Young family saving for deposit on house... Advice!

mummytofour

Each to their own.

OP im sure that you will get there in the end, if you want something to happen then Im more than sure it will!

lynzpower

I have to say having been a FTB 2 years ago ( on a shared ownership) and looking to move, you only gain from price rises (as someone else said) if you decide to buy lower, or cash the whole thing in.

I think there are some variable in the country. A freind of mine bought a lovely 2 bed semi no garden in South manchester at the height of the "boom" for 180. Now nothing on her estate is going for any more than 135. Additionally her partners self-employed business went down the tubes, and they were caught in a vicious trap for about 7 months of her doing as much overtime as she could and him searching desperately for another job that came 7 months laterm by this stage she was thoroughly exhausted and up to thier necks in personal loans ( secured and unsecured) and credit cards.

if your boyfs business is in infancy, my advice would be buy the cheapest thing you can afford. Then if you end up in the unthinkable position that my freind was in, you can survive. Believe me, stretching yourself for a mortgage is just not worth it.

meanmachine_2

Well I don't know what house prices are going to do, but the Op's position is as far away from being suitable for taking on a long term secured debt as I could possibly imagine.

The only sensible advice is to make sure you have a secure career (that you enjoy), that you've developed budgeting skills as evidenced by having accrued at least a 5% deposit, and that you're not over borrowing.

Any other advice is bad advice.

All the numpties on here who simply cannot wait, and MUST get a 100-125% mortgage deserve to get burnt. It's the only way people learn.

Not so long ago banks behaved like grumpy old gents. Sensible, yet stingy. Now they're more like mad boy racers or drug dealers, keen to get everyone hooked on debt.

It'll all end very badly. And don't say you weren't warned.

onestep

but this assumes a stagnant market - no-one is (I think!) psychic!

If the market is stagnant then you have nothing to lose by waiting and saving.
If the market falls then you gain by waiting and saving.
If the market rises then you lose...

Personally I think prices will rise, but slowly, over the next few years, but that's only my view - it's all down to how you and your partner feel about waiting to own a property. IMHO I would prefer to pay a mortgage for me, rather than someone else's (if I was renting), but everyone's circumstances are different. If you can get a mortgage now, then personally I'd go for it. Don't go for more than 2.5-3x salary though.

HTH

onestep

sm9ai

The best thing to do is check it out for yourself.

The people telling you prices will fall are generally ftb's who do so because its to there advantage.

The people telling you prices will rise are generally estate agents and do so because its to there advantage.

Rightmove just get everything totally wrong so ignore what they say.

Just have a look at some estate agent website over the next few months and see for yourself if prices rise, stay the same or go down.

zag2me

You should buy a home if you can afford it and if its to live in The rate of them going up/down/left/right in price shouldnt matter at all as long as you can afford it.

Jo_R_2

meanmachine wrote:

To all the intelligent poeple on here, save your breath.

The OP is coming from the position where they would "love to have a mortgage" (yes, because taking on long term secured debt is such fun), and is supported by people who think past performance is a guarantee of future performance.

Yes I would love to have a mortgage, or for the sake of a semantic argument, eventually own my own home. I also have said that I would be happy to save for a few years should this be the right thing to do. I'm in no way professing to know everything - or even much at all - about housebuying or anything that goes with it, so I'm happy to hear opinions from all angles. I certainly haven't made any decisions.