BRITS looking to buy their own home – with enough space for the kids – can get on the ladder for just £50,000.
According to Land Registry data, the average house price in the UK stands at £251,500 – but we’ve spotted family-sized homes being flogged for a fifth of this price on Zoopla.
Instead of scraping together a deposit of tens of thousands of pounds, you’ll only need roughly £5,000 to secure these cheap homes – or 5 per cent.
Before splashing out, you should pay to have a survey carried out.
This is especially important for homes that need work, and they will come at an additional cost to the survey your mortgage lender will carry out.
Nine of the homes on our list are located in the North of England, with one in Scotland – so you’ll need to consider relocating if you don’t already live in these areas.
What are the different types of home surveys?
A SURVEY gives a detailed inspection into the condition of a property, highlighting any major repair work that’s needed.
It can also help you decide whether or not you’re paying the right amount for your home.
The reports are carried out by qualified surveyors and costs vary from company to company. There are also different types of surveys depending on the depth of the report that you want and your budget.
These are the different types of surveys and their typical prices, according to the Homeowners Alliance:
Condition report, £300 or more
This gives a traffic light report to indicate the conditions of various states of the property – green for okay, orange for cause for concern.
The report provides you with a sumary of defects and possible risks but won’t provide any advice or valuations.
HomeBuyers report, £450 or more
On top of everything you get in the condition report, you’ll also get a valuation and an insurance reinstatement value – which is an estimate of how much you’ll receive if the building were to burn down.
Home Condition survey, £400 to £900
These are carried out by the Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA) rather than the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and includes information on broadband speeds, a damp assessment and boundary issues to consider. The price depends on the valuation of the property.
Building survey, £500 or more
These are extensive reports where the surveyor will go into places such as the attic, check behind walls and look between floors and above ceilings. It will also provide advice on repairs, estimated costs and timings, and what will happen if you don’t carry out the repairs. Prices depend on the size of the property.
Some of the homes are being sold through online auctions as well, which means that prices may go up.
Here’s 10 of the cheapest family-sized homes with three bedrooms on the market for £50,000 or less, so you can see what you can get for your money:
Saltburn-By-The-Sea, Yorkshire, £49,950
If you’ve always fancied living along Coronation Street, here’s your chance – but instead of living in Greater Manchester, you’ll be in Saltburn-By-The-Sea in North Yorkshire.
For just under £50,000, you can get a three-bed house along this street, which also includes one bathroom and one reception room.
From the pictures, it looks like it’s ready to move straight into – but in our opinion, it’s in need of an update.
There’s also a garden at the back of the property too, and you’ll be in walking distance of the nearby Skinningrove beach.
We’ve calculated that you’ll need roughly £4,950 for a 10% deposit to secure this home.
Chester-le-Street, Durham, £50,000
For £50,000, you can bag this three-bedroom house in Chester-le-Street in Durham.
This home comes with two bathrooms and one reception room as well.
However, the house could do with a bit of TLC, looking at the pictures.
It looks like a few of the tiles are missing in one of the bathrooms, and the doors look like they’ve taken a bit of a battering.
Make sure you’ve factored in the cost of doing up the house in your budget.
You’ll need to save roughly £5,000 for a 10% deposit.
Washington, Tyne and Wear, £50,000
This three-bed house in Washington, a town in Tyne and Wear, is an 18 minute drive from nearby Sunderland.
It also comes with a bathroom and a reception room.
However, it’s being sold via an online auction so it might go for more than this.
You can bid on the house now on SDL Property Auctions website, and bids close on April 6 at 2pm.
If you’re the highest bidder, you’ll have to pay a reservation fee of 4.8% if the house sells below £250,000.
Pros and cons of buying a home through auction
PROPERTY auctions are booming under lockdown.
The number of remote bids for homes being auctioned has soared by 700% during the Covid crisis.
Homes are selling for an average of 15% more than what their guide price is, as bored Brits look for a project to take on during the pandemic.
But if you’re wondering if it’s worth putting a bid in, Which? has explained the pros and cons of getting on the ladder Homes Under The Hammer-style.
Pros
- Homes listed on auctions are usually cheaper than what is listed on the market – so there’s an opportunity to bag a bargain.
- Which? says the process is completed within 28 days after the auction, so you can move in quickly.
- If you win your home in an auction, contracts are signed immediately afterwards, so there’s no going back on it – meaning you don’t have to worry about your sale falling through.
Cons
- You could miss out on your dream home if someone outbids you and you can’t stretch your budget to meet it.
- You’ll usually have to pay a reservation fee if you’ve secured the home and won the bidding war – so you’ll have to factor this cost in.
- Some homes being sold through auctions need a lot of work and could be in disrepair, so you’ll need the money to do it up.
If you bag it for £50,000, you’d have to pay £2,400, so you’d need to factor this into your budget.
You’d also need some extra cash to do it up, as it looks like it needs updating judging by the pictures.
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, £22,000
Just a 15 minute drive from Washington is Gateshead, where this three-bed house is located.
It’s also being sold on an online auction, and with a guide price of £22,000, could be yours for a bargain.
You can’t bid for it yet, but make sure you pre-register for the auction no later than April 1 at 8am on Taylor James Auctions website.
You’ll also have to pay £1,000 plus VAT if you’re the highest bidder, so make sure you factor this into costs.
The house also has a bathroom and a reception room.
Sanquhar, Scotland, £50,000
This house in the Scottish town of Sanquhar, Dumfries, is going for offers over £50,000.
It also has a bathroom, a reception room and a garden at the side and rear of the property.
Judging from the pictures, it looks like you could move straight in.
You might want to give the walls a lick of paint to add a splash of colour, as most of the rooms pictured are a creamy colour.
To get to Dumfries, it’s a 42 minute drive, or just over an hour if you want to take a trip to Glasgow.
Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire, £50,000
This unusual grey three-bed house in the village of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire could be yours for £50,000.
It also has a bathroom and a reception room, and there’s an astroturfed garden and patio area that the kids can play on too.
However, it needs a bit of work.
There are holes in the wall in the room closest to the front door, and the Chanel logo painted on the wall of one of the bedrooms might not be to everyone’s taste.
The wallpaper is also peeling off the walls in the kitchen.
However, we love the flash bathroom.
You’ll need roughly £5,000 in the bank for a 10% deposit.
Workington, Cumbria, £44,000
This three bed house in the coastal town of Workington, Cumbria, is £44,000 and comes with two reception rooms and a bathroom.
The garden comes with an outbuilding too, so you can store your garden equipment and toys for the kids in there.
It’s being sold through an online auction by Hammer Price Homes, and you can put in a bid from 10am on April 6.
If you’re the highest bidder, you’ll have to pay a minimum fee of £3,000 as part of a reservation fee, so make sure you can afford the extra cash.
However, it looks like the house needs some work doing before you move in, and the garden is looking a little muddy and in need of some attention.
Stockton-On-Tees Durham, £50,000
This three bed in Stockton-On-Tees, Durham, also has two reception rooms, a bathroom, and what looks like a good sized garden.
It’s going for around £50,000, which would mean you would need £5,000 for a 10% deposit.
However, it looks like it needs redecorating, and some of the rooms – including one of the lounges – might need updating too.
The carpet looks like it’s wearing thin too.
You’d need £5,000 in your pocket to cover a 10% deposit.
Stanley, Durham, £49,999
For just under £50,000, you could get this three-bed house in Stanley, Durham, which is just a 27 minute drive away from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
It looks to be in good condition, and we reckon you could move in straight away.
However, one of the bedrooms, which is blue and has a single bed pictured in it, could do with another lick of paint, as the walls look a little patchy.
The house also has a bathroom and a reception room too.
However, it doesn’t look like it has a garden judging by the pictures, so the house might be more suitable if you have older children.
You’ll need roughly £5,000 for a 10% deposit to secure the house.
Saltburn-By-The-Sea, Yorkshire, £49,995
This is the second house on our list that is located in Saltburn-By-The-Sea in North Yorkshire.
But unlike the other one listed, you’ll get two reception rooms with this home, and it also has one bathroom and three bedrooms.
However, you’ll need some spare cash to do it up.
The bathroom is looking a little worse for wear, and the carpets in many of the other rooms could do with being replaced.
There’s a small concrete area at the back of the house.
You’ll need roughly £5,000 for a 10% deposit.
Take a look inside the 10 cheapest UK properties with prices starting from £22,500.
Here’s 10 homes under £50k where single first-time buyers only need a £5k deposit.
If you’re a first-time buyer looking to get on the property ladder, you should read our ultimate guide to the process.