Am I evil, I only read these boards to find someone worse off than me..

Airwolf1

jenner wrote: »

yes you're right, i think one of the main problems for me is that th area i am looking at doesnt seem to have lowered at all and its putting me off taking any more off mine as we have wanted (not needed) a 3 bed house, not sure i can now afford that with the drops off mine.

The "area may not have lowered", but what would happen if you went in with an offer that was lower? Until you offer, you don't know. If people don't need to sell, your offer may get refused. Nothing wrong with trying though.

puddy

yes, i do bear that in mind, if i ever get to the point where there is an offer on the table for mine, then im going to have to be ruthless with my own offers so will just have to see what comes of it

sdooley

jenner wrote: »

long sigh,,,,,, well this happened a few years back, we had regular meetings and some of us, me included wanted to buy the freehold, unfortunately, there is a mix of about 3 differenet types in our estate (36 flats altogether), some are like me and my neighbour, who wanted to go ahead and arrange to buy the freehold, some are like us, fed up about the managing agents but too apaethtic to do anything or even be persuaded to do anything and most are elderly who thought that the idea of having your own freehold would somehow mean more problems, too much money for the freehold, lots of paperwork etc, so it sort of died a death.
we couldnt get the numbers involved to force the buying of the freehold. most of us in my block wanted to, which meant that theoretcially we could have gone ahead and forced the purchase of the freehold for the block but that wouldnt have fixed what the actual problems are, which are large bills for 'gardening' (mowing the grass), fixing things that didnt need to be fixed like garage roofs, fixing things that do need to be fixed but could have been done cheaper, like the roadsurfacing etc.

its all on a back burner now.

i had someone interested in my flat but she wants to know how much teh lease would cost to extend. in order simply for me to find out, i have to pay the managing agents £350 just to process the application (thats right, to fill out something and send it off to the freeholder) and then £650 for the freeholder's surveyor. i just cant afford it and now im worried this person will lose interest.

OK, they didn't all want to buy out the freehold (understandable for some as it costs money) but there is a seperate right for tenants to take over the management of the block (with the ground rent still going to the freeholder).

dad-of-4

PasturesNew wrote: »

awww *hugs*
There are loads worse off than you.... pop to the DFW board. People on there with £250k mortgage, OH's just run off with the neighbour, 6 kids to cope with, negative equity and £100k of cc debt.

Hint: look for those with Sky+ in their SOA and a holiday budget.

lol that has realy tickled me.

whathavewedone

Even though you have Mewd you still have a lot of room to manoevre with the size of your mortgage.

Hope you don't find the question too intrusive, but do you have children? The reason I ask is because if you don't what I would do in your shoes is lower the price aggressively now (rather than keep lowering it by piddly amounts over a long period of time) bank what you have left and rent for a while as prices are going to get lower and whatever percentage you lower your flat by you will save more by getting a bigger place similarly discounted at a later stage.

I'd reduce it to 150k (or £149,950!) and see what happens. The service charges are going to make people jittery in this market as people will be looking at how much extra it will cost them per month on top of their mortgage so I think it needs to be priced as attractively as possible.

Good luck and congrats on being brave enough to admit Mewing.

PS: I Mewed my flat too when I was single because I'd overspent on a comely shoe too many. Luckily I sold it in 2006 having bought in 2002 so I was still quids in but I would have been even more quids in if I hadn't mewed! We live and learn.

Dithering_Dad

I MEWed £50k out of my house and had a fitted kitchen (£10k) with lovely units, american style freezer, range cooker and granite worktops, an extension (£38k) and assorted other jobs done while I was at it (£2k).

We love our house now and would not consider moving until the kids leave home. We had considered selling up and moving but the costs in just moving (estate agent fees, stamp duty, legal costs, etc. etc.) was way over £10k so we stayed put and redesigned our house so that it was suitable for our growing family.

Nowt wrong with MEWing as long as the money is put to good use.

markelock

I don't see the problem here? How much money do you need to make on this sale?

If your place is on the market and not selling, hire a new bed, sofa, carpet cleaner. give the place a whitewash.

Sapphire

starsinmycrown wrote: »

i'm 26 and had to move back with mum. the way things have been ever since i left college, means that although i thought as a kid, id be able to get a house just like everybody else has, i just can't. i don't think i'll earn enough until i'm in my 30s. fat chance. i wish i had my own house. someday...

Not everyone has a house by the age of 26! In fact, probably few people do. I didn't even buy a flat until I was about 29, and never felt the need to do so.

Go out and enjoy yourself, for Heaven's sake. There's plenty of time in your life for you to buy a home! It isn't something you need. :cool:

whathavewedone

I agree entirely with the last two posts. I think it is worth spending a little bit of money in making your flat look appealing and this can be done for just a few hundred quid if that.

I was renting rooms in shared houses until I was 31 and didn't die or anything. I don't know, the youth of today!

dopester

I'm not sure what to believe, other than I won't buy until I can comfortably afford it, and the property represents reasonable value in my reality.

Average first time buyer age reaches 34
Friday 10th August 2007: 13:00

By Jennifer Bollen

The age of the average first time buyer has risen to 34 from 27 in 30 years, according to a study by loan provider GE Money Home Lending and customer research organisation The Future Foundation.

Mr Chick says that the first-time buyers he sees are "in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties", tallying with Halifax figures suggesting that the average homeowner is now 33 by the time they take out their first mortgage. This has risen from an average age of 31 a decade ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertymarket/3348792/An-early-spring-sighting-of-the-coy-first-time-buyer....html

Back to their facts, looking at the stats on the CML excel spreadsheet available here, (you have to look at the link marked "ML2: First-time buyers, lending and affordability"), and making comparisons with CML data which backs up as far back as 1976, a 'good year' for FTBs witnesses approximately 550,000 enter the market place.

The 'best year' on record was 1999

* 592,400 first time buyers bought
* at an average age of 30
* loan to values averaging 90%
* interest payment as percentage of income was 12.9%
* multiple of salary was 2.41 x income.

The 'worst number's for FTBs was in fact 2004

* 358,100 first time buyers bought
* at an average age of 31
* loan to value was 87%
* interest payment as percentage of income was 15%
* multiple of salary was 3.03 x income.

The FTB figures for 2006

* 410,800 first time buyers bought
* at an average age of 29
* loan to value was 90%
* interest payment as percentage of income 16.8%
* multiple of salary was 3.21 x income.

Many of those 410,800 FTBs of 2006 are likely to be worse off.