Save, invest or buy?

themanbearpig

Lot's of bad advice in this thread. Do any of you actually realise how quickly house prices are declining?
You'd be a fool to buy now.

pinkshoes

themanbearpig wrote: »

Lot's of bad advice in this thread. Do any of you actually realise how quickly house prices are declining?
You'd be a fool to buy now.

Only a fool sees a house as a pile of cash.

The poster is buying a HOME, and to most normal people a home doesn't come with a price tag.

I have a HOME. Is the price declining? Probably, but I really don't care, as I have no intention of selling, and for the first time in 11 years, I have a beautiful home that is MINE, and I'm very happy.

There is a LOT more to live than money.

mbga9pgf

Ok pinkshoes, I will put this really simply for you.

Why would you buy a HOME now when you can get a much better HOME in 12 months?

Mate, open an online saver. Plenty (including Tesco) are doing a bonus 1.5% rate for the first year, its currently on 5%. You will need to get 2 accounts DO NOT INVEST MORE THAN 50K in one bank!!!!

Wait 12 months.

Prices will be 20% lower and you will be able to afford a much better home then.

Yes, its not about the money, its about getting the best HOME for your family with the money. Anyone advising you to buy right now is frankly either mad or in a position where they are benefitting from you buying.

Oh, if you do decide to buy, then haggle. Hard. You can easily attain 20-25% off. My line is: contact EA (written letter) tell him what you are looking for. Tell him you have large, (UNSPECIFIED) deposit and secured mortgage lending. Tell him you are chain free, ready to move, proceedable. But tell him that you looking at XYZ property and you are looking for at least 25% off. Tell him you do not intenend to waste his time, so will only view if he thinks the vendors are flexible on this.

Oh, before you put an offer in 25% below, its worth checking what the house sold for last on https://www.nethouseprices.com If they bought last year, not much point. If they bought back in 2001, they will be sat on equity which they may be willing to chop for a quick sale.

Where do you live? House price falls are lagging the further north you go. Southwest is crashing like a stone at the moment! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pinkshoes

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Ok pinkshoes, I will put this really simply for you.

Why would you buy a HOME now when you can get a much better HOME in 12 months?

Well I've been in my home nearly 2 years now, and waiting until the market bottomed out would be perhaps another year.

That's 3 whole years to wait, living in cr*p rented accomodation, perhaps with landlords going bust, waiting forever to get stuff fixed, not allowed to paint, not allowed to put picture hooks in the wall, having half my deposit taken for a piece of fluff on the carpet...

Life is too short. I rented for 10 years and it always felt like it wasn't a real home, and I couldn't settle.

These last 2 years have been the happiest of my entire life.

Coming home from work every day, sitting on MY sofa, in MY home, is awesome

Lucky you if you have the perfect rented house and love renting, but I didn't.

Also, I do keep my eye on the rental market, and since buying, only ONE property has come up in my area that I would have considered going to see, and it still would have been out of my price range, as prices have hardly dropped in my direct area.

mbga9pgf

pinkshoes wrote: »

Well I've been in my home nearly 2 years now, and waiting until the market bottomed out would be perhaps another year.

That's 3 whole years to wait, living in cr*p rented accomodation, perhaps with landlords going bust, waiting forever to get stuff fixed, not allowed to paint, not allowed to put picture hooks in the wall, having half my deposit taken for a piece of fluff on the carpet...

Life is too short. I rented for 10 years and it always felt like it wasn't a real home, and I couldn't settle.

These last 2 years have been the happiest of my entire life.

Coming home from work every day, sitting on MY sofa, in MY home, is awesome

Lucky you if you have the perfect rented house and love renting, but I didn't.

Also, I do keep my eye on the rental market, and since buying, only ONE property has come up in my area that I would have considered going to see, and it still would have been out of my price range, as prices have hardly dropped in my direct area.

Well each to their own. Posting advice that is specific to your generic situation is one thing. It hardly provides useful advice to the OP. I live very happily in rented. If I didnt, I would live happily with my family for another year in the knowledge my dream home is getting around 3K cheaper a month at the moment. I have been saving and waiting since 2005. Still enjoyed myself. Why do people see renting as putting your life on hold? Madness.

What you are suggesting, IE live for the now, is the reason why the economy is in such a sorry mess.

Entertainer

I find the antidote to buying impatience is to look at the lovely houses you can rent and the pitiful rental yields their owners are getting for them still. £20,000 buys alot of filler for those picture hooks.

currynchips

£90,000 may be worth a lot less in 12 months time if it's in the bank, god they're talking about printing money, and negative interest.
The only way you can guarantee that you will still have it is in bricks and mortar, so it's a guessing game as to what is going to happen in the next 2 years.
I wouldn't muck about if I had that cash ready, it easily gives you a head start on any house prices.

hethmar

They were actually discussing on the radio about savers paying banks to look after their cash if the interest rates fall more -:eek:

pinkshoes

Entertainer wrote: »

I find the antidote to buying impatience is to look at the lovely houses you can rent and the pitiful rental yields their owners are getting for them still. £20,000 buys alot of filler for those picture hooks.

If ONLY there was a correlation between lovely houses and lovely landlords... (ironically, the nicest landlord I ever had was for an absolute dump of a property!).

mbga9pgf wrote: »

Well each to their own. Posting advice that is specific to your generic situation is one thing. It hardly provides useful advice to the OP. I live very happily in rented. If I didnt, I would live happily with my family for another year in the knowledge my dream home is getting around 3K cheaper a month at the moment. I have been saving and waiting since 2005. Still enjoyed myself. Why do people see renting as putting your life on hold? Madness.
What you are suggesting, IE live for the now, is the reason why the economy is in such a sorry mess.

What about live for the now whilst living within your means?

I agree, mine is a unique situation for my area, as is every single person who posts on here, so it's also wrong to generalise it with "crash crash crash" talk, as you can't do that unless you personally know the street and immediate area.

I have lived in approximately 17 properties over 10 years (9 different cities/towns), and most my rental experience wasn't great, so you are very lucky (and potentially a minority) to rent somewhere great!

mbga9pgf

hethmar wrote: »

They were actually discussing on the radio about savers paying banks to look after their cash if the interest rates fall more -:eek:

ITs all scaremongering designed to make you go out and spend. The minute rates head anywhere near 0% I will be pulling the lot out of the bank. I think most people with significant savings would do the same. They will be printing alright, as people will need their money in physical cash.

Just imagine the wonderful effect that would have on banks deposits. remember, for every pound withdrawn from accounts reduces banks to lend 10, so THEY will be the ones who suffer. The only time rates will go below zero would be in the case of deflation, in which case the 90K in the mattress is increasing in value every single day. :rotfl::rotfl:

Pinkshoes, how is losing 3K a month in negative equity "living within my means" sounds like insanity to me more like. You can generalise and say crash crash crash becuase that is what is happening. If you thing 3 million unemployed, a whopping recession and no manufacturing base is going to be great for UK house prices then I think you need to go back to economics 101. That, my dear, doesent matter where you live. Besides, the types of house I am looking for are sliding well more than the 2% a month the haliwide are reporting, I reckon its averaging more like 4% here in Wiltshire (nice villages as well).