You Do the Maths

It is a right of passage for most people to dip their toes in the property market by renting their first home but this can be a bit of a shock to the system, to say the least. You are probably in your early 20’s, have bagged yourself a job in London that has good prospects for speedy promotion, but right now you have had to start at the bottom to work your way up. Quite rightly, you want to take full advantage of your new found pay packet and go out and enjoy yourself with work colleagues and friends at every opportunity.

Lads or Lassies holidays are a must, you need a sharp suit, gym membership and you couldn’t possibly manage without your car. Money is TIGHT! You have scraped together some savings for a deposit and have worked out that you can probably afford a property for around £700 per calendar month. You have always lived in Leigh-on-Sea with your parents, all your mates are here and you are on first name terms with the majority of the bar staff working in the local hostelries. You are a proud 'Leighite' and want to keep it that way.

When you were living with your parents you were lucky enough to have a big bedroom, they had luxury bathrooms & kitchen and they lived in an area that was convenient for everything where you knew everything. Don’t get me wrong you are still STREET (as the kids are saying) and definitely not a snob but you were used to a certain standard of living.

There in lies the problem.

You have started looking at some rental properties in your price range and unfortunately they just don’t do it for you. They are either in the wrong location, miles away from the stations or bars or worse still, your mates, or are tiny with lets just say not the quality fixtures and fittings you are used to!

Finally you have looked at everything, your parents barging in to your bedroom is driving you mad and you settle on a tiny 1 bedroom flat on the outskirts of Leigh (not where you wanted) just within your budget at £695 per calendar month just to get you out and free! Then comes the voice of doom (who unfortunately is usually right, YOUR DAD!) He says something like ‘good for you son/daughter, when are you leaving? I am going to turn your bedroom into my man cave with a massive T.V to watch football on.

When you worked out your budget you have taken into consideration the bills haven’t you? Haven’t you?’ Of course you haven’t! You are 20 something years old your top priority is Prosseco or Peroni, not Council tax or a T.V license!

Fear not, I might have an alternative. A clever local entrepreneur has converted a large apartment in to what he describes as commuter pods. Basically it is a property in the heart of Leigh, minutes away from Chalkwell station and all of the bars and restaurants you will ever need and has 5 bedrooms available to rent. Forget everything you know or have any preconceived ideas you may have about shared rental properties. This is the furthest away from an HMO you can possibly get; extremely high specification, double furnished bedrooms with flat screen T.V’s, Wi-Fi, brand new, quality shower rooms, fabulous shared, modern kitchen with top of the range appliances a lovely roof terrace for prinks (I think they are called?) with your housemates before you go out and best of all. NO BILLS.

Lets go back to that 1 bedroom flat you found for £695 and work out what it would actually cost you to rent. Those bills certainly add up and I am sure that you would rather save that money for a rainy day instead of spending it on sewerage charges? Yeah right! Theres a pair of shoes that you just have to have! Your new monthly out goings are going to look something like this:

Rent £695
Council tax £80
Electric £20
Gas £20
Water £10
Sewerage £10
T.V license £10
Wi-fi £20
TOTAL £865

What I am offering is a top of the range property, all in, ALL IN for £550 to £650 per calendar month (depending on the size room). There are no additional charges, everything is taken care of. Just think how wisely you could spend that left over money? Or more seriously, how easy it would be to budget properly knowing you have 1 single monthly charge that wont change that you know will cover everything.

Sharing a property might not have been your first choice but it will give you the standard of property you are looking for, in the area you want, at the price you can afford.

Give me a call and I will show you around and show you, you can have your cake and eat it. Tell that to your dad!

This article is by Rob at Scott & Stapleton.
Tel: 01702 471155

To read Rob's previous articles please click the link https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/blog/tag/property.html