Buying a house in London
Posted: January 7th, 2024, 2:46 pm
I puschased a 1 bedroom flat in my 20’s for £150,000 which is currently worth approximately £250,000 now, with £170,000 in equity.
I met the woman of my dreams and started a family, we decided to temporarily move into a relative’s house due to space and rent the flat out (currently £1150 pcm).
5 years later, we are still here and now have 3 young children, she is a full time mum but we can’t stay here forever.
My income fluctuates at around £40,000 per year being self employed in London.
It’s a physically demanding job and I’m 40 years old, I don’t have a retirement plan and limited to the number of years I can work until due to health issues.
I would like to keep the rental property as my pension.
I am also lucky enough to have saved around £100,000 in savings.
I’ve seen a 4 bedroom house for £500,000 but I still don’t think I can afford to live there.
I’ve been thinking I should remortgage my rental and get a second buy to let mortgage (if I am even able to) on this property and rent it out until my equity position is good enough to comfortably afford to move in there with my family.
Or should I sell my rental flat, pay the CGT and try save some stamp duty cost as this will now be the only house I own, although it’ll be a BTL for at least 2 years due to the kids school commitments.
I’m not sure which rate of stamp duty I’ll be charged.
I’m even more afraid of what house prices will look like in the future.
Can someone give me advice or other suggestions?
Thank you
I met the woman of my dreams and started a family, we decided to temporarily move into a relative’s house due to space and rent the flat out (currently £1150 pcm).
5 years later, we are still here and now have 3 young children, she is a full time mum but we can’t stay here forever.
My income fluctuates at around £40,000 per year being self employed in London.
It’s a physically demanding job and I’m 40 years old, I don’t have a retirement plan and limited to the number of years I can work until due to health issues.
I would like to keep the rental property as my pension.
I am also lucky enough to have saved around £100,000 in savings.
I’ve seen a 4 bedroom house for £500,000 but I still don’t think I can afford to live there.
I’ve been thinking I should remortgage my rental and get a second buy to let mortgage (if I am even able to) on this property and rent it out until my equity position is good enough to comfortably afford to move in there with my family.
Or should I sell my rental flat, pay the CGT and try save some stamp duty cost as this will now be the only house I own, although it’ll be a BTL for at least 2 years due to the kids school commitments.
I’m not sure which rate of stamp duty I’ll be charged.
I’m even more afraid of what house prices will look like in the future.
Can someone give me advice or other suggestions?
Thank you