Am I the only first time buyer at the moment?

Fergie73

On the other hand, if I were buying and WANTED that particular house I'd not gazunder. When I bought my house I paid full asking price and said to the owners that I wanted to buy it at full asking price when I did my first (and only) viewing.

I'm the same. Once I've decided I want a place, and I'm happy to pay the asking price (or a new negotiatd one) I'd never back down on that. OTOH, it is really tough in this market. I think that's why there are so few buyers. I know when I go and see places, I'm often the first potential buyer they've seen in ages.

So it's kind of a balance, and it is quite terrifying to be thinking of buying in a falling market. So yeah, some posters can get all high minded about it, but it's the way the market is. The fact that most people won't even "waste time" looking right now is why sellers are finding so few viewings. It's the state of the market. Gazundering is no worse than gazumping: the seller can say no if that's their choice, and wait for another buyer to come along...

bluejake

SuperChap wrote: »

Do folk think we should go with our [strike]morals[/strike] stupidity and pay the higher price

SuperChap wrote: »

...and risk the seller cancelling the sale?

You should be so lucky.

How will you feel if your property loses £50k or £75k in value? How long will you have to work to make that money when you add on mortgage interest and the taxes and deductions you will pay on earnings? What if you need to move or lose your job when your in negative equity?

[Good] Morals have nothing to do with paying more than the market price. Stupidity is a more appropriate word.

Being stupid is an expensive luxury. If the seller cancels the sale he will just have to accept even less 6, 12 or 18 months down the line. Don't fall for the old 'hurry, hurry, hurry buy now before it's gone' line. You will get a lot more for your money in 12 months time.:money:

besonders1

If a FTB cant resist and buys now at todays prices, won't they effectively just be trading places with a seller facing negative equity? Make sure you choose wisely as you won't be moving for an awful long time until the prices go back again, there's no point in paying a small fortune for a Victorian 2 bed terrace with no garden if you are thinking of starting a family otherwise you might spend all your life living there with no way out.

mclaren32

besonders1 wrote: »

If a FTB cant resist and buys now at todays prices, won't they effectively just be trading places with a seller facing negative equity? Make sure you choose wisely as you won't be moving for an awful long time until the prices go back again, there's no point in paying a small fortune for a Victorian 2 bed terrace with no garden if you are thinking of starting a family otherwise you might spend all your life living there with no way out.

Thats my thinking at the moment, I am an FTB but we are looking to buy a house we can have a family in (we are 25 & 24 with no current plans) and ride the storm without having to move a few years down the line. We wont be in the position to buy until the spring but even then I will be treading very carefully whilst trying to restrain my GF from falling in love with everything she looks at!

SuperChap

Thanks for all the ideas. You've given us some stuff to think about.

To answer a few of the questions:

hethmar wrote: »

Is the house empty at the moment? Is it a place that you really dont want to lose?

No it's not empty. We'd be a bit disapponinted if we lost it but life would go on.

PasturesNew wrote: »

What are your options if you lose your job and still need to pay for the house? These are questions I knew the answer to before I even went to view it.

We have thought about this. We are MoneySavers after all

besonders1 wrote: »

Make sure you choose wisely as you won't be moving for an awful long time until the prices go back again, there's no point in paying a small fortune for a Victorian 2 bed terrace with no garden if you are thinking of starting a family otherwise you might spend all your life living there with no way out.

This is our trade up house so size won't be an issue and we plan to stay there for a while.



One of the reasons we're buying now is to avoid the rush when things get easier. We looked at buying a few years ago and didn't like '5 minutes to decide' enviroment. We also don't want to spend another 2 years waiting in our current flat. It feels like there is never going to be a right time so why not now!

SC

PasturesNew

mclaren32 wrote: »

...we are looking to buy a house we can have a family in

Have you done all that looking at schools/league tables thing for this house?

SuperChap

Little update: We got 2k off the price but it wasn't worth all the hassle. Another lesson learnt.

As an aside, which house price index do folk think is the best - halifax, nationwide, land registry, rightmove? Land registry has the bonus of being able to check what's happened in a particular area rather than relying on the national figure but is is too far out of date?

EdInvestor

SuperChap wrote: »

As an aside, which house price index do folk think is the best - halifax, nationwide, land registry, rightmove? Land registry has the bonus of being able to check what's happened in a particular area rather than relying on the national figure but is is too far out of date?

LR is more realistic than the Halifax/N'wide IMHO. The latter are based on mortgage approvals (not completed sales) and there are hardly any of them now.The LR includes cash sales (maybe 25% of the total) but excludes new property and repos.

The big falls in some provincial city new build flat prices and the rise in repos is tending to distort the other indices and whatever anyone says, ordinary non-forced seller,non-new build property is not priced according to distress sales elsewhere, even in this climate.

monkeymaster

SuperChap wrote: »

Little update: We got 2k off the price but it wasn't worth all the hassle. Another lesson learnt.

As an aside, which house price index do folk think is the best - halifax, nationwide, land registry, rightmove? Land registry has the bonus of being able to check what's happened in a particular area rather than relying on the national figure but is is too far out of date?

Nationwide/Halifax are a good indicator of future trends but Land Registry is most accurate, though 3 to 4 months behind. As stated above it doesn't include repo's so will have an upwards bias.

davey9998

i have a friend who is seriously into property and owns hundreds of homes for cash and doesn't owe a penny on any property/commercial estate etc and he is picking up houses that sold for £72500 ish last year for £20,000

My job is in analysis and I personally believe houses will continue to fall for at least the full length of 2009

you only have to look at the 50% reductions at auction to see what will happen in time to the general market

I wouldn't buy at £250,000

Also, interest rates are likely to remain low for a while, BUT in say 3 years interest rates could easily quadruple from what they are today if inflation gets out of the bag and that would mean on a mortgage 1% above base (ie 3%) at the moment would go to an interest rate of 9% - this would mean your interest payments on over £200,000 would treble from around £500 per month to around £1500 per month.

People will come on here picking i am sure (And it is unlikely to move that quickly) but rates WILL go up in time and you could be very squeezed.