Now property sales are rising - the best feeling of owning your first home

rumbaba

It's been all over the news this morning, and in the papers that house sales have gone up by 12% in the last month and that sales are up by 20% since this time last year.

Obviously, the property market is slowly starting to recover as was expected by many (except the ones who were hoping people would have to give them away! LOL)

One quarter of the buyers are first timers and it must be so exciting for them to know that they've finally managed to get on the first rung of the property ladder, and that they're on their way to owning their very own home!

When we first married many years ago and found our first real home it was a mixture of excitement and nervousness. We did struggle at the beginning, we had bare floorboards for a couple of years - strange how they're trendy now HA HA! and then we got wall to wall carpeting and felt like we were millionaires!

Every little thing we did to our house was so gratifying and exciting. Deciding on which colours to paint it, wallpaper patterns, plants for the garden. I remember our first party too when it was finally done up after about 3 years. We invited all our family, friends and neighbours and had a fab party and oh how we swooned over our avocado bathroom suite!!LOL Seems funnt to look back on, but boy, buying your first home is the best feeling in the world!

charliee_3

we are just in the process of buying our first home for us and our baby son, I am so excited and keep thinking of all the things i want to do to it to make it ours. having been in parents, then rented it will be so nice to be able to do things how we want, put nails in the walls for pictures without worrying about how we are going to fix it and knowing that the time and money we spend on improving it is not benefitting a landlord and our monthly payments are going to pay our mortgage, not someone elses..

i just cant wait!! I am even planning that we can get married next year and have the reception in a marquee in the garden..

so excited!!!

Jonbvn

I hate to spoil the party so to speak, but one swallow does not make a summer.

The real elephant in the room is unemployment.

Davesnave

I have a duty to point out to all FTBs that OP is, like me, a long, long, way from being a dewy-eyed twenty-something with their first house and all the plans and dreams that go with that.

Yes, things have improved a little for buyers, but for the sake of balance, it's important to add that there is no immediate need to jump on 'the ladder,' as conditions are not right for a substantial or sustained increase in sold prices.

Indeed, those who are prepared to look at the wider picture, form a mature view and buy when it is right for them, may ultimately save themselves a lot of money and heartache.

Soot2006

We are buying atm, but have made a low offer considering that we are in a spring boom. Told the estate agent that seeing as they & their competitors were calling me day and night with more viewings I didn't feel particularly worried about not getting a house. At worst I will wait for the winter slump, by which point the market will have dropped some more anyway ....

(that said, I am still nervous as actually quite like this house ... quite a lot!!)

besonders1

The problem is that the government and the media are notorious for exaggerating articles or figures. It may be true that house prices are rising but you can't really compare a couple of months, some people believe that there is some "panic buying" out there. The question is can you really believe that the market is going to start booming again so soon?

I am also in the process of buying my first house and agree that it is more exciting than predicting whether the prices will fall or go up. however I did do my research before I placed offers on the house. I checked the land registry on previous selling prices and got it at a reduced rate. I wouldn't have considered buying a small terraced house or flat that was three times its value in the year 2000.

charliee_3

I think once again it goes back to people buying houses with a view to making a quick buck and those who are buying a home that they want to live in and stay in and raise their families. the OP is refering to the latter. I have been putting off buying a house for about 10 years, all those years ago i looked at the housing market and though.. ooh.. nows a silly time to buy, the market is overpriced and the prices are going to fall soon.. they didnt...and they may fall, but they will rise again if you are prepared to sit it out and do whatever you need to to keep your home, keep personal debt to a minimum and live on a budget then you can ride out a storm even with the 'elephant of redundancy' in the room...
now the investors after fast profits have got cold feet, without us intrepid FTB dipping our toe in the housing market the whole thing would collpase, so all power to us and here's to our new homes!!

princeofpounds

Well I hate to be the grouch here, but I found something disturbingly cloying about that first post. And i'm not quite sure what it's supposed to achieve.

Perhaps I just don't think people should plan the biggest financial investment they are likely to make in their entire lives around emotional fuzzies about wall-to-wall carpeting.

besonders1

I think the first post sounds a bit trollish, usually by those who can't take current changes in the market which eat at their "once a dream" now pure fantasy. They post bits of news which is just classic false re-assurance spin which does not intimate anyone as we all now the truth anyway. But as a recent poster has said if you are buying it as a home then I suppose its a bit like buying a car, what ever price its value is irrelevant , i n actual fact I would prefer the vlaue of my house to stay low as possible so I could move up the ladder in future with less debt to take on.

ILW

The oP refered to house sales being on the up. This does not mean prices are also on the up. It is quite possible that increased sales are due to lower prices.

iscrimger

I think this is some sort of government spin to try and create a positive outlook on the market.

In the last month I've seen prices fall further not rise. The more media hype about the doom and gloom the worse it seems - it seems only natural to 'create' a story about things improving to balance out the effect.

I'm sure just last week there was a news report about house prices falling upto another 35% in the next year. I'm sure these low prices are increasing sales - but I'm not sure the banks are quite pulling their weight by lending more. I think the market is still pretty stale.