Owning your own home

Next someone will saying Streatham is nice.

I don't plan on saying anything of the sort. 5 lanes of congested High Road in places... ugh. A friend came to visit this weekend and commented on how noisy and aggressive the drivers seemed to be compared to her native West London. Go figure.

This wasn't the case for me, When i bought my Ex-LA (i'd agree about modern builds) 1 bed in Peckham i'd have to go as far as Catford before i could get a 2 bed for the same money.

Ah yeah Ex-LAs are a special case though, loads of room for discounting / bargaining.

And who would move to Catford eh?

Pfff, only Catford. I had to go to far West Bristol to get a two bed!

West Bristol! Luxury!

similar situation to me albeit with a partner.

We're now trying to stretch ourself a bit and going for full ownership in streatham hill, areas that are walkable (20-25mins fast walk) to balham

Two bed is nice (the constant stream of family members sleeping in my spare room will attest to that) but if one of your main criteria is the location then sacrificing that for an extra room isn't necessarily the best from a lifestyle point of view.

Even though I bought a two bed years back I never had any intention of having a lodger, a lot of people buy so that they don't have to share.

Assuming you're looking at the shared ownership which are mainly new builds the price differential does seem reasonably high. The one bed my friend bought recently is about 650sq ft which is a pretty liveable size and a lot appear to be about that size now.

the constant stream of family members sleeping in my spare room will attest to that

This is something my parents have mentioned. When I first moved to London in 2014 my cousin and his wife owned a 2-bed maisonette in Balham. They were kind enough to offer me their spare room while I found a spare room on SpareRoom.

If I can, it would be great to be able to offer the same luxury to younger cousins and family friends - but it's definitely a nice-to-have not a must-have.

Walkable to Balham is useful for getting back from central, plus there's a taxi rank there for when you get really lazy! :)

Best of luck with your search.

dont forget the nighttube!

True! I've made extensive use of the night-tube recently - it's brilliant. Wish they'd extend it to Thursdays.

What's a loft conversion cost? 35k?

Thanks for the helpful responses a couple of pages back... we were away on a mini tour over the weekend.

We've booked an appointment with and had a phone conversation with a mortgage advisor who has already been very helpful. However, I'm not sure if I was expressing myself badly on the phone, but one question he seemed to dance around a little bit was "what proportion of total savings is it typical for people to spend on their deposit?". It seems like the fist question everyone asks is "what's your deposit" and broadly speaking bigger is better but knowing how much of my savings to commit is pretty scary.

At the moment I get the feeling I'm more reluctant to commit funds than my GF, but since we are currently living with my mum it wouldn't be surprising if she felt the pressure to move even more keenly than I do.

@Howard thanks for the offer but I'm not in London so probably a bit difficult :-)

Probably the least you'd be looking at spending.

It depends a lot on your circumstances I'd say. My deposit pretty much wiped out all of my savings, furniture had to wait until I got the deposit back from the flat I was renting previously.

On the other hand, I had a reasonably well paying job so I could build up my savings after (mortgage was actually less than rent), the job was pretty secure, I was employed and it would be very unlikely I'd be sacked (although I also took out unemployment and critical illness cover until my savings built back up) and I didn't have any dependants.

Basically, I could afford to wipe my savings out, if you have children, are self-employed, at risk of redundancy, have a car that might need repairs and is vital for work, etc then your position may be different.

In terms of "bigger is better" for mortgage that only counts at certain thresholds. An 18% deposit probably won't get you a better deal than 15% so it's only worth extending yourself to get into the next LTV band for a mortgage deal.

Quick question -

Is there much difference in cost between buying the freehold vs a lease extension?

I'm in a conversion where we have two flats, both leasehold through Hyde (who are pretty fucking useless) and the monthly service charge increased from £25 to £100 due to a £3000 fire inspection test which clearly is a made up number from some firm fleecing us and who is probably owned by Hyde.

Anyway, as they are useless we've considered buying the freehold so any ideas on how to cost?

@ewanmac

I suppose it depends on your circumstances and what value of property you're looking at buying and how much you think you can comfortably pay each month towards the mortgage.

The deposit wiped our savings out too, but as others have said, you'll still (I hope) be working during the process, so you'll have a few months to build a money buffer when it comes to moving in and having to cover furniture/appliances and the unexpected costs you discover once you lift up that rotting floorboard, etc...

"what proportion of total savings is it typical for people to spend on their deposit?"

100%

^this and then over pay as much as possible.

If anyone's had a loft conversion in East I'm looking to start work next spring.

Also anyone got experience with extending into the side return of a victorian terrace? Bit like this...

over pay as much as possible

y?

genuine question.

I was in shared ownership for nearly 20 years and normally I'd say steer clear, but a year after I sold the place (which was an absolute nightmare due to the staggering incompetence and indolence of the HA) I'd say it's worth a look if (and only if) you can a) get a 2 bedroom (I rented my spare room out at first, and no I didn't tell the landlord or the bank. He paid me in furniture and appliances) b) you can get a better flat in a better area than you could buying outright, and c) you can afford to staircase to 100% as quickly as possible. Owning it outright and having a much less restrictive lease (and more security too) is the only way to sell it and be free of all the HA bullshit.
Given Brexit it is entirely possible you could be in a falling market which makes staircasing more feasible. However, it also makes waiting it out and buying something cheaper in the first place possible.

You'll be eating into the debt you've built up from buying a home, meaning you pay it off quicker.
You don't pay interest on the amount you overpay.
The money you'd save on interest often beats the returns possible by putting it in savings, given savings rates are currently so pitiful.

This? £300 extra per month.

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given savings rates are currently so pitiful

That reflects in the interest rate of the mortage too no?

I was under the impression that given its such a 'cheap' loan, delay it as much as possible and the LTV keeps reducing anyway because London ..

My savings are paying me about 1.5% more than what I'd have saved if I overpay.

Maybe I need a re-think.