buying a London flat- doing the right thing?

pickledpink

ixwood wrote: »

OP, take the crazy womans/girls advice with a pinch of salt. Virtually everybody else has said bide your time and be patient.

IXWOOD,

You're very quick to jump to conclusions aren't you?????

To call me crazy, a troll, or imply I'm in financial difficultes with a buy to let makes you look very strange indeed!!

You called someone an ugly toad and accused THEM of spamming -when they were nothing of the kind!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=9098613#post9098613

Your DREADFUL lack of judgment just goes to prove that NO-ONE SHOULD TAKE ONE BIT OF NOTICE OF YOU!! YOU ARE A MUPPET!:rolleyes:

And just to put you in the picture - I own my home - outright!:p And very beautiful it is too.

I sold and bought at exactly the right times! If I'm crazy then I've done very well for myself!!!!:rotfl:

You are just jealous that other people can buy homes you can only dream about. The OP is not buying the property as an invetment (although in a few years time it WILL be a great investment!) she is buying it as a HOME. A BEAUTIFUL home at that! And it will belong to HER!

Now get back to your back yard and go and do your weeding!:D

byrneand

pickledpink wrote: »

IXWOOD,

You're very quick to jump to conclusions aren't you?????

To call me crazy, a troll, or imply I'm in financial difficultes with a buy to let makes you look very strange indeed!!

You called someone an ugly toad and accused THEM of spamming -when they were nothing of the kind!

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=9098613#post9098613

Your DREADFUL lack of judgment just goes to prove that NO-ONE SHOULD TAKE ONE BIT OF NOTICE OF YOU!! YOU ARE A MUPPET!:rolleyes:

And just to put you in the picture - I own my home - outright!:p And very beautiful it is too.

I sold and bought at exactly the right times! If I'm crazy then I've done very well for myself!!!!:rotfl:

You are just jealous that other people can buy homes you can only dream about. The OP is not buying the property as an invetment (although in a few years time it WILL be a great investment!) she is buying it as a HOME. A BEAUTIFUL home at that! And it will belong to HER!

Now get back to your back yard and go and do your weeding!:D

Do you want to give it a break with the personal attacks and your antagonistic responses. It's not particularly polite and doesn't really help the OP.

Most people here have recognised that there are merits to owning in the area but you should respect that other people have chosen not to live/invest there. This decision may or may not be based on their financial position but you do not know this.

morg_monster

I reckon the OP has long since fled this thread... its long since ceased to be any use to her... entertaining, though....
someone pass the popcorn!

Austin_Allegro

lynzpower wrote: »

Without adding yet more pedantics to this discussion

HARINGEY is both a place and a borough.

To be still more pedantic, this is not strictly correct: there are two different spellings: 'Haringey' (pronounced Harring-gee) is used to refer to the London Borough of Haringey, but the town which makes up part of the borough is spelled 'Harringay'. (pronounced Harring-gay). So 'Haringey' is a borough, not a specific place. 'Harringay' is indeed a dump, but it is correct that 'Haringey' contains some nice areas, such as Highgate and Muswell Hill. :-)

penguine

pickledpink wrote: »

The OP is not buying the property as an invetment (although in a few years time it WILL be a great investment!) she is buying it as a HOME. A BEAUTIFUL home at that! And it will belong to HER!

Technically speaking, I don't believe it will entirely belong to HER until she has paid off the mortgage and, like lucky PP, owns the property outright.

ojosverdes

morg_monster wrote: »

I reckon the OP has long since fled this thread... its long since ceased to be any use to her... entertaining, though....
someone pass the popcorn!

Thank you all so much for all the replies!!!!:T :T :T :T :T
It has been amusing reading the debate on Clapham and Balham- I hope I'm not opening another debate when I say that the flat I'm buying is between Clapham and Wandsworth, closer to Wandsworth Common side.

I so appreciate all the advice given. And also the encouragement from quite a few of you to go ahead with the flat. This will be my home!!:D

Hopefully it will all go smoothly now and I can move in soon. :beer:

clk299

You know what? People find things that they love or hate about everywhere. There are people I know that won't even GO to New Cross/Brockley, Bermondsey etc but if I had to move closer to work then I'd be there in a shot. I love the area, it's my 'patch' for work and as a lone female worker who is often out after dark (community midwife, nothing dodgy! haha) I've never felt unsafe round there. Yes, there are some skanky areas and crime etc but I'd rather live somewhere like that, where I'd be happy and take the risk that overall the risks are higher, than live somewhere with a 0% crime rate and be isolated, miserable and bored out of my mind with a hideous journey to work every day.

If you can afford to buy a property that you've seen and you love NOW, then do it. It's a home and not an investment. If it goes up then woo. If it doesn't matter if the value increases or not then who cares? As long as it won't bankrupt you, your home is for living in and you don't sit in your house rubbing your hands together at what profit you could make on it, unless you're dead weird, so good luck to the OP is what I reckon.

ixwood

The home, not an investment stuff makes me laugh. It's one thing not making anything, but losing £10,000's is another. It still has to be paid back.

If you're in negative equity, you can't remortgage or sell (without coughing up a lot of money) and it can be a real nightmare. People naively seem to think it'll be fine and nothing to worry about.

GracieP

I'd compare it to seeing an amazing designer handbag or plasma tv for £3k that you just have to have now. You don't have the cash so you put it on your credit card, figuring you'll have it paid off within 18 months, bringing the cost over that time to £3990.

You buy it and are very happy until 2 months later when you see an almost identical item on sale for £1695. If you'd just waited you could have gotten the item much cheaper whereas now you actually still owe more than you originally paid.

If that scenario would make you kick yourself for ages afterwards, then you are better off waiting. If the 2 months of use you have gotten from the item are worth the extra cash then feel free to buy. Except remember that in this scenario you may be sacrificing an extra decades worth of mortgage payments.

mewbie_2

Phew! Have just read all through this thread to see if it was worth posting this. Too late for the OP but I'd like to add my 75k's worth.

It is incredible how someone who has clearly worked hard and sensibly to build up a sizeable deposit will then blow the whole lot on a quick decision. Obviously you WANT to buy so much, and no advice on here is going to change your mind. It is surprising to me, and a bit saddening, how someone can be so blind to what is happening, so determined to pursue the house purchase dream, that they cannot hear what others are saying.

If you were to spend just a little internet time looking at the data, the forecasts, you would see that there is only one way prices are going in the immediate future. That means that each time you delay your purchase you save money. It really could not be simpler.