talk us out of going for viewings

PasturesNew

fc123 wrote: »

Oh and I forgot PN.......... if you bought outright now and had hardly any savings, could you get JSA and a discount on council tax????
I know that's not your 'thing' BUT, from what I have read about your life, seems to me that a bit of a financial break is in order.

I can spend all my money now on a house and yes, qualify for council tax and JSA.

Or, I can wait it out and buy cheaper and have so much money left over in savings than I'd generate a lot towards that amount in interest anyway (interest rates depending).

fc123 wrote: »

If you had a garden , you could grow your own too.

I plan to do this in my own peculiar limited way at some future point. Tubs and pots. Worm aversion!

fc123 wrote: »

A bit of breathing space could enable you to pursue the job hunting further, even time to train in something else that would complement your existing skills.
Creative writing course? ;-)

LOL/creative writing. I really don't see myself as a writer at all.

fc123 wrote: »

Without prying, if your savings get erroded by higher living costs and your income from lower savings rates and less ad revenue from the downturn...well...could be another way of thinking about things? Only an idea tho'...not a judgement!

Cash buyers can push a good deal at the moment too.

Savings haven't been touched.
Interest hasn't been touched, but is quite low now due to spreading it about and rates dropping. Also, stick your money in the highest paying accounts and they're not highest the next month. So I left them wherever they are at whatever rate they are at. I never look to be honest.

Online revenue from the downturn is the biggest bomb. Probably now down from £25k/year to about £10k in just the last 2 months.

I am now applying for jobs. However, there aren't many

chucky

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Renting isn't necessarily putting one's life on hold, though, surely?

of course it doesn't - if it suits your circumstances, it's the best thing.

i would have though that you had realised by reading the thread that we were talking about people waiting to hit the bottom of the 'crash' before buying.

lynzpower

hang on- I never suggested we were anywhere near the bottom of the crash at all

carolt

Obviously up to you, but lynz and lostinrates, as I believe? - forgive me if I'm wrong here - that you're early 30ish and without kids yet, if you are looking to buy, do things like check out schools/suitability of area for kids before you buy, just in case prices fall and you do get 'stuck' there.

At this stage, it might seem a million miles away, but once/if you do have kids, these things suddenly seem much more important. So it's just worth thinking about if kids are a possibility.

We moved out of London - area I lived in in my 20's and where I was planning to buy - was great for a carefree lifestyle, and convenient for transport etc, but appealed much less once I had kids - lousy schools etc.

Just a thought. May be irrelevant to you, but jog someone else's mind?

fc123

PasturesNew wrote: »

I can spend all my money now on a house and yes, qualify for council tax and JSA.

Or, I can wait it out and buy cheaper and have so much money left over in savings than I'd generate a lot towards that amount in interest anyway (interest rates depending).


I plan to do this in my own peculiar limited way at some future point. Tubs and pots. Worm aversion!

I am now applying for jobs. However, there aren't many

I only ''worry'' about you that's all...;)
House + savings too sounds best option long term.
Save the writing for here....saves me ££££ on new books, I just log in and read whatever you are posting about.:D

lynzpower

carolt wrote: »

Obviously up to you, but lynz and lostinrates, as I believe? - forgive me if I'm wrong here - that you're early 30ish and without kids yet, if you are looking to buy, do things like check out schools/suitability of area for kids before you buy, just in case prices fall and you do get 'stuck' there.

At this stage, it might seem a million miles away, but once/if you do have kids, these things suddenly seem much more important. So it's just worth thinking about if kids are a possibility.

We moved out of London - area I lived in in my 20's and where I was planning to buy - was great for a carefree lifestyle, and convenient for transport etc, but appealed much less once I had kids - lousy schools etc.

Just a thought. May be irrelevant to you, but jog someone else's mind?

Yes, you are spot on. Personally I think we are on the page that wherever we buy the primary schools have to be good and the catchment pretty good. . OH and I seem to be on the same page that primary school in the state sector is ok, ( with a lot of decent parental input I think any child can succeed- eg I was reading novels before I started Primary, my parents were just quite hot on it- mainly cos my dad had such a crap education ) but secondaries in London leave an awful lot to be desired. I was a social worker for a time and spent a fair amount of time in Inner london comps. It was horryfiying, and I would rather homeschool or send our kids private, than put them anywhere near schools like that :eek:

PasturesNew

fc123 wrote: »

I only ''worry'' about you that's all...;)

awwwww

It's my birthday this month, do you want a list of presents you can buy me?

fc123 wrote: »

House + savings too sounds best option long term.
Save the writing for here....saves me ££££ on new books, I just log in and read whatever you are posting about.:D

I've been suckered into that damned OS board. I stay away from the huggles and head straight for the food. Today I've made a scrummy chilli and some great bread, including a cheesy bread which I had for tea with the chilli. All good quality ingredients, no filling it out with lentils (how can they do that?).

At the moment I don't even know which county/town any future house purchase could be in. It will be jobs-driven. So I need a job before I can go viewing.

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

Obviously up to you, but lynz and lostinrates, as I believe? - forgive me if I'm wrong here - that you're early 30ish and without kids yet, if you are looking to buy, do things like check out schools/suitability of area for kids before you buy, just in case prices fall and you do get 'stuck' there.

At this stage, it might seem a million miles away, but once/if you do have kids, these things suddenly seem much more important. So it's just worth thinking about if kids are a possibility.

We moved out of London - area I lived in in my 20's and where I was planning to buy - was great for a carefree lifestyle, and convenient for transport etc, but appealed much less once I had kids - lousy schools etc.

Just a thought. May be irrelevant to you, but jog someone else's mind?

I have a few months of an age that begins in a ''2'' yet . But the kids does need considration. As you say, nothing happened yet, but if we do have one it will be in next couple of years or not at all. Thanks for adding this point - its not my first rpiority so I suppose I don't give it enough weight in decision making.:o ETA: We think by the a child hit school age we'd be able to afford a private primary if we didn't like the state ones (minimum 5 years nine months from today, right?). I think school choice after that stage would depend on who our child turned out to be and what his/her apptitudes were. Its all a matter of timing with finances...world economics withstanding. We don't expect a child of ours to be particularly precocious in first school years as will be biligual (maybe trilingual, depending on discipline in liguistic purity and what family are about a lot, and that, in our experience, can sometimes make ones first years of acadmic progress slower, but you catch up later W certainly wouldn't want a kid to feel 'thought less of' or more importantly lose confidence because of this in a highly acadmic environment. NDG, very impressed at you learning Hebrew!

ModernSlave

There seems to be an underlying idea festering underneath this thread which I'd like to ask about.

Does not buying a house make me a second-class citizen? It seems as if a lot of people on here think that you can't begin to live life properly unless you've got a mortgage.

Surely, renting doesn't mean 'putting your life on hold'. Lots of people rent and raise happy and healthy children all over the world! And they have pets!

(Personally, I don't think having children is actually the acme of human endeavour, but that's another issue.)

So, to recap, racism is unacceptable, sexism is unacceptable...but somehow rentism (or whatever you want to call it) is still ok.

geoffky

i would point to all to wait at least a year unless you are a cash buyer because the way this is panning out many on here will be made redundant and all the pain it produces... this is going to one one messy recession/depression and a good many people who now feel safe will have to face up to the fact that they were not immune.....hold off until we find out who has been hit or missed by the bankers and public greed.....i would hate to see any of us good bears struggle because of buying a asset now that most of us have said is falling and then it wipes us out...