House v flat

[LouiseC]

Would love people's thoughts on this...currently struggling, as many are with the London property market. Had resigned ourselves to being unable to afford a house in ED as many others have done despite renting in the area for a long time. Today viewed a house in The Catford side of Forest Hill, nice street but not alot around- pubs, shops etc. Then viewed a very large 3 bed flat above commercial premises in ED which offers everything a house would but with an affordable price tag...But it's a flat. Would you a)hold on to the dream of having an actual house in a potentially up and coming area or go for the flat with everything on your doorstep?

[Loz]

The big problem with flats is the leasehold (unless you get a share of the leaseholding company as well). I find leaseholds restrictive and annoying, so personally, if it is feasible, I'd hold out for the house.

But, on the other hand, prices are on the up, so waiting may be a bad thing.

[Townleygreen]

will you get a mortgage for a flat above commercial premises??

many don't.

[Jeremy]

Flats above shops aren't such a great investment (for the reasons Townleygreen suggests). Also large flats without a garden are quite tough to sell on for a decent price.

[LouiseC]

Hi Jeremy, very good point and definitely one to check. I'm hoping it won't be an issue as it is entirely self contained with a separate entrance and its above a shop with 9-5 hours and doesn't serve food..

[LouiseC]

It actually also has a massive roof terrace, equivalent to or larger than many of the gardens I've looked at.

[seemster]

I don't know the Catford side of Forest Hill but it's probably a safe bet that where there are now "few pubs and shops" there soon will be... I reckon the house would be a better investment - but of course there's nowhere like ED!

[Peckhamrye]

I have lived most of my adult life (over 30 years now) in flats. Much of this was spent in Edinburgh where a large part of the Georgian/Victorian housing stock are purpose built flats, NOT converted. In Edinburgh living in a flat wasn't seen as particularly different to living in a house - a large, well proportioned flat, often with communal gardens or private parks, was seen as 'just as good' and people bring up their families there quite happily. Edinburgh went through an intense housing boom through the Georgian era and flats seemed to be the best way around the scarcity of land. I find the desire to have one's own 'house' above everything to be strange - I now live in a 1000 sq. ft. flat on Peckham Rye which is bigger and has a far more spacious feel than many of the little terraced houses I viewed that I could afford.

[Jeremy]

1000 sq ft flats are fairly rare round here though. Given that most converted flats in London are basically half a terraced house, surely its not at all strange to want the whole house... with 3-4 bedrooms and a private garden... rather than just half of it.

[????]

Plus most flats are leasehold and many conversions have some kind of noise issue and shared entrances..all these are compromises that you make

[LouiseC]

This flat is big, over 1300 sq ft and while the negative side to buying over commercial premises is that it's trickier to get a mortgage and not freehold, a positive is that for the majority of the time you are actually at home and not at work you don't have neighbours above or below (if the shop is open regular business hours), so no potential of having loud music from neighbours blaring in at 3am....and vice versa, not having to worry if its you playing music at 3am!

Just worried about re-sale.

[the-e-dealer]

be the top flat. this means you never suffer from someone elses leaky washing machine or herds of elephants wakking above you late at night.

[Too Good To Be True]

On my run to work I see flats being built all over the place. Maybe not in ED, but Camberwell and Walworth certainly. They ain't building houses with gardens though. These will become ever scarcer.

[motorbird83]

Buy the flat as it sounds like it will give you everything you need. Flat conversions often aren't great but large flats are wonderful. I agree with PeckhamRye. A house isn't the be all and end all. I know lots of people who happily choose to live in large flats rather than houses. Its quite normal really in most big cities.

[Drone]

My first thing would be to check how long the shop below has been there and what the likelihood of this remaining a shop as opposed to turning into a bar etc is. I agree in that freehold is a much better option and insurance too above a commercial premises can be tricky, That said, then it really boils down to your gut feeling once all is explored and as they say location location location!!

[ultraburner]

Fwiw my first (shared) place in Dulwich was a beautiful flat on the croxted/park hall crossroads. Absolutely huge, with a curtain shop below; very quiet.

Townley is right about the mortgage tho.

[Jah Lush]

Buy what you can afford and where you'll be happiest but never overstretch yourself.

[hpsaucey]

Seconding this v sensible and concise advice. Managing to happily bring up two kids in a two-bedroom flat. Ideally of course we'd like more space, BUT its certainly not worth dicing with overstretching! Sure the anxiety would override the benefits.

Jah Lush Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Buy what you can afford and where you'll be

> happiest but never overstretch yourself.

[LouiseC]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom everyone, gave me a lot of food for thought. It seems it really is location, location, location- offered 20k over asking price it went north of 50k over (!) we just weren't prepared to stretch ourselves that much for it so clearly it wasn't meant to be....back to the drawing board.