House Price Psychics - where are they now?

alexlyne

I was a semi-regular here from Feb to August last year when me and the future missus were looking at moving. There were a few posters emitting doom and gloom and trying to get people to hold off buying 'as house prices will drop another 40% by the end of the year' - note 'will', and not 'may'.

As it happened, we put an offer in on a house in June, moved in in August, and have been happy ever after. As far as I'm concerned, it was the perfect time to buy... house prices were edging up a little, fixed rate mortgages were about to jump quite significantly (and even now several months later there are no deals to match what we were given)

My advice to anyone here: at the end of the day, go with your head and heart on a decision. And do what they do with scoring on judging panel sports... ignore the most positive and most negative responses to a question, and use the rest! You might get it right, you might get it wrong, but if you're here then at least you're thinking about it and wanting to get it right.

Plus, there are a few EAs and ex-EAs posting here - their advice can be valuable - whether you like it or not!

Good luck!

not_loaded

Good for you alexlyne in getting on with your life!

I suspect you’re talking about the longwinded posts and unsupported sig claims like “50%+ Falls in House Prices by Christmas 2009”. (sigs mysteriously gone now…)

Here, we’ve only seen a small drop right from the very beginning of the ‘crash’. For many months now, a slow but sure increase in prices.

I wonder how many listened to (and maybe are still listening to) the “Don’t Buy – Wait Forever” brigade? I’m all for participatory informed debate, but clueless predictions à la Mystic Meg? No.

It was (and still is for some) wishful thinking.

Hectors_House

I found this website along with housepricecrash part-way into my search for a house three years ago.

In both cases I realised you had to sort the good advise from the scaremongering stuff but having a better idea about how twisted our economy had become on the back of houses becoming seen as an 'asset' helped me when it came to my purchase at the end of 2008.

Plus I got lucky as it was a repo and the repossessing bank was one of these small sub-prime concerns and I'd realised, from all that I'd read that they would be screaming out for any money and so went in with an offer lower then the asking price (and then some) and it was accepted.

Whether we'll get the 40% drop predicted is now a moot point for me but I still have friends keen to sink the money they still have in BTL having already overpaid for recent property so you just cant help some people....needless to say they scoffed at me when I told them it was through reading this site (and others) I made the decisions I did and managed to not overpay for a house.

As you say, it does no harm to keep reading here as, at least you'll be making (hopefully) an informed decision in the end.

poppysarah

If you believe house prices going up and up is a good thing then you are mad!

House prices need to fall. The fact the government has pumped billions into QE to give bankers bonuses and to stop banks falling into the sea has propped up prices.

The UK economy is very broken because we think painting walls magnolia is an industry and lending money is a good thing.

Debt is BAD. No matter what this insane government tries to tell you, we should be saving and cutting down on the peak excesses.

And I bought a house in the last 6 months well under peak prices for my area.

Think "Open all hours" - that lifestyle wasn't so long ago - and perhaps a return to the sober and sober days of not living glam lives would do us all some good.

not_loaded

Yes, but what we believe and think about it makes no difference whatsoever.

Do you really think it’s within our powers to fix this?

poppysarah

not_loaded wrote: »

Yes, but what we believe and think about it makes no difference whatsoever.

Do you really think it’s within our powers to fix this?

I think if you vote for someone at this election coming up who's ripped off expenses and house flipped and got a massive portfolio of properties then it makes you a bigger mug than those who don't.

MPs have had their snouts in the troughs. They are vested interests.

not_loaded

Unfortunately it's nowhere near as simple as that.

alexlyne

I definitely don't want house prices to go up! As someone who will never be able to afford to invest in property, the only house I have is the one I live in. I've paid for it now (via mortgage) and as long as I keep up repayments then I will always have the house, no matter what the market in general does. We now have a 3 week old little boy (yay us!), and if we have another I would like to upsize again in a few years time (the missus has a different opinion ), and I don't want to be paying an exhorbitant amount for that!

I haven't starting looking into the dealings of my local MPs, but chances are that all main parties have been busy buying iPods and cleaning moats! Who will that leave... UKIP, BNP or the Raving Loonies? (Please please don't respond to this, it's rhetorical and not meant as a shoe-in for a political debate - I'm not going there, and neither should you!)

pastmybest

alexlyne wrote: »

I definitely don't want house prices to go up! As someone who will never be able to afford to invest in property, the only house I have is the one I live in. I've paid for it now (via mortgage) and as long as I keep up repayments then I will always have the house, no matter what the market in general does. We now have a 3 week old little boy (yay us!), and if we have another I would like to upsize again in a few years time (the missus has a different opinion ), and I don't want to be paying an exhorbitant amount for that!

I haven't starting looking into the dealings of my local MPs, but chances are that all main parties have been busy buying iPods and cleaning moats! Who will that leave... UKIP, BNP or the Raving Loonies? (Please please don't respond to this, it's rhetorical and not meant as a shoe-in for a political debate - I'm not going there, and neither should you!)

So you don't want a polictical debate but you have continued one on with your post. You like having the last word?:p

Running_Horse

Wrong forum:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=16

The link is for the smarty pants predict it after it happens brigade.

WhiteHorse

When buying recently, I found that at the bottom end of the market prices are edging up as competition for cheapies can be cutthroat.

It's the top end that is stagnant. Most of those houses could only ever be bought with lunatic mortgages which are no longer available.