FTB - Are there any out there?

wymondham

mrstinchcombe wrote: »

You don't know the very best time to buy until its too late and I am lucky enough to work in a job where I don't have to worry about job security... I work for Currys

I like your style! :rotfl:
Do you think now is the best time to buy?

jon3001

mr.broderick wrote: »

Is that a joke? Aren't they in trouble?

Lovely downward slope on the share price for Dixons Store Group:
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DSGI.L&t=1y&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=

They lost nearly £200M over the 2007/08 year.

neverdespairgirl

sexysam wrote: »

.Top price we would pay for 2/3 bed is £12000

Missing zero, I presume? £12k sounds a bit low.

ftb_home_dream

I'm surprised how you guys got 43% and 25% off asking price.

We made offers on quiet a few properties. All of them between 12-16% off asking price and all I got was strange looks, laughs, your living in a dream world, are you having a laugh from all the EA's.

SplanK

I was a FTB when I completed in Sept this year.... Brave maybe however out LTV was something like 85%

Ours is a 3 bed semi in a nice part of town already realisticly priced IMHO but still managed to knock off 3K off the asking price as we were able to move quick (in 4 weeks!) and had no strings - there were a few things thrown in such as the fridge, cooker, washing machine.......

there was a an IDENTICAL house across the road from this one up for sale... asking for £140 - so we had a nosey around and this one was in much better condition and needed more work!

IveSeenTheLight

SplanK wrote: »

I was a FTB when I completed in Sept this year.... Brave maybe however out LTV was something like 85%

Ours is a 3 bed semi in a nice part of town already realisticly priced IMHO but still managed to knock off 3K off the asking price as we were able to move quick (in 4 weeks!) and had no strings - there were a few things thrown in such as the fridge, cooker, washing machine.......

there was a an IDENTICAL house across the road from this one up for sale... asking for £140 - so we had a nosey around and this one was in much better condition and needed more work!

I would hazzard a guess that you are likely to get a bigger discount if you are flexible and the property requires a bit of work

SplanK

the guys in the 2nd properly actualy told us they were not willing to go below £140k as thats what they bought it for...

soon after we bought ours though - the 2nd property was taken off the market! Guessing he realised he wasnt going to get what he wanted!

sympatex

jon3001 wrote: »

Huh? I thought retailers were under pressure.

Think that was sarcasm Jon!

I'm a FTB with gf and we have our mortgage approved and valid for 6months. Got a good rate from First Direct on a tracker before all the falls in the interest rates so our repayments have dropped by about 25% (should we find a house).

This however presents us with another dilemma, they can go up just as fast as they came down so we will still be no better off as we'll overpay while rates are low.

I'm quite torn about the decision to buy or not. deflation/inflation whatever happens inflation will erode away the debt but make it more expensive as i bet rates will rise to counter it and pay will not increase anywhere near as quickly. In the mean time deflation will make the debt harder to service and cause the asset (house) to fall in value as people hold out for cheaper and cheaper houses, sentiment.

Gf is keen, nesting instinct i guess. I think our best option is to rent as cheaply as possible and sit on our deposit. It's only 10% so we could end up being barred from the mortgage market altogether with higher LTVs required. I bet those limits come quicker than house price falls.

Shame, life was easier when we were just "saving for a deposit".

sympatex

ftb_home_dream wrote: »

I'm surprised how you guys got 43% and 25% off asking price.

We made offers on quiet a few properties. All of them between 12-16% off asking price and all I got was strange looks, laughs, your living in a dream world, are you having a laugh from all the EA's.

FTB, we've offered up to 7.5% off asking price and still get laughed at. I hope they lose their jobs. I wouldn't normally wish it on anyone but when they are clearly so so wrong its infuriating. I went painfully through the figures past sale prices, selected peak as sept 07 where conveninently two identical hosues sold, deducted 20% to get to todays value and a % to protect us which at first we tried 10% and then 7.5%. Got rejected i can't be more fair than that without financial suicide. Ironically the EA said "they won't give it away". EH they bought it in 1997 for 105k and we offered 205k i'd quite like ti earn 10% on my assets every year. Apparently that's not enough.

TDS_2

Prices are certainly lower that Aug 2007. Does that make it a better time to buy? Maybe. Interest rates are pretty low too. That's another positive.

There are negatives though...

Don't forget that we're at the front end of a recession. Surely that makes it an awful time to buy. Particularly if you work in the retail sector. Even more so if the retail you're involved with is largely non-essential items.

Reductions from some notional value are as meaningless as the notional value. Only you know whether the price is actually 'too good to miss'.

Sorry if I'm !!!!ing on your bonfire a little bit. It just seems that you're asking people to back you up on this decision you've made, and I'm not sure I can.