Owning your own home

Why would you move to Catford?

so do we. it's leafy and there are some amazing 50's mid century gaffs thereabouts and it's close enough to #wn4l that we can still Norwood Fist it with the rad dads of se27.

Pubs are a bit shit though.

who the fuck goes to pubs anymore?

Not me. I don't go out anymore. I'm too broke.

so will i be if this offer actually gets accepted. fuck me living near london is dear.

Not broke yet, but I will be very soon. All contracts signed and 10% deposit paid to the solicitor so exchange is on for today or maybe tomorrow.

Come to deepest Essex, it's cheap(er) and all the pubs are shit.

Been quoted thirteen large (plus another k for 'admin costs') for extending a lease with 87 years remaining. Rather more spendy than I was expecting.

On the plus side, it's an additional 125 years and ground rent 'to remain the same'. That's £250 until 2030, when it goes up to £350 and another £100 every 25 years. Seems pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Found at least one surveyor who offers advice with no cost or obligation, guess I should give em a call.

What do the online calculators say? They were pretty close for me.

Most are 8-12k so the quote is close to the maximum, albeit on the wrong side.

Attempting to negotiate is obviously gonna cost me, so I have to try and find out if the potential saving will be worth it.

That’s a similar amount to the cost of us buying our freehold through collective enfranchisement- is that an option for you?

Have tried weighing up the pros and cons of that before. I'm not convinced the benefits are worth the hassle, particularly since the owner of the ground floor flat (it's only the two) doesn't live there and I don't want to be responsible for running everything.

Other than this lease extension thing (which is a one-off) there's no significant costs associated with the freehold. No service charges etc., just the relatively insignificant ground rent.

How much is there to run in a converted house? I'm in the same situation as you and pretty much the only thing we do is buildings insurance (which is about the same price as your ground rent).

Admittedly the lease does have us responsible for the top and bottom half of the house respectively so there are very few communal areas but that hasn't worked out too badly as I've combined roof works with a loft conversion which the other freeholder has no issue with.

£1,800 is a scary number but presumably he can get a breakdown of where it goes?

You’d have to hope most of that is a sinking fund...

outfuckingrageous.

How much is there to run in a converted house? I'm in the same situation as you and pretty much the only thing we do is buildings insurance (which is about the same price as your ground rent).

We're in a house converted into 3 flats, share of freehold.

The money we pay a month goes to cover buildings insurance, pollarding of various trees on the property (they're covered by tree preservation orders) and a sinking fund for maintenance of communal bits and for emergencies.

Roof repairs tend to be shared between the two properties (even if the lower properties have no roof) so sometimes people downstairs will resist change to share of freehold.

Other than that it's cheaper than the sum of service charge and ground rent under leasehold as there's no administration fee or people raking off management fees.

Someone ends up doing the administration though. We have a limited company to own the freehold, so I'm a director of that, and one of the neighbours has to submit accounts to Companies house each year. Plus someone has to shop around and obtain the buildings insurance each year.

We bought into the share of the freehold, so I've no idea how much faff was involved in converting it.

[EDIT] 3 bed flat (middle floor) and we pay 80 quid a month.

more patronising horseshit from the standard.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/estate-agent-says-londons-millennials-should-stop-buying-sandwiches-holidays-and-nights-out-in-order-a3690481.html

the sellers of the place in sydenham have yet to get back to us regarding our offer. the EA's representing the other place we have our eye on (catford yay / boo) are leaning on us for an offer as they have second viewings lined up.

pull the trigger on an offer on catford despite not having an answer from sydenham or do the decent thing and wait?

my fucking nerves.

I don’t get why more millennials don’t just do what I did and get a windfall inheritance from a grandparent to help put a deposit down on a property. It’s obvious when you think about it.

catford > sydenham

sydenham = 4 beds (me either) + next to park
catford = 3 beds + next to south circular

also, why don't you go and get one of those tax payer funded educations that meant i could start a sweet job with £0 debt hanging over me.

i fucking hate my generation sometimes. i can just picture the centrist dad arsehole that wrote this condescending shitheap.

patronising horseshit

Wow...it really is, particularly like Strutt & Parker's findings - 'Our research has shown that if a couple sacrifices six luxuries for at least five years, they can put away significant savings' (my emphasis).

So...just don't go out, take lunch to work, make your own meals at home, don't go on holiday, forget the Lottery and keep your mobile for FIVE years and you should be good to 'stretch up to that all-important first rung'. Simple, eh?!

of course, in five years time the average deposit will be £194,000 at which point i'm sure the good folk at Strutt & Parker will publish a study that highlights the most profitable recourse for selling your own lungs.