Is It Better to Buy Flats or Houses? | Samuel Leeds 

I know houses are a better option but the thought of living in a luxury apartment is so comforting to me. Especially those GTA 5 type of apartments😂

Flats have much better ROI compare to the house. Just make sure it has at least 99years remain in the lease. If you get a flat within a walking distance from station, city centre, uni etc, refurb it to high standard and then you get almost the same rent per month as for house, that cost three times the flat. There is not much capital appreciation, but its all about the financial freedom trough cash flow, isn't it? As Samuel said most of people rent a flat before getting on the property ladder by buying a house, so that automatically means there will be always rental demand for flats.

In the UK houses are best for investors, however the ROI in London is great for flats and your rentals should cover the additional cost .

It all depends on what you can afford, due to rising house prices some ppl have no choice but to buy a flat as a starting point.

Great video with some quick and useful points from yourself - thanks! I am looking into buying my first property (to live in at first, in the city) with the plan to rent out / use as serviced accommodation in the future - hopefully my planning and strategies will support this idea!

Great video and advice. Any chance you can do a video on leasehold and how you decide if property a or b is worth buying due to its lease terms? Also do you buy new build houses for rentals?

I would guess houses but waiting to hear your advice!

wow this was perfect timing

Save for 1 to 2 years as a young person living with your parents. Then buy a flat and live in it. Paying mortgage on a flat is cheaper than renting one. Live in the flat for 5+ years and save money again. Then move out the flat and buy your own house while you rent out your flat for extra income. I did this and before I hit 30 I own now a flat and house. This is also important to note that i only make 9.50 a hour when I started this process. I got my house before my 5 year saving mark because I bought it with my girlfriend. I fully own my flat still and rent it out. You just have to give yourself a good plan for the future and stick to it. So many people waste money in their 20s. I started with just saving 500 pounds a month. And I got my flat with a 5% mortgage. It initially cost 70000. You can see it's very affordable at that rate

What about buying a block of flats to either rent out or sell? Would love a video on this.

How would be your strategy to buy a building/apartaments to turn it into a motel or hotel? Or sny business at all?thanks for sharing your knowledge!

All about the ROI. I dislike service charges and ground rent.

You just saved me a whole lot of money on service charges.

When is the right time to put a flat on the market to sell when you have tenants?

Hi @Samuel Leeds Is there any difference in your views on buying flats in apartment blocks versus purchasing one of two flats in a house, for example (shared front door and nothing else)?

Great video, quick question. How about if you are buying the whole block of flats??

Not very many flats are cladding free. Cladding is going to be an issue going forwards 100%

I currently own 2 flats, £50k & £55k As Samuel rightly said, yes they are usually cheaper than a house, and ive had no problem renting them, but they often come as leasehold, In my experience, lenders are not so keen (if at all) to lend on a flat as they wont own the building, So very often, its a cash purchase, So houses are the way to go as at least you can re-finance every 5 years and pull some money out tax free. So top tip don't buy a flat unless its in a fab location ie town centre or near attractions where you could do an airbnb, otherwise stay clear BUT if you must, then always go for a 2 bed as the tenants will stay longer.

With flats its hugely depends on the area. I am in London E18 Zone4 and flats go like hot cakes .There are waiting list for buyers for flats in South Woodford, Woodford, Snarebrook, Loughton, Wanstead, Leytonstone, Leyton. .. I know this because I have just managed to buy a flat and every time I went to view they were gone. Even in current Brexit climate. So its all about area. Also in converted houses the ground rent is next to nothing. No service charge as you maintain the property.

Once you see the service charges, building insurance, ground rent, and the overspend every year you'll be saying houses. Unless you're doing serviced apartments in a city centre don't bother.

Very helpful thanks

Hi Sam, could you please make a video on Re-financing? There's not a lot of working examples out there, and although you made a video on it a while ago, it left me still unsure about the best way to do it....and actually....HOW to do it. Many thanks :)

Great video!

Thanks needed this so I’ll focus on hotel and houses rather 😭

I think it’s up to your budget of course I would prefer buying a free hold house so I don’t have to stress about the lease and service charges but I have to get what I can afford for beginning then I will look for a house when salary allows me to buy a house.

Enlightening indeed.

This is probably generally true but not so much in London? Plenty of people I think go for a flat as their first property?

In terms of potential for appreciation, what do you think about buying a new modern two bed apartment in Manchester city centre - price currently sub 250k. Gym, rooftop, common areas. Assume 250k is my budget and a decent 3 bed semi where I live costs over 270-380k

Saying that of course it is better to buy a house . But mine was to live in not so much an investment. I cant around a house round here.

What's the pros and cons to buying blocks of flats.

The other thing worth mentioning is how expensive extending a lease can be. Once you go under 75 years remaining it can cost over £10k to extend. And not many lenders will mortgage on short leases. I think leases always come back to bite you in the bum!

hear me out i live my whole 18 years old life on a flat i mean its 200 years old but the problem is it sucks its small i never had my own room its freezing in the winder and hot in the summers we buy a lot of stuff and yet we dont have that much room its small its just bs for me and 2bh id rather have a house away from the city not smth big or huge like a god damn manshion hell no smth like a small or medium house atleast 2 floor wut be better so if your asking which one is better heres an easy answear buy a house dont live in a flat one it sucks !

Im surprised he thinks that about flats, what about flats just outside Birmingham city centre? Birmingham has 2 major universities in the city centers, a pretty strong student population.

Buy a flat with no lifts should keep service charge down also alot of flats are electric only no gas which is good no need to bother with gas certs etc boiler breakdowns.

There is this other Property Investor on youtube. Channel Bretts Property Rants. His portfolio is solely off plan bought flats in the UK. He also wrote a book about property investment 3+1 plan. Worth checking out. It just shows that with property there are different strategies. I have to agree with Samuel on this, the new build flats are very small and often over priced for what you get. Even if you ignore the service charges, the per square foot price is usually very high. Maybe an older larger purpose built flat with good views I might consider. Problem then if it is old you might get some big ticket items that need fixing and have to pay for that through the service charge. Which is a cost to consider. Also to consider if your converting to SA, is that some buildings with more active management will not permit SA to be done and it can invalidate the lease. I knew a guy that bought a help to buy property as a flat. He said it ended up a bad deal because he over paid for the property and only owned a percentage, once the low interest period expired he also struggled to get a better deal and had a complicated lock in contract as well.

I think thats cause you bought flats in Walsall, depends on area really..

I'm just discovering, it's the tenant who pays for the service charge...so as an investor the service charge should be an issue right?

My flat is a funny one feels like half a house I bough a 2 bed maisonette flat(910 years lease at £20 a year ,no service charge) with a big garden and stairs similar to proper house with everything on the first floor. In 2014 got it for just 89k small mortgage now sits at 71k(271 per month) cheap as chips and lots of space and garden for when have friends round in the summertime for BBQ etc. Now worth £160k

Rent houses live in a flat😉👍🏻 why flats are secure -perfect lock up -cash purchase up north -virual nil building maintainance -cheap to heat-thus freeing ones time and money to study and apply the Samual Leeds method 😂🙏🏾

Am I right to say if it’s a freehold flat there’s no ground rent

If I have an apartment block of 50 units should I sell the units or rent them out?? Bet I mean u own the whole building

Good advice 👌

Personally as a person in rural Ireland I'd probably say houses are better however if I was nearer a large city I'd say a flat would be more appealing consider it's less maintenance.

flats as serviced lets usually violate lease agreements, but yeh airbnb is about all that they are good for.

never flats only houses for me avoid rip off service charges

Thanks

For property investing, do you think it's better to focus on the quantity of properties with average gains (Acquiring as much properties as possible) or do you think it's better to focus on quality of properties with high gains (Focus on a few properties but maximise on those few)?

It really depends on the location...in London, flats are a great investment. A small studio in east London is £1200 a month in rental income!

I'd love to hear more about buying or building entire apartment complexes. What are the ROI for these? How many stories, etc. etc. It just feels like it would be a lot easier having all assets in one place, if that makes sense. Do you have any experience with this?

One thing to bare in mind if u buy flats in Edinburgh…. You own part of the freehold …. So u don’t really pay for ground rent or service charge. When things needs to be fixed every flats just pay their share of the costs l…

Im looking at a flat in york right next to city centre 220k (will offer less) but the service charge is 3k. Beautiful flat and could get 1100-1300 a month tenant or do a holiday let doing 2-3k a month. What do you guys think on the return on investment? How do I work it out and is it a good thing to purchase? Thanks

Hi Sam Have 50,000 to invest but I’m struggling to get a two bed House deal 😩 I’m looking in Kent / Essex I’d like to get rent and capital growth. 100% agree I wouldn’t touch flats with a barge pole

Samual Leeds , I will meet you soon and propose my business idea that will change the property industry in the U.K. and worldwide.

I dont know about UK but in the Czech even those flats built during socialism went up so much. It all depends on price of the land and that aint the case of UK. UK is extremely expensive and if your work, school, friends, family is in the city unless you have a lots of money to buy a house it is quite convenient to buy a flat. Plus as an investment it gives you always some good income.

Well 2023.....flats opposite my house go for more than my house?????? I am so confused. Flats 2bed go for £550k...my house with garage and 4 bed and garden go for 650k? I mean if you count for square meter...flats are so much more WHY?

Also i imagine more people get rich of flats than houses as most successful property developer millionaires are in London and most properties eligible for labours "mansion tax" when it was proposed were flats as the majority of UKs most expensive properties are actually flats in central London. I know guys who have 40-100 flats in London who are far richer than samuel Leeds is and flats are good because it is easier to get one on a top location, and by that I mean centre of a capital city eg London, NYC ect in these bottom locations were samuel Leeds invests flats are of course not wanted as they are almost surplus properties

I want to get into property investment but I dont know ANYTHING about it, does anyone know any good books or resources to build knowledge off of?

Is it better to build your own flat or buy flats? Like a whole block of flat.

How do I meet you live in leeds

In London, Flats are still a good investment, we sold it before Brexit and made 150k profit in our pocket.

House gives the same cashflow, plus capital appreciation.

how much cost to buy a flat in lativa ?

I'm not sure all flats are sold to investors. Many retired people buy them.

Are all your crash courses diffrent or are they the same

I’d like you to do a video that addresses your terrible trust pilot reviews??

Well actually, I’m staying in my parents’ two-bedroom flat at the moment. You might wonder why I don’t live alone like other independent souls, in fact, I’ve been trying to save some money on rent so I could go traveling.

U.K's Grant Cardone.

I’m in the process of buying a brand new one bed flat in Southend on sea for 180k , bad idea ?

Flat house no liking

Don’t watch this video , don’t really tell u anything

I bought my 1st home at 21 for 87k sold for 197k, 2nd home 170k and sold for 320k, 3rd 300k and sold for 589k and buyers paid all closing costs expenses etc... It is possible and very lucrative as long as all steps and details are followed.

anybody want to buy a 2 bed flat in peterborgh

I am a non Resident , I would like to invest in Uk

he is a scammer