Would you buy now?

Imelda

We're in London and want a house as I really do not want another leasehold property- it just didn't feel "mine" if that makes sense?

The houses we are looking at are in good locations, have character and my theory is, in London they do not seem to be building houses anymore- it's all flats, on any scrap of land. Therefore in the future there will be more competition for houses as there are less of them and prices will remain firm (it makes sense to me ). We want to stay there for the next 10yrs at least, we're not decided about the whole kids thing yet but the areas we are looking at fit that bill as well as having enough "life" for a young couple.

As to convince OH- threats and tears are going to be my weapons of choice :rotfl:

Davesnave

QTPie wrote: »

We just bought - completed a week ago (were chain free with a 60% deposit).

99% of what is for sale during a recession here is complete overpriced rubbish (master bedroom connecting through the garage to the ensuite... and alike). The other 1% is faught over tooth and nail...

Congratulations! :j Not before time!:D

Ours wasn't rubbish, but it was overpriced, and the fighting didn't begin until we discounted it. Even then, potential buyers found their chains hamstrung by wobbly FTBs.

Best decision we ever made though. We were able to move on with our lives, which at my age is kinda important!

Chris55_2

Just remember that buying a house is a very serious thing to do! Make sure you do lots of research so that you know exactly where you want to buy, and what type of property you need to buy. If you're planning to have children then a flat won't be appropriate - remember that it can be difficult to sell when you need to. Some properties are always good and will sell regardless of the market, and it's often better to buy in a flat or falling market because in a rising market it's too easy to buy something that's rubbish just to "get on the ladder". I've bought 5 properties in my life so far and would say that the ones bought with serious research were the best - in one case we narrowed it down to just 2 streets (and managed to buy the best house in those two streets!), in our recent move we actually spent nearly 2 years firstly working out where in the country to be and in what type of property (and therefore knew what a bargain was when one came up) - in the worst 2 cases when I bought too quickly I lost in the 1990 recession that was £60,000 just on the house (and my marriage broke up because of it). So please don't buy any house or flat just based on the size of the kitchen cupboards! And good luck.

Imelda

thanks all.

I did think about taking a dinner plate with me to measure the cupboards :rotfl: I think the point with that is we cannot change anything in the current kitchen. We rented a flat which came with everything in the kitchen too- plates, glasses, kettle, cutlery etc and we already had two sets of everything plus our wedding presents- lunancy.

Although my heart is definitely leading this my OH is the brains of the outfit and will consider every angle before committing one penny. We have a spreadsheet in which we have scored several locations and within those locations we have narrowed it down to individual streets- I thought we were being anal .

QTPie

Thank you - yes, we had been looking fir SOME time (over two years in total...). We did have to compromise in the end, but it us a lovely house and should do us for the next 25+ years... We have bought in Batheaston in the end (pros and cons to that - I will miss Chelsea Rd, but we aren't too far from Larkhall).

Bath definitely has it's own bubble - VERY popular and a limited stock of larger houses (MANY subdivided into flats) and also a restricted supply of semis/detached (lots of terraced houses). When/if that bubble bursts....?
Imelda, re "possibly having children" - REALLY do consider the implications (on buying) very seriously. We bought our last place thinking that it would be fine for a young child. Now I think that I must have been bonkers! Very small garden, very small 3rd and 4th bedrooms, very narrow/twisty stairs, master bedroom on different floor from other bedrooms. Also, now days, being in a catchnent area for good schools is invaluable (otherwise you could REALLY struggle to get them into a reasonable school).

Although you can't cater for all eventualities, you don't want to have to move again in 2/3/5 years.... and trying to sell/buy/move when you are pregnant or have a young baby is a major inconvenience....

Davesnave, where did you end up?

QT

Davesnave wrote: »

Congratulations! :j Not before time!:D

Ours wasn't rubbish, but it was overpriced, and the fighting didn't begin until we discounted it. Even then, potential buyers found their chains hamstrung by wobbly FTBs.

Best decision we ever made though. We were able to move on with our lives, which at my age is kinda important!

Davesnave

Imelda wrote: »

Although my heart is definitely leading this my OH is the brains of the outfit and will consider every angle before committing one penny. We have a spreadsheet in which we have scored several locations and within those locations we have narrowed it down to individual streets- I thought we were being anal .

That's all good. Research is the key to a sound choice.

However, you won't know what is possible until you try. Look at us, supposedly priced out of the Westcountry on the type of property we wanted, and therefore heading to Wales. But no, a smallholding came up in Devon for a rapid cash sale, so here we are!

Renting (for a short while) has its good points too!

Edit: Whoops. I see our posts have overlapped QT, due to me visiting the chickens! To elaborate a little, we bought a 4 bed bungalow, a big barn and 5 acres in mid Devon for less than we got for our semi in Bath. There are a few 'issues,' but nothing another £60 - 80k can't sort out. We still have a small plot of land in Lower Weston too.

DocProc

I'm not so sure about the '15yrs' bit, when you say

We have approx 50% deposit and would be taking a mortgage over 15yrs just based on his salary (so we are in no way stretching ourselves).

Wouldn't it be better to just bear this fact in mind, but in actual fact try and get a mortgage for as long a period as you possible can? eg, 30 years, if possible.

Why?

Well, your monthly commitments are minimised. The amount of capital you have to find each month is less than it would be for a 30 year repayment mortgage than it would be if you had to pay that capital back over half of that period of time.

Of course, you can always settle your mortgage back at any time - within 15 years if you like -BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO. In fact, you can always over pay the minimum requirement for the capital side of the repayment if you want too - but you don't have to.

So you would be minimising your commitments. Do you follow?

brit1234

garbaldisham wrote: »

If you take the attitude that rent is dead money.

I would prefer to rent than have my equity wiped out in house price falls. Give it a few months and you will see you get more for your money.

When_is_the_reset?

What about the interest on the mortgage? Is that 'alive' money?

What about all the expense of maintenance and repairs? Is that 'alive' money?

Including all of the expenses of homeownership and in a stagnant (optimistic view) housing market - renting can make a lot of financial sense. Do your own sums and then decide.

garbaldisham

brit1234 wrote: »

I would prefer to rent than have my equity wiped out in house price falls. Give it a few months and you will see you get more for your money.

IF the values fall to any significant degree. There's plenty of places where they won't all that much, and even if they do, and you decide to stay and actually live in it, the prices will recover eventually.

Say you're paying £1000 PCM rent, as opposed £1000 PCM mortgage. The mortgage is chiselling away at the debt, and after 2 years you'll have paid something (ok, not a lot but some) off what you owe the lender. However, the £24000 rent will be gone forever.

I appreciate where the nay-sayers are coming from, but IMHO it's a very short-term view. In the long run - and 20 years is a long run - buying and staying there is the best option. "Long term" and "staying" are the key words. You'll get your money's worth, and at the end of it all you'll own it outright.

PS - If you take my example figures above and you spend six months watching the prices, and they go down by £6000, are you any better off? Answers on a postcard, please.