How long to wait - FTB?

zaphod_beeblebrox_2

"My original question is with regards to the house prices falling, do you think they are going to continue to fall or stay low for at least another year? "

YES and longer so make an offer when you're ready to commit at @20-30% lower than their asking price

and...

Your wedding has nothing to do with the housing issue, thats your choice, ignore

poppy10_2

tb1105 wrote: »

My original question is with regards to the house prices falling, do you think they are going to continue to fall or stay low for at least another year?

Definitely fall for at least another 2 years, and no major rises for 5. Just enjoy your wedding, sit back and relax and save up a deposit steadily. Forget about shared ownership, it is a scam.

Glen0000

tb1105 wrote: »

Secondly, I'm not here to defend me spending money on my wedding, we are going to Barbados and having a reception at home, doing it as cheaply as we can so don't want to cut back any more.

A wedding as cheaply as you can in Barbados!!!! :rotfl:

As for your question the crash has only just begun and after good advice on here we are planning on waiting another 3 years at least.

hethmar

I hope you arent going to be teaching maths I thought the chart was quite clear and ditto the explanation - but to be clearer - the likelihood is that the prices will bottom out and stay that way for several years before rising again.

currynchips

When it feels right, when the house you see ticks a fair few boxes and you can see yourself setting up there. Remember you won't be looking in the same areas as where you teach.
If I was in an easier job I'd stop in the council house for at least a year and get a decent deposit saved up - shared ownership no thanks!
However teaching is quite something else, and from my own experience I have needed more than just 4 walls.
Top tip - if you do buy, make sure you move in around the spring/summer term, there's nothing more stressful than the autumn.

Good luck with the wedding, I really fancy going away for mine....for a little less tho!

AMG2B

Have the wedding you want - my husband and I got married in June this year and although avid savers and MFW's we still spent 5K but we wouldn't have changed it for anything. Not that you have to spend a lot of money to make a wedding good - some people do spend £100 and still have a fantastic day.

hethmar

I think ours cost a couple of weeks wages and our honeymoon was one night in a local hotel. We wanted to spend our money on our first house. Having said that, I think we are just about the only couple of our friends who married around the same time, that are still together and they all had extravagant do's.

LisaLou1982

How long is a piece of string?
With the best intentions in the world, noone knows how long the market will fall or rise for at any time, never mind a bunch of people who dont work in the business!!!! A person can only speculate

If you are looking to buy in 2010 then now is not the time to be asking questions about the market - focus on your wedding and make plans for that rather than thinking about something which you cant control. If someone told you the market was going to rise by 10% tomorrow would you look to buy straightaway???

Do what you feel in your heart is right - without a 15% deposit at the min you may as well forget purchasing - everything is relative. The house prices have come down but the deposit situation is now higher than ever so although it is cheaper in terms of price to buy, it is often less affordable due to the amount of deposit needed.

GDB2222

I think it will be around 2 years before prices hit bottom. To get a good mortgage rate, you'll need to save around a 20% deposit. So, if prices fall so the house you want is £100k, you'll need to save a £20k deposit, so say £1k a month. Presumably, once you start paid work, that should be fairly easy?

tb1105

Thanks, some great advice here guys. We are just wondering whether to try and get a house say end of 2009 with little deposit or wait it out a bit and save a larger deposit because when the house prices go back up to what they were, we will struggle to get on the ladder, whereas at the moment we could get a nice 2 bed house with garden.
2 years sounds like a nice gateway, no rush. So starting earning in September, say prices continue to fall until end of 2010, that will allow me to save, in theory, £10 - 15k and my other half should also then have around £10k saved so a nice deposit and enough to cover fees.