buying a flat

In 6 months time everyone's going to be dead and man's hubrustic edifices will slowly crumble into dust. I'd hold off until then as prices will naturally correct.

*hubristic

if you think the price is good .......your just as likely to right as anyone else

I`ve never seen so many "For Sale" signs in my entire life as we now see today.

No I agree the mighty mac. but still think with more singles flats would be more affordable in terms of maintaining so may appear to be more popular with all the singletons. Me being 1.

googling hub

sounds like me

Yeh remind me of a young Mc Moonbeam

Councils allowing loads of new flats to be built as higher density of housing increases council tax revenue.

Reasons for not buying a flat.
1. You have a depreciating asset. As the lease gets shorter the flat goes down in value and can be hard to sell as it becomes difficult to raise a mortgage. You are entitled to buy the freehold in some circumstances or extend the lease but both will oost you.
2. The service charge and management company can be another source of grief. The value of your flat will be affected by the standard of maintenance if any of the common parts and the building as a whole.
3. You have no control over who resides in the adjacent flats. If a few low-lifes move in next door or above you may find it impossible to let your flat to anyone decent. Once the standard starts to go down it stays down.
4. There is a glut of flats over the whole country as builders have put up too many over the last few years, particularly in town centres.

But if you call them apartments instead of flats it makes them sound la de da.

And, think of the urine in the stairwell.

You have no control over who resides in the adjacent flats.  What like you have in a house?

service charges/repairs can be a pain as repairs are split by the total number in a block ,so when windows get painted you end up paying around 1k for work you could yourself normally for around £100

buying a flat is still a much better bet than renting though - demand will be high over the years

The length of the lease is a crucial factor in the valuation of a leasehold property.
If the lease is less than 80 odd years the flat will depreciate as the lease grows shorter and it will get increasing harder to buy on a mortgage.
However it easy to extend the lease by 90 years before it gets to that stage.
Look for at least eighty plus years on the lease unless you know what you're doing, and then get it extended by another 90 years pronto, the cost should be factored into the purchase price.

That'll make the lease safe for another 90 years, and ensure that it can be bought and sold on a mortgage.

As a leaseholder, you are beholden to the freeholder, who may well be a toss pot.

I think you have to wait 2 years after purchase to extend the lease.

Two years is correct JH.

Service charges can be tricky, but there's no need to be taken for a ride.
If you think you aren't getting value for your money there's nothing stopping you from replacing your maintenance company.
You just need support from a majority of the other owners.
Simply approach another property management company and I can assure you they'll fall over themselves to tell you how to go about it to get the work for themselves.

I have seen some city / town centre flats fall by over 70% in value from the peak of 2006/7.
It depends where you are buying as some regions have held up reasonably well.
Now wouldn't be a bad time to buy though.

Thanks for the replies. Flat was in Lancaster and prices there don't seem to have changed at all from little i ve seen. also its less than 150k but not many low lives could even afford that. Service charges is a valid point although thick the lease was 999 years if thats even possible.

Many flats these days are bought as Buy to Let.  So you really don't know who will be living next door.

A couple of blocks I looked at buying a flat in have at least half the flats as rentals and several are rented by the local council because of the shortage of council flats.

if you are not on the property ladder stay off,prices are still crazy and can only see them going downhill

Depends where you buy.  Rents continue to rise.

true but grab it whilst you can

Crisp77

Yeh remind me of a young Mc Moonbeam

When has there been a time in the last 15 years or even further back when the experts didn't tell us it was a bad time to buy?
Even four years ago they were telling us prices had further to drop yet they've all gone up again.
If you listen to the experts you'll never buy a property.

If you're looking to buy a flat the ones that were built in the peak 2007 time are the ones to buy imo

as said above prices were sky high then & if you really shop around you can get almost 45% off peak prices , which would give a good rental yield if that's what you plan to do

I bought a 1 bed flat mid 2013 for as cheap as I could get it & gives around 7.25% yield (to live in) but there would be estate agent fee's if I wanted to rent it out , but still a decent enough return

Service charges are a rip off , I pay £972 year for service charge & ground rent & feel I'd rather buy a house for a bit more money & not pay any fee's apart from insurance

The upside is they're very cheap to run , so you do save a bit back on bills compared to a house (how much I'm not quite sure)

They're also easy to rent , demand is high for rentals where I am & would rent for £425 month or £450 part furnished

It'd probably rent within a month or so & I guess landlords like readily rental spots like here surrounded by shops , buses & amenities

Just do the basic maths & look for a yield similar to mine & you can't go too far wrong

Finding out all service charges should be the first question you ask , and some agents will try & fob you off easily

Also make sure there is a good management company in place (although they're all robdogs imo)

A fair few I looked at seemed good bargains but then you do your homework & find out there' s no management company in place ...

That can be good for a while with no fee's to pay but you're liable to pay whatever the next company charge you !!

I was told that in a Recession 1 bed flats fall fastest , but in a boom they also rise the fastest , though I'm not convinced that's a Fact , it really depends on the area AND UNEMPLOYMENT  which will be high in area's like mine but means cheaper properties to snap up if you're smart , the flip side is that Rentals are also High in area's like mine so Investing would be much easier than some richer area's where nobody would sell , go bankrupt etc etc

If you simply plan to Buy to Let the fee's shouldn't bother you as much , as it'll be covered through rent , all you need is a nice yield after fee's , but buying to live in I feel I'm being ripped off paying 1k per year for nothing !

also its less than 150k but not many low lives could even afford that.

One of the worries is where other landlords in the block let their flat to the council on a 3-5 year deal. The council guarantee the rent and to return the flat in the same condition it was when they took it on. However the council can put in anyone they like with no consideration for the other owners or tenants. If a lot of the flats in a block end up let it becomes difficult to sell as a lot of lenders won't give mortgages in that situation because they know the value of their security is vulnerable.
Another worry I have seen is when some of the owners don't pay their service charge and the maintenance company either don't look after the block or even pull out so the block and common parts fall into disrepair and are not cleaned. Again you'll not sell then because ofmortgage difficulties.

If you're buying an apartment/flat it needs to come at a very good price so that you're getting a very good return as compensation for the vulnerability of your investment.
With property you make your money when you buy not when you sell. I would suggest you only buy at least 20% below market value.

You need to be carful whenever you put your money on the line.

I wish bix would join in the conversations on here when the anti landlords crew start calling for more legislation against landlords.

They seem to think it's a case of buy - let to the DSS brigade - then retire and grow rich off the back of taxpayers.