It can make a lot of sense to buy now.

Strings

I am off the opinion that those wanting to buy yet waiting for a further reduction are indeed just as foolish as those wanting them to rise.
If you want to buy and can afford to do so, then you should. Speculating that another large correction downwards will happen may mean that you miss out.

I do find it rather amusing that people want a further correction, when in 08/09 we had one.

I don’t want prices to increase, but I don’t want them to drop either ,so the current flat lining is a win win as far as I am concerned.

I am picking that if we do get a large correction downwards, these same people who think that it will go down will want it to go further. Ie they will never be happy.

nembot

Thank you for your opinion, it's wrong - but you're entitled to it

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

It can make a lot of sense to buy now.

Particularly now buying is cheaper than renting in 75% of the UK.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2610245

arby

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Particularly now buying is cheaper than renting in 75% of the UK.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2610245

finally, you admit that renting is better for 1 in 4 people!

i know i'm definitely one of those people. the real challenge is to try and get other people to even consider they might fall into that category. So many people just blindly follow the mantra that renting is dead-money. Muppets.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

arby wrote: »

finally, you admit that renting is better for 1 in 4 people!

i know i'm definitely one of those people. the real challenge is to try and get other people to even consider they might fall into that category. So many people just blindly follow the mantra that renting is dead-money. Muppets.

Renting is always dead money over the long term, and buying is cheaper over the long term even if rent is less than a mortgage payment to begin with.

100% of people benefit from buying, and rent is wasted money in all but the very short term.

Graham_Devon

silvercar wrote: »

The risk of jumping in soon is that prices fall afterwards and you would have bought cheaper had you waited. But, give a few years of general inflation and that saving made by the price drop will become insignificant in the scheme of things.

True. But it's significant if you need to sell up for any reason that may pop along in life, and find yourself in negative equity. It's being discussed as if nothign ever changes or goes wrong in peoples lives which means they have to change their lifestyle.

As I have said before, everything is relative. It's ok saying the problem will go away in a few years, but that's a completely one sided viewpoint.

Buying a house is best done when you are ready. Ideally you would buy the best house for your circumstances now and in the future, but we don't live in an ideal world.

Ideally, we'd all have the money just sitting there, ready to pounce at any opportunity, regardless of the fact the mortgage market has changed drastically over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, we don't all live in an ideal world where our circumstances just change with the wind to keep up with any changes in the financial world.

The basic realities, for most normal folk living in the UK is...

Buy this month, you may buy at the right time, house prices rise from now on, you bag the best mortgage deal, you get a promotion and pay rise lifes rosy.

Buy this month, you have bought at an ok time, everything stagnates, wages stay the same, your doing ok, hopefully interest rates won't go too high before your fix comes to an end.

Buy this month, prices fall for the next year, your in negative equity, your stuck, wages don't increase, you get to keep your home, but it aint everything you thought home ownership was as you are now stuck in a house thats too small as you want to move on with the person you have now met with 2 children and they don't all fit in your home.

Buy this month, regardless of what the economy is doing, you lose your job, you are screwed.

The point is, no one knows. All people can do is buy at a time that suits them. All this "could have saved" "may have saved", "may have been able to get a better price if you had done it 3 years ago" is all just rubbish.

We do not live in the past, and we cannot predict the future (well, Conrad can, apparently).

And most importantly of all, we, or at least most of us, do not have the power behind us to just change our financial circumstances from month to month depending on the newest deal on the market or dependant on what's now changed in the economy. It's a volitile time remember, and we haven't all gained from equity.

carolt

Graham_Devon wrote: »

True. But it's significant if you need to sell up for any reason that may pop along in life, and find yourself in negative equity. It's being discussed as if nothign ever changes or goes wrong in peoples lives which means they have to change their lifestyle.

As I have said before, everything is relative. It's ok saying the problem will go away in a few years, but that's a completely one sided viewpoint.

Buying a house is best done when you are ready. Ideally you would buy the best house for your circumstances now and in the future, but we don't live in an ideal world.

Ideally, we'd all have the money just sitting there, ready to pounce at any opportunity, regardless of the fact the mortgage market has changed drastically over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, we don't all live in an ideal world where our circumstances just change with the wind to keep up with any changes in the financial world.

The basic realities, for most normal folk living in the UK is...

Buy this month, you may buy at the right time, house prices rise from now on, you bag the best mortgage deal, you get a promotion and pay rise lifes rosy.

Buy this month, you have bought at an ok time, everything stagnates, wages stay the same, your doing ok, hopefully interest rates won't go too high before your fix comes to an end.

Buy this month, prices fall for the next year, your in negative equity, your stuck, wages don't increase, you get to keep your home, but it aint everything you thought home ownership was as you are now stuck in a house thats too small as you want to move on with the person you have now met with 2 children and they don't all fit in your home.

Buy this month, regardless of what the economy is doing, you lose your job, you are screwed.

The point is, no one knows. All people can do is buy at a time that suits them. All this "could have saved" "may have saved", "may have been able to get a better price if you had done it 3 years ago" is all just rubbish.

We do not live in the past, and we cannot predict the future (well, Conrad can, apparently).

And most importantly of all, we, or at least most of us, do not have the power behind us to just change our financial circumstances from month to month depending on the newest deal on the market or dependant on what's now changed in the economy. It's a volitile time remember, and we haven't all gained from equity.

Excellent post.

ess0two

nembot wrote: »

Thank you for your opinion, it's wrong - but you're entitled to it

Whats wrong about it,the same people who sat thru 08/09 reductions and did nothing, are still sat here now whinging / cheering a crash on,that has been and gone..

Exocet

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Renting is always dead money over the long term, and buying is cheaper over the long term even if rent is less than a mortgage payment to begin with.

100% of people benefit from buying, and rent is wasted money in all but the very short term.

One very minor point. Why do people bleat on about negative equity if 100% are better off?

Graham_Devon

ess0two wrote: »

Whats wrong about it,the same people who sat thru 08/09 reductions and did nothing, are still sat here now whinging / cheering a crash on,that has been and gone..

There are loads of reasons for "whinging" that house prices are too high. And as I have just stated, just because prices drop 10%, it don't mean all of a sudden everyones worries have gone away, they can withdraw their stashes of money, and enter the housing market.

What about all those posts, from specific people on here, laughing at others because when house prices fell, mortgages dried up and got harder and harder to get?

The above is taken into account when laughing at others who couldn't make the most of lower prices. Apparently bears did it to themselves getting the crash they wanted. But it's conviniently forgotten in situations like now, when you want to suggest people did nothing about it and it's all their fault.

Everything but everything. You can attach a simple word to every situation. Relative. It needs to be used more on here instead of fixating on one point in one thread, and then totally going against the same point in another thread...from all sides of he forum.

You can't laugh at people locked out, saying they bought it on themselves. Then moan at the very same people for not doing something about it when they had the chance.

Either they had the chance, and you can't laugh at them for locking themselves out, or you laugh at them for locking themselves out, but don't whinge they didn't take the chance.