Doesnt anyone buy a property as a home anymore?

Kez100

I buy a house as a home. We had our first one for four years and sold with negative equity but that was also bottom of Market so traded up by about three rungs. I could live here happily for the rest of my life although more likely the garden will be too big one day so may go smaller but that's not the intention.

Moving costs so much in money and in stress. I've no wish to ever move unless life changes force me too.

PasturesNew

jenner wrote: »

...i have cats and suspect that its my luck to get some cheat of a landlord who will use them as an excuse to keep my deposit, thats if i can get somewhere to rent to me with my cats, although i have read on here that it wouldnt be a problem.

The Sun newspaper local classifieds property rental section (online) has a little tick box filter for cats allowed.

edgex

Purchases of property for BTL should be subject to standard rate VAT, currently 15%.
Holiday homes should still pay full rate council tax.
Council tax should be split in 2, one part paid by the property owner, the other by the tenant. Owner-occupiers would pay both parts together.

leespot

I bought my house to live in, then my parents moved to a much bigger house and said I could stay with them (happened same time as I bought my house) so I rented out my place and moved into theirs. Can't really see what the problem is? I do intend to buy another few houses over the next several years, probably to rent out. Again, whats the problem with that?

edgex

leespot wrote: »

I bought my house to live in, then my parents moved to a much bigger house and said I could stay with them (happened same time as I bought my house) so I rented out my place and moved into theirs. Can't really see what the problem is? I do intend to buy another few houses over the next several years, probably to rent out. Again, whats the problem with that?

The problem/issue goes like this

Family want to buy family house.
As they want to actually live in it, bring up their kids in it, etc, this requires some stability, ie not much risk.
Therefore they might stretch a bit for the first few years, but will ensure that the mortgage remains affordable.


BTL wants to buy a property.
As they are looking at having an income, ie rent, to cover the mortgage, & are also making a bet on property prices rising over time, they will take on a higher level of risk on the mortgage, & so will go for a bigger mortgage, to make sure they get the property.

Seller gets 2 offers:
Family offer £x
BTL offers £x + 5/10% whatever

Which offer does the seller go for?
What then happens to the family?



If you are buying multiple properties as BTL, you should operate as a business, be registered, pay business rates etc.
Surely thats only fair?
Also, commercial purchases of properties should be subject to VAT, which as a business you will be registered for.

Running_Horse

One problem is the poor quality of housing stock in this country. Too many slums and flats are unsuitable for most family aspirations, so people feel the need to be property developers to get somewhere decent.

wymondham

I'm sure people do buy for a home and not an investment..... BUT there is absolutely no point in buying now when you can easily avoid losing vast sums of money simply by renting or waiting - there is no common, or financial sense in doing this, and Martin also pointed this out in his Jeremy Vine show last week.

Those that say if you're staying for a long time then it does not matter will have that argument taken away shortly, as many people stare unemployment in the face after Christmas. You always need an exit strategy, but if you are in negative equity, then you reduce your options dramatically at the point when you can least afford to.

An interesting point is that anybody buying now will not have benefit of being able to claim they did'nt know prices were falling or complain about hideous future financial problems as a result of their overwhelming urge to 'buy on the slide' or to buy with a scheme. This was not the case in past downturns when the picture looked more fuzzy - it's currently more clear and more documented/commented on than ever before in this information age.

I would never buy my main property as an investment - it's a home - nothing more, nothing less.

besonders1

wymondham wrote: »

I'm sure people do buy for a home and not an investment..... BUT there is absolutely no point in buying now when you can easily avoid losing vast sums of money simply by renting or waiting - there is no common, or financial sense in doing this, and Martin also pointed this out in his Jeremy Vine show last week.

Those that say if you're staying for a long time then it does not matter will have that argument taken away shortly, as many people stare unemployment in the face after Christmas. You always need an exit strategy, but if you are in negative equity, then you reduce your options dramatically at the point when you can least afford to.

An interesting point is that anybody buying now will not have benefit of being able to claim they did'nt know prices were falling or complain about hideous future financial problems as a result of their overwhelming urge to 'buy on the slide' or to buy with a scheme. This was not the case in past downturns when the picture looked more fuzzy - it's currently more clear and more documented/commented on than ever before in this information age.

I would never buy my main property as an investment - it's a home - nothing more, nothing less.

Great post I can't disagree with it. I think a lot of people whether it is FTB's to be like myself or even landlords get completely excited about owning your first home and feel that the house prices are not dropping quick enough. This causes this feeling to get the better of ourselves and not stop to think that we could end up in the same position as people who bought in the boom peak. I have noticed that ridiculously overpriced houses like 4 bed detached houses have been reduced but many FTB type properties are still overpriced near to 2007 levels. There is no where you can get a cheap standard 2 bed terrace at the year 2000 prices yet. Even I am still coming to terms with the fact that houses are no longer a safe investment and there is no guarantee that its value would even return to 2007 levels again unless our wages rose to 200%. I think there is a lot of more bad news for homeowners to come that we are not being told. Why risk buying a house you like now with 20% off from the peak only to lose it a year later and your chance to ever be a home owner again if the banks can't get back what you paid.

silvercar

We moved in 2006, a decision we don't regret. One of the prime reasons was to get a bigger garden.

I could have twigged in 2006 that house prices would eventually fall. That would have meant waiting to buy, probably until 2010-11. Even then a suitable house in this area would have to be available.

In the mean time what do I say to the kids, don't grow up for 5 years?

Our old house was starting to look tired (alumninium DG, bathrooms redoing) if we had waited a few years we would have had to spend money on the old house to achieve a decent price, whereas we would rather have spent it buying the new one.

silvercar

edgex wrote: »

Purchases of property for BTL should be subject to standard rate VAT, currently 15%.
Holiday homes should still pay full rate council tax.
Council tax should be split in 2, one part paid by the property owner, the other by the tenant. Owner-occupiers would pay both parts together.

All of which would add to the rent, so tenants lose out.