whats your current housing situation?

mortgageslayer

People near me don't really appear to be bothering to put their places on the market, so I've not much idea what the prices are doing. I guess they probably have dropped some, but as we planned to stay here until about 2012 hopefully we'll be in the clear until then!

purch

Bought 1st House in 1982 for £28,700 (Mortgage £20k)
Moved to 2nd Hse in 1985 for £93,000 (Mortgage £80k)
Moved to 3rd Hse in 1987 (peak) for £150,000 (Mortgage £100k)
Divorced 1990 Sold for £138,000
Rented for 2 1/2 Years (Bought a few BTL for cash)
Bought 4th Hse in 1993 for £207,000 (Mortgage £100k)
Moved to 5th Hse in 1995 for £320,000 (Mortgage £130k)

Mortgage free since 1996

Now live on Exmoor, property backing onto River Exe, value £ X.

beecher

1 bed traditional tenement flat bought for £88,000 in 2003 mortgage £39,000. Valued online at £135,000 but in reality they aren't moving for more than £110,000 which makes me wonder about the Halifax's system. On the SVR waiting for a decent fixed rate, happy to stay where I am until I retire to the seaside

MrDT

Currently living in private rented, rather cheaply as it goes!

We have over 40% of the current asking price of a suitable property in savings between us. Realistically expect to have ~55% of the current asking price squirreled away by this time next year. By the time we purchase prices will (in all likelihood ) have dropped further, so our savings vs purchase price percentage should be a bit higher than 55%.

It has only recently dawned on me that I don't really have that much to fear - we could put half our savings into buying a house and keep the other half to one side, a wedge to keep our heads above water should one or even both of us lose our jobs. We could keep paying the mortgage for a long time out of our savings. I guess we can either take out a regular mortgage at around 75% ltv and keep a large cash cushion to fall back on in emergencies, or look into getting an offset mortgage. Not looked that far ahead really so not sure what product would best suit us, gut feeling says an offset to minimise interest costs.

We're happy to stay as we are for a while longer to maximise savings, maybe a year or so. Don't need to buy at the bottom or anything, if the right place comes along sooner rather than later maybe we'll go for it. In fact, offered on a house in October/Novemberish 2008 (offer was over 20% below asking) - offer declined, can always try again in a month or two.

We refuse to get sucked in and buy the most expensive property possible. We'll probably be buying a normal enough 3 or 4 bed terraced house in need of some work in a pretty average area. We could pay four times as much for a smaller house in a “very desirable area”, but that seems nonsense to me! I also couldn't stand having the vacuous "keeping up with the joneses" neighbours that come part and parcel with the "desirable areas”. Can't imagine much worse (maybe a sink estate). I'd much prefer to live in an average area with average neighbours that drive cars that are a few years old and have “normal” jobs than put up with a bunch of Hyacinth Bouquets

abaxas

Renting and saving like crazy.

No plans to buy in the next 6 months, but will start the quest then.

Badger_Lady

I bought my first 1-bed flat in 2004 for £110,000 - 100% mortgage - and sold it in 2007 for £125,000. I'm sure it's worth much less now.

November 2007, bought my 5-bed period house for £145,000 - difficult to accurately value now but has not been affected nearly as much as some areas due to its low price in the first place. This was on a 95% tracker rate mortgage.

My interest payments are now £225 a month with another £800 a month going into savings - my two lodgers pay me £590 a month. In June, I go onto the SVR currently at 4.5%.

I've just been offered a new job with a sturdy payrise and, for a single 25-yr-old girl, am pretty darn comfortable!

thriftybabe

Bought house 4 years ago at £350k. Now mortgage free but still worrying! (cannot help it). Not sure what it is worth now. Last year I think we would have got £500k but now have no clue!

chewmylegoff

sold 4 bed semi in kent august 2007, as was fed up of commute wanted to move back within london transport zone 2.

didn't want to buy, so have been renting since. live in a 2 bed flat with the stroppy australian and a dimwit terrapin.

dad-of-4

renting courtesy of the local housing authority, £260ish a month, nice sized 3 bed semi, not on an estate. secure tenancy etc. i keep my outgowings as low as possable, were a family of 6, im sole earner, and due to a health problem just over a year ago, ive had to scale my work back over the last 12 months to aid recouperation, so cheap living has made things relativly stress free. infact the only stresss ive had is feeling that my life is on hold for the last year or so as far as making any progress goes.

a few years ago we had considered buying our previous house thru RTB, as we were !!!!!! off with disrepair and the delapidated state of the place, but as i fully believe in social housing, it would have ended up being a reson to MEW. and enjoy a few of the shinier thngs in life, wich im not that bothered about, so we didnt go thru with it. family is the only thing that matters to me so as long as that is protected im happy enough. im not a snob, and fully apreciate the value of a roof over my families head as far as survival security safety goes and will never look at housing any other way, so dont realy feel the ned to buy ever. i always said i would buy for cash but never on credit but dont have any plan to ever do that, the money would need to fall in my lap and i have no intention of waiting for that to happen.
its fair to say after my unexpected health problems a year ago, had i gone thru with RTB i would be bankrupt and lost everything by now, endangering my family etc, all for the sake of a few shiney things, and the banks willingness to dish out easy credit.

so realy when i see all the mess unfolding im just very glad im not a part of it. but i have sympathy for no one. i designed my life to suit me and mine, as everyone else did theirs.

i have a 2k overdraught, a small amount of rent arrears and council tax arrears, and thats me as far as dets go. im aiming to have it all payed down by april.

im actualy optomistic about this year, i should be getting a clean bill of health and can atleast be trying to get back upto full speed.

we eat smart price etc so we can have a few nice things on a month to month basis, and pay for the kids activities and home schooling, this is our choice. were not doing it to pay down debt or just keep a roof over our heads.

Broken_hearted

Modest semi bought before house prices went crazy, LTV roughly 20%. Pretty safe from negative equity.All in all pretty secure unless the whole country goes under.