property or the more affordable not so fab one

[IlanaK]

The saga continues for us....

I have seen an amazing garden flat in the right area. 3 bedrooms (one really huge one and two good sized doubles). 1 ensuite bathroom, one family bathroom, large double sized reception room leading through to open plan dining room leading to massive kitchen. Utility room. Amazing 100ft garden (and about 25foot wide too!). All done up to an amazing standard - granite work surfaces, oak wood floors, etc. Unsuprisingly, it is over budget by about 100K. We could just about stretch to it with mortgage and possible a bit of family money. Importantly, it has the option of having a fourth bedroom by dividing up the really large one with a partition wall. So we could stay there long term.

Or....we could get a garden flat on the same road that is also nicely done up. But it has the three bedrooms without the possibility of dividing one up to make a fourth. The living space is smaller. No utility room. A nice large garden, but not quite as park like as the other. It costs over £100,000 less than the other though. I just can't see us being able to stay there long term though.

What would you do?

[ninedragons]

What stage of your careers are you at?

The only, and I repeat ONLY, circumstance in which I would contemplate stretching ourselves for a mortgage would be if DH and I were at the start of predictable and ultimately lucrative career paths.

If you're doctors or lawyers less than about seven years out of university, you could consider it, but if you don't think your incomes will rise substantially over the next three to five years, you'd be mad to consider it.

Having to count every penny for the next 20 years is a recipe for misery and marital bickering.

[busybutterfly]

Option one, jasper's point was spot on.

[bodycolder]

It is no use having a log term good investment if in the current economic climate you can't afford a decent life today.The market has further to fall imho so post election may be better for prices but then horrendous for mortgages.Difficult but to over stretch now is madness.My financial adviser says the opposite and was advised by his senior at work to sell all his BTL portfolio as th nexy few years are going to be rocky.A falling asset is not a good investment and all the talk of recovery is v premature.A house for life which is a bargain is the only good buy atm