Savills - No recovery for 8 years

justpurchased

I Agree DD.

Quality of life is more important than all of this.:beer:

Dithering_Dad

lostinrates wrote: »

But trying to keep up with the gloom is part of how I am riding out the storm. Also, as someone waiting to buy the markets and their state will have some influence on our timing to buy, with which institution we mortgage with and certainly what we do with the money til then. I also think its no bad thing for people of my generation and younger to follow this, to have it drummed into us as hard as possible so that some of us opt not to sell our souls for a plasma screen in the future.

I agree to a certain extent, but surely it's more useful to research the property prices and keep an eye on local news that affect your area than to keep posting/reading/speculating about US banks that are about to go bust, etc.

You may end up in the scenario that prices in your area have 'bottomed out' but because of the daily diet of bad news, you're too scared of losing your job, etc. to take advantage.

We can't live our lives worrying about all the bad things that might happen, we can just try and cover ourselves for the most likely events (with insurance and savings) and then just get on with life.

neverdespairgirl

justpurchased wrote: »

So when will you buy 18 months after they start going up! There are no awards for being almost right is there. You either buy a home or you dont. I purchased in 01, sold it for 5% off peak price (Sold April Compleated July) and purchased a larger home last month for 30% below peak price. Difference is I dont want :T or a gold star I needed a bigger home to live in and the current state of the market helped me to do that. I was not prepared to sit on a STR fund and make my family live in a damp rabbit huttch. I have no plans to move and we are happy and can easily afford it, so why people want to call the bottom and the top of the markets is beyond me surley you are as greedy BTL'ers you go on about!

We will buy when buying is cheaper than renting, we find somewhere we like, and are happy we can afford it without stretching ourselves. Easy, really!

We don't live in a "damp rabbit hutch", we live in a nice 3 bed flat for under half what we'd have to pay to buy it.

I don't want to "call the bottom", but neither do I want to pay silly money for the next 25 years on something way too expensive.

lostinrates

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

I agree to a certain extent, but surely it's more useful to research the property prices and keep an eye on local news that affect your area than to keep posting/reading/speculating about US banks that are about to go bust, etc.

You may end up in the scenario that prices in your area have 'bottomed out' but because of the daily diet of bad news, you're too scared of losing your job, etc. to take advantage.

We can't live our lives worrying about all the bad things that might happen, we can just try and cover ourselves for the most likely events (with insurance and savings) and then just get on with life.

Not really. Personally, we have a US dollar account, and DH's dad lives in US, so we will inevitably have to deal more with that system at some point hopefully in the distant future. We also have a euro account, until late this yea next year received an income in Euros and have euro assets and TBH I don't see a time when we are not having to consider international finance as part of our personal situation, despite us feeling like England is our choice of future. That said, Dh works for an 'International (ie US)' employer, in Europe, and will in 18 months have international qualifications...in our personal situation we'd be nuts NOT to consider the possibly very direct international influence and possibilities.

Furthermore with so much 'international' ownership what effects 'them' today might well touch us tomorrow. Localaity is something that does concern us, but as you might remember DH works not far from you, our future home could be anywhere. As FTBs our options are broad and while we whittle down our search area we, I accept unlike many, would be ill advised to concentrate on a small local area when our choices are not confined to that. As in many of these situations what is right for me isn't right for everyone. That said, if I were anyone else, or everyone, as long as I wasn't turning to the bottle in despair I don't fel keeping abreast with international financial affaires is time wasted. If however doing so has lead one to seek a prescription calmative, and feel like life is too much then I agree, one should reduce one's financial risks/indebtedness and opt for a simpler, happy life;)

Dithering_Dad

lostinrates wrote: »

I don't feel keeping abreast with international financial affaires is time wasted. If however doing so has lead one to seek a prescription calmative, and feel like life is too much then I agree, one should reduce one's financial risks/indebtedness and opt for a simpler, happy life;)

I feel that in times of economic turmoil everyone should reduce their financial risks/indebtedness regardless of their nervous state or home-ownership status.

As far as a simpler and happy life, who wouldn't opt for that? Much better than a complex and unhappy one, surely?

lostinrates

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

.

As far as a simpler and happier life, who wouldn't opt for that? Much better than a complex and unhappy one, surely?

Thats why I said happy and not happier. I have a complex but happy life ATM.

Dithering_Dad

lostinrates wrote: »

Thats why I said happy and not happier. I have a complex but happy life ATM.

I have a complex and happy life too, but have to admit that a simpler life would be much happier. I beleive your OH works away during the week in the same way I do? I don't know about you guys, but I'd be a lot happier in a job where I was home with my family every night.

I have a pretty poor work/life balance at the moment, but hopefully once we kill our mortgage I'll be able to change this without severaly impacting my family's standard of living.

When I worked for an oil company in Saudi, the US guys I worked alongside had a saying that we all had a bucket in each hand, one was slowly filling up with money and one was slowly filling up with !!!!!!. They joked that we leave when the bucket of !!!!!! hits the floor. For me, this took 18 months, for some of them it took 18 years! :eek:

justpurchased

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We will buy when buying is cheaper than renting, we find somewhere we like, and are happy we can afford it without stretching ourselves. Easy, really! quote]

As you said It is twice as cheap to rent than buy in your area, so the day it is cheaper to buy than rent is never likley to come. Dont forget with a mortgage you will be repaying capital so unless you class Intrest only as cheaper than renting. Or are you classing it as cheaper over the term say 25 years?

Dithering_Dad

justpurchased wrote: »

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We will buy when buying is cheaper than renting, we find somewhere we like, and are happy we can afford it without stretching ourselves. Easy, really! quote]

As you said It is twice as cheap to rent than buy in your area, so the day it is cheaper to buy than rent is never likley to come. Dont forget with a mortgage you will be repaying capital so unless you class Intrest only as cheaper than renting. Or are you classing it as cheaper over the term say 25 years?

NDG lives close to me in Shoreditch (London) I believe, so I can safely say that she's talking about rents in her area being less than one would pay in interest alone to buy a comparable property. She could either rent from a landlord and not have to worry about building repairs or she could rent from the bank (for more money) and be liable for all repairs. Seems like a 'no-brainer' to me .

lostinrates

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

I I beleive your OH works away during the week in the same way I do? I don't know about you guys, but I'd be a lot happier in a job where I was home with my family every night.

I have a pretty poor work/life balance at the moment, but hopefully once we kill our mortgage I'll be able to change this without severaly impacting my family's standard of living.

Of course we would. Before this job we were glued to each other (in fact we moved in together after a fortnight :eek: ) the first few months of living like this was very hard for us both. We try and treat each weekend like a date, and both wear our best pants on Fridays but it does tend to mean the weeks are a bit vacuous. BUT, I feel very strongly that if DH were not working in an environment that was challenging and stimulating it would be just as bad. I doubt DH will properly retire ever but I do look forward to a substantial change in his role near traditional retirement age :rolleyes:.