Will i regret a studio flat as a first home?

[Spare tyre]

I started out in a studio, served me well. It was a dump when I got it, ended up totally refitted.

What's your budget?

I started considering buying a flat in this bloc, they seem to come up cheap. This is a two bed, could let a room out?



Runnymede, West End, Southampton
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

The one beds come up cheap here


The trouble with blocks with studio flats is the type of freaks that can be housed there.

If you need advice on Southampton please shout as I'm a local

[KTF]

I know someone who lives in that road. Believe he has moved about between the blocks doing the flats up then selling on.

They are big flats for the money even if they don’t look like much from the outside.

[DonkeyApple]

keirik said:

Funk said:

Blaster72 said:

Yipper said:

Friends and colleagues will think you're a sad loner if you buy a studio flat in the UK. Try to buy a normal 2-bed house, instead, if poss.

Again, moronic comments from our resident know it all.

I'm not even quite sure why he's still here. He really is a cretin.

he's like our very own Alan Partridge but without the intelligence

Cruising with his media elites in the Chilterns

[Dinoboy]

My first property was a studio in one of the nicest streets in Edinburgh's west end over 25 years ago. Would have a small flat in a lovely area every time over a big place in a poor area.

[WCZ]

my first apartment was a studio in beetham tower, was £130k and my family said I was absolutely nuts for buying it. It's less than 300sq ft but my logic was that I'd rather prioritize location + less space to clean + service charges are based on sq ft

it was tough dealing with the space but was one of the best decisions I've ever made, I live elsewhere in the city now but still own it and get £950 a month in rental / there was one period where it went for over £1k.

as mentioned by others, I can't stress location enough! means everything in the future and almost dictates the quality of life you'll have whilst living there.

[Black_S3]

Benbay001 said:

Hi
By the end of the year I plan to have bought my first place of my own, but my budget is limited.
For all intents and purposes im single (long distance relationship) and rarely have friends over and if I do its one at a time.
I generally play computer in the evenings so don't need much space for a sofa etc.

I have a budget of £110k to spend in Southampton.
This opens up some 1 bed flats, but they are generally st areas.
Where as the studios are in nicer areas but for the same money.

I think I could happily live in a studio but everyone tells me im mad and will regret it.
Does anyone have any opinions?

Thanks in advance.

Southampton's a strange one, rental yield massively distorts the prices due to the huge student population happy to pay well above 'market rate' for crap accommodation. A student could not run a property on their own so do not pay the premium for a studio in a student area of SO is my thinking.

[Rostfritt]

talksthetorque said:

How much more is a two bed?
Rent the spare room out to a friend/random serial killer with smelly feet and get their rent to pay for the difference.
Ok, you have to share, but the flat will be much easier to sell and if you do decide to rent the whole thing out later you get a better class of tenant in a two bed*


*normally

This is not possibly any more. You cannot borrow more money based on an assumed letting income from your spare room. I tried all this when buying my place and they were not having any of it.

Basically all I could get was 4x my salary plus my deposit. Luckily my deposit was pretty big and made it actually affordable, especially as when I remortgaged a few years later my LTV ratio was surprisingly low for how long I had owned it.

I had a few of the moronic questions that seem to have cropped up here, for example.

Why did you pay a 20% deposit, we didn't have to pay a deposit when we bought our house?
-Well, lazy person at work who thinks they have it hard, you bought your house in 2007, when lenders were reckless and you were in negative equity for years. If I only paid 5% I wouldn't have afforded anything

Why don't you buy with someone else?
-Who? I need someone in exactly my position I actually want to live with.

Why don't you get a house?
-I literally can't afford one, as in all the money I have and all I can borrow does not add up to the price of any mortgageable house in an area I would consider commuting from, even, god forbid, Wales.

Can't you use your parents as guarantors?
-They would then only lend for a period up to my parents' retirement age, which as they are both over 55, is not good.

I would say to go for the studio unless a 1 bed turns up. As long as it is in the right area it doesn't matter if it is a mess. You can do it up, which won't break the bank as it is a finite area. Two tins of paint might cover the whole place. It wouldn't cost much to heat it if it is small, so you should save up, especially as you won't be able to buy much before you fill it.

I wouldn't say it would be hard to move on in a student city, there would be landlords around to do that. Moving costs won't be that bad as stamp duty will be possibly nothing, everything should fit in a large transit van.

I very luckily managed to get the cheapest 2 bed in Bristol. This meant I managed to rent out a room to a friend eventually and now rent it out and live abroad. I got it in 2014, so the value of it went up like crazy since I got it and if I didn't get it when I did, I would never have been able to afford it.

[Marcellus]

My Youngest has had a studio for the last year, it was all she could afford in the area she "Just has to live, nowhere else would do"

She is now moving on into a 1 bedroom apartment in a different area and one that a year ago "she wouldn't be seen dead living in".

She says the studio was OK, but sleeping in the same room where you've done your cooking, washing, watching TV, store your clothes etc etc etc got to be a depressing!

So, based on this my advice to the OP would be if it is really the only option in the area where "you just have to live" then rent one for a year and see how you get on, easier to move on if you're renting than if you've bought it.

[Benbay001]

Some very interesting points from everyone. Thanks

Marcellus said:

My Youngest has had a studio for the last year, it was all she could afford in the area she "Just has to live, nowhere else would do"

She is now moving on into a 1 bedroom apartment in a different area and one that a year ago "she wouldn't be seen dead living in".

She says the studio was OK, but sleeping in the same room where you've done your cooking, washing, watching TV, store your clothes etc etc etc got to be a depressing!

So, based on this my advice to the OP would be if it is really the only option in the area where "you just have to live" then rent one for a year and see how you get on, easier to move on if you're renting than if you've bought it.

Ive been living in shared houses for the last 4 years and spend almost all my time in my bedroom, eating, playing and sleeping, so i this is what makes me think i could cope.

[Benbay001]

Alot of the studios on right move seem to have enough room to section off a small but reasonable area for a lounge without making the layout awkward. Why isnt this done more often?

[princeperch]

I lived in a studio flat for 13 months or so when I was a trainee. It was cheap at 450 pcm Inc bills, close to Brighton where I was working at the time, and in a quiet road.

However it was only ever a cheap stop Gap, it would have been extremely depressing to have lived there longer than I did. No storage, everything on top of you, everything stinks of the cooking etc.

[S100HP]

I used to rent these out when they were built

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

I'd not considered a studio tbh. Too small. Where do you want to be?

[DonkeyApple]

Benbay001 said:

Ive been living in shared houses for the last 4 years and spend almost all my time in my bedroom, eating, playing and sleeping, so i this is what makes me think i could cope.

I can’t help think that it would be better to ‘cope’ a little bit longer so as to have the deposit to not have to ‘cope’ with you first home. ‘Coping’ is fine but if a little bit of extra time makes the difference of not having to cope then I’d use that time to your advantage.

[dhutch]

Very hard. I was luck enough to want to live in a small market town in the middle of nowhere next to the JCB factory.

Mean I could for 128k just about afford a tatty but large 3bed semi, having first looked at nicer small two beds, and seven years on having rented out two of the three rooms to other JCB colleagues and the like under the rent and room scheme I have been very happy.

However while in terms of a second mortgage I understand it would be see as 'self funding' now, I could imagine few places willing to lend against speculative income from lodgers.

Feel your pain. Don't know Southampton at all. I wouldn't bank on property prices going up other than slowly, and would be weary of the risk of inflation increase given the current climate. But then if rents are artificially high, may owning is more critical given the area.

Daniel

[Poplar350Z]

I'm actually moving out of my first time buy flat this week which is a studio. I could've bought a one bedder further out, or a one bed ex-LA in the same area but I prioritised the location over size and was worried about potential bills with council flats. It got me on the ladder and I was happy with it, the lack of space whilst annoying at times stops you acquiring so much crap. IME they sell slower than 1/2 beds so bear that in mind for when you plan to move but conversely use it to your advantage if you do decide to offer.

One thing I think is key is to make sure you have a seperate kitchen area. I wouldn't have liked to live/sleep/cook all in the same room.

[Rostfritt]

dhutch said:

I could imagine few places willing to lend against speculative income from lodgers.

They wouldn't for me and to be honest even though that was my plan it took a while to get the place to a standard where I could rent a room out.

This meant with the absurdly low interest rate I got the mortgage was really affordable, which was good as I had money to spend on doing it up.

It is worth mentioning that if you get talked into a 30+ year mortgage that you should overpay a bit if you can, as the capital gets chipped away really slowly in the first few years.

[Benbay001]

Currently i pay £550 pcm for a large bedroom in a shared house. Having done some pessimistic calculations on running costs of studio £650 pcm looks about right. £200 of which will be money off the mortgage ie cost of studio flat is more like £450pcm.
Hence my desire to move.
Plus im fed up of having to empty the bins for 4 other people every couple of days..

[DonkeyApple]

It’s quite a buyer’s market at present so well worth remembering that every £500 you knock off the asking is a month’s costs covered. There will be a vendor out there who will be willing to give you as much as 2 years worth of costs. Buying on your own is the only time that you can be objective and treat the deal as a real transaction. It’s definitely a time when you should be mercenary and really work to the mantra of buying smart so that you can sell happy. You’ll have to pay the emotional premium on the next property as you’ll probably have someone in tow you need to account for but seize the opportunity now to buy well and benin the mindset that there are plenty of suitable properties in suitable areas and to wait until you find a vendor who will deal. £5-£10k saved on the front end of the transaction is an enormous gain for you.