The cut in stamp duty has opened the door for me to be able to buy a flat in near the city for myself -so long as I borrow 2k from my parents and use help to buy. I looked at what that really means which is that I can afford a small flat in Kingston by the sewage works with 2 hours commuting everyday.
Lads, is it still worth it? Yeah, my money isn't magically disappearing every month but my quality of life would be worse and, at 30, I will likely look to move in a few years with some bird. Still, there's a money factor involved so I've been fretting all week. Should I keep looking into this or just forget about it?
>>7939 It's always a good time to buy your own place if you can get the funds together and deal with the 6 months+ heartache it all tends to take. If your parents are able to help you, then take that help; most of us don't get it and you and they are lucky to be able to do it.
Commuting is rapidly going out of fashion. Depends on what job you're in, of course, but I think the homeworking/flexible hours thing is here to stay.
>>7941 I broadly agree, but there is a big difference between a free hold, a lease hold and owning a flat. The former has no "hidden" fees, the middle has ground rent which tends to be fairly nominal while the latter has service charges which can easily reach several thousand pounds a year. So on top of your mortgage your effectively still paying rent. Make sure to have a chat with other owners in the building if you buy a flat to find out how onerous the lease holders are. And (fat chance in The City) if several of you are long term owners, see if you can acquire the lease nad form a co-op.
ike all these sorts of actions this will just lead to increased house prices. It is good only for speculators, builders and boomers. I fucking hate it.