Being played

dennyp_3

jimakos wrote: »

don't want to tie myself up for a long rent lease again... oh stress!!

Obviously you aren't buyinng this as an investment or you will need to start reading housepricecrash.co.uk a bit more. The amount you will lose over the next year will be enough for you to live in the Hilton every night for the next year!

IMO

jimakos

i am a first time buyer that genuinely wants a good place to live.. and not waste money on rent when you can have a repayment mortgage that costs just as much or even less

socrates

jimakos wrote: »

i am a first time buyer that genuinely wants a good place to live.. and not waste money on rent when you can have a repayment mortgage that costs just as much or even less

Everybody understands what you want - I think the general consensus is to avoid a 'new build'

Have you told your lender its a new build?

Have you got an agreement in principle on a new build?

The repossessed new builds show the largest drops in the auction rooms

There are places you can buy surrounding that area that are not new builds - if you are in a good position financially - take your time.

Would you buy a flash car that you knew was going to be very expensive to maintain and was going to drop in value by more than any other car?

Think with your head and not your heart

All said I appreciate your aim - but as for developers I would be screwing them to floor IF I was going to buy a new build

spuds_2

Do you definitely want new build? New build flats are the first to lose value when housing prices start to fall.

If you reckon the other guy lost his deposit because the mortgage company valued the flat at less than he had offered, well, that would be a bit of an alarm bell for me. I don't know your area, but I'd be very suprised if flat prices didn't fall further.

Also, it is cheaper to buy than rent in some areas because interest rates are incredibly low at the moment. If they start going up, you could face big increases in repayments on a property in negative equity. I reckon they will ring up and accept your offer if you wait it out - but be sure it is what you want and you are happy to be there for a few years. Good luck.

jimakos

I did have initial issues with mortgages but i now have 2 options.. both fixed.. All flats i viewed in the last few months were terrible and needed alot of work.. (something I am not prepared or have time to do)

RobertoMoir

jimakos wrote: »

I did have initial issues with mortgages but i now have 2 options.. both fixed.. All flats i viewed in the last few months were terrible and needed alot of work.. (something I am not prepared or have time to do)

It's a tough choice if you don't have much available in your area. I wouldn't compare a new build to something that needs a lot of doing up though, I'd compare it to a flat that's a few years old that's being traded in by a couple who want more space to start a family, for example.

The problem with newbuild is just like the problem with buying a brand new car; the value will go down the moment you drive it off the forecourt, so to speak. Arguably this isn't a problem if you're buying for the long term and don't consider the property an "investment", but even so it means you're paying over the odds for what the property actually is.

And to stretch my car example further, I was serious in my earlier comments about "pimped out" flats... You wouldn't pay £2000 over the value for a car just because it had a spoiler and fancy rims (well most sensible people wouldn't) and the same applies to buying a house/flat/whatever - don't let shiny fittings distract you from the value of the property as a whole. And don't think there isn't always something that needs doing on virtually any property regardless of age.

What are comparable properties worth... without including the "terrible" places as you put it?
Doesn't the fact that someone else has had problems securing a mortgage (and it sounds like you've had fun too) act as an alarm to you that maybe, just maybe, these flats maybe aren't worth quite what they're trying to get you to pay?

But at the end of the day its your money of course.

ruggedtoast

fairydiamond wrote: »

So what is the difference between a flat and an apartment?

Apartment (or more commonly pluralised, "apartments") is an old fashioned term for flat.

i.e "I spend the Winter in my apartments in London, and usually retire to my home in Surrey for the Spring".

The American term "apartment" generally means rented flat. A condominium being a flat which is owner occupied.

I understand this isnt that common as Americans usually dont want to buy flats but are happy to rent them.

The new term "apartment" is a term that some twonk in Barratt's marketing department thought would sound vaguely transatlantic and swish to help sell tiny newbuild flats with cardboard walls and "Executive" Ikea kitchens.

RobertoMoir

ruggedtoast wrote: »

The new term "apartment" is a term that some twonk in Barratt's marketing department thought would sound vaguely transatlantic and swish to help sell tiny newbuild flats with cardboard walls and "Executive" Ikea kitchens.

It appears to be working.

jimakos

So I went to the place one last time today, prepared to raise my offer...
I was told on arrival the flat was sold at a much MUCH higher price than I offered.. They were not prepared to tell me how much it went for.
I was like.. asking is 249.. i offered 240... how MUCH is MUCH!?. She said it was through an agent...

I walked away all !!!!ed for not making a higher offer earlier and did a simple search. I found out that an agent. who was listing it, changed its status to Sold, subject to contract. The agent was actually listing it for 300k!!!! So I'm kind of sure that there is some poor guy out there who got screwed. He most definitely paid more than the actual asking price.
Serves him right for not looking up the development and actually see that its listed less.. (its still listed less on the site).

ILW

ruggedtoast wrote: »

A condominium being a flat which is owner occupied.

I have always wanted to know what a condominium was, but was too shy to ask. Thank you.