| Body | I will start my PhD in Glasgow in a few months and am currently looking for a flat.
Instead of renting I was thinking about buying a small 1-2 bedroom flat. Since I have already lived right in the city centre for a couple of years and didn't really like it I am now looking for flat 3-5 miles away from the university as I will be commuting by bike anyways.
Now come my questions regarding buying property in Glasgow:
I have seen several listings in the price range of 70k-80k GBP for 1 or sometimes 2-bedroom apartments. Do these listings actually sell around that price point or is there a bidding war between potential buyers?
Would any bank give a mortgage to a PhD student with reasonable interest rates? I would be planning to pay 30,000 GBP of those 70-80k by myself and get a mortgage for maybe 8-10 years. Of course, that be for longer than my studies, but in case I would stay in Glasgow afterwards I could just stay or rent it out if not.
I have read that UK Gov is giving out interest-free loans of up to 20% of the purchase price for first-time buyers. Am I eligible as a foreigner? Is the loan only for new build homes?
What other costs and fees will I have to consider? If I am not mistaken a solicitor would cost around 400-1500 GBP, and a Land Register around 60 GBP. Am I missing anything? The LBTT should be 0% in the price range I am considering.
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Would be super grateful for any advice or guidance. At this point, I haven't made any decision as this would be quite a big investment for me. For me, this just seems to be the only way of saving some money (or even investing) some money during my PhD since I wouldn't have to pay rent and use that money to pay my mortgage. |
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