Good time to buy a house?

92203

Hi there,

I've posted on here before regarding the sale of my house. My previous home did have some issues, in particular some awkward, inconsiderate, and noisy neighbours.

My girlfriend is at university training to be a nurse, I work in IT and my earnings match the national average.

We have approx £10k in the bank.

I was initially intending on renting a city centre flat for us to live in while the other half completes her training. This has approx 2 years left to run.

We accepted a low offer on our house due to our belief that things weren't going to get better in the short/medium term, and that we could reap great rewards from my girlfriend earning a nurses wage.

However, having read threads on here that things could be on the up again, I am wondering if we have made a potentially life changing mistake in accepting such a low offer, especially as there is no guarantee that my girlfriend will even pass or get a job at the end of it.

My question is, is should I get something just to keep on the ladder, even if it's shared ownership. I do not want to be renting for the rest of my life, and don't want us to end up worse off than we were to start with!

Cheers

92203

tabskitten

Where do you want to live?, I am selling a 2 bed flat in Hampshire, a 2 bed flat in Bristol and a 4 bed house in Greater Manchester- but thats only because we are moving to the states- there is NO WAY I would be selling otherwise, i'd be hanging onto them all as I am going to make big losses on all of them!!

92203

tabskitten wrote: »

there is NO WAY I would be selling otherwise, i'd be hanging onto them all as I am going to make big losses on all of them!!

I completely agree. I am having trouble coming to terms with the the fact that we may have shot ourselves in the foot. I'm just hoping that my girlfriend qualifies. The IT sector doesn't offer a gread deal of long-term career security. I do worry what I'll be doing in 5-10 years time.

boomerangs

92203 wrote: »

is should I get something just to keep on the ladder,

It's much more likely to be a snake rather than a ladder. Crash Part II is just around the corner.

Cannon_Fodder

There are things more important in life than money. Get away from the neighbours and find a nice place.

tabskitten

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

There are things more important in life than money. Get away from the neighbours and find a nice place.

LOL!!!! thats just what we thought!! But more along the lines of ''get away from the UK..........'':rotfl:

92203

tabskitten wrote: »

LOL!!!! thats just what we thought!! But more along the lines of ''get away from the UK..........'':rotfl:

I am seriously considerng that actually. There are some serious problems with this country. From my perspective as a young person who has struggled to climb up the career ladder for the last 8 years, these are ;

• Disproportianate distribution of wealth - It seems that it is only possible to make money or have a secure future if you are already very wealthy.
• Overpriced housing - most people born in the 80s or later cannot aspire to owning their own house. The majority of those who can afford their own houses end up with something too small to have a family in, or are stretched financially and are unable to consider having childeren.
• Insecure jobs - Many people working in media/new technology jobs which are unstable in the long-term
• No way of saving for the future - unable to buy house, pensions seem very risky
• Only the very rich, or the "economically inactive" are able to have children
• Ownership of a nice house is not an illustration of success, but having been around at the right time!

I have personally found owning a house a very negative experience. I have lived amongst people who purchased their houses for a fraction of the price I did, the area I lived in was far from ideal, and to top it all off, I knew that if anything went even slightly wrong with my job, I'd have no way of keeping my house.

I am now renting a city centre apartment in a very upmarket area of Nottingham. No rough ignorant people living near to me, and beautiful surroundings. Just a shame that I'll never own it, and when I retire, I'll end up living on a sink estate and will get robbed, beaten and harrassed, before I eventually die due to lack of food or heating in my house due to my poor pension

tabskitten

Absolutely

What annoys me also is that when they learn I have 3 properties people tend to assume that ''daddy is rich''.

actually ''daddy is poor'' hence the reason I turned into a workaholic at the age of 14. I have never been on holiday all my adult life nor have I taken a single sick day and even had a full time job whilst at Uni. My choice, and as a result I have 3 properties.

But, the SAD fact is that I would now be better off if I had sat at home on my backside and claimed benefits.

I have had it- I am not naive enough to think that the USA doesn't have huge economic problems too- but earning money is a strong point of mine so i have every confidence I can do that out there and at least it will be warmer!!:cool:

nearlynew

tabskitten wrote: »

Absolutely

What annoys me also is that when they learn I have 3 properties people tend to assume that ''daddy is rich''.

actually ''daddy is poor'' hence the reason I turned into a workaholic at the age of 14. I have never been on holiday all my adult life nor have I taken a single sick day and even had a full time job whilst at Uni. My choice, and as a result I have 3 properties.

But, the SAD fact is that I would now be better off if I had sat at home on my backside and claimed benefits.

I have had it- I am not naive enough to think that the USA doesn't have huge economic problems too- but earning money is a strong point of mine so i have every confidence I can do that out there and at least it will be warmer!!:cool:

You imply that you have a strong work ethic and that earning money is important to you.............

............. yet you come across as someone who woudn't have a pot to p1ss in if it wasn't for HPI


A debt junkie perhaps?

92203

tabskitten wrote: »

Absolutely

What annoys me also is that when they learn I have 3 properties people tend to assume that ''daddy is rich''.

But, the SAD fact is that I would now be better off if I had sat at home on my backside and claimed benefits.

As I said earlier, a lot of it is having been in the right place at the right time. Had I been of working age in 1999, I would have been able to afford a reasonable sized house.

I earn £27k per year, in 1999s money, this would have probably been around £15k - enough to get a £60k mortgage. My parents house (3 bed detached in uphill Lincoln - purchased for £250k 2 yrs ago) was sold for 60k 10 years ago. Had I been working 10 years ago I would have been able to afford this rather than the £100k end of terrace house I did manage to buy.

dopester

tabskitten wrote: »

Absolutely

What annoys me also is that when they learn I have 3 properties people tend to assume that ''daddy is rich''.

actually ''daddy is poor'' hence the reason I turned into a workaholic at the age of 14. I have never been on holiday all my adult life nor have I taken a single sick day and even had a full time job whilst at Uni. My choice, and as a result I have 3 properties.

But, the SAD fact is that I would now be better off if I had sat at home on my backside and claimed benefits.

I have had it- I am not naive enough to think that the USA doesn't have huge economic problems too- but earning money is a strong point of mine so i have every confidence I can do that out there and at least it will be warmer!!:cool:

Can you explain how you're going to lose money on all of them? That you'd have been better off if you'd not bought 3 properties and stayed on benefits?

To me that makes it sound like you'd be getting back less than your paid for all 3, including rents over that time you might have received.

If you bought one home maybe it would be about be paid off by now, with a good helping of HPI on the value, putting you in a better position than remaining on benefits.

Sounds to me like your pain is coming from over-extending your claim on resources and doing so with borrowed money paying higher prices for the other 2 properties.