should we buy or rent?

westlondonbuyer

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

So you sold to rent at the bottom of the market, and have since found it far harder to buy back in as prices have risen significantly over the last year or so.

It seems everyone else is finding it "harder to buy back in" as nothing is selling in my search area. Whether "prices have risen significantly" in your area is of no relevance or concern to me.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

westlondonbuyer wrote: »

Whether "prices have risen significantly" in your area is of no relevance or concern to me.

It rather seems they've been rising in your area too.....

House prices in central and west London are recovering far better than in east London, figures show today.

In the centre and west, home values have bounced back from their 2008 slump to beat the previous peak in 2007.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/money/article-23846419-east-trails-west-in-londons-property-market-recovery.do

Which only goes to show how very dangerous STR can be.

westlondonbuyer

The article you linked to was written in June; it's now September.

And the Evening Standard isn't exactly the most reliable news resource in the world.

And I'm not looking in Kensington and Chelsea.

But thanks for spending all that time searching around on the internet just for little old me.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

westlondonbuyer wrote: »

The article you linked to was written in June; it's now September.

And prices are still within a percent or so of where they were in June.

Funny old world.

And the Evening Standard isn't exactly the most reliable news resource in the world.

If it makes you feel better to believe that, go right ahead.

And I'm not looking in Kensington and Chelsea.

Yes I rather suspected as much, what with you posting on MSE and all....;)

But thanks for spending all that time searching around on the internet just for little old me.

Well, I just googled "West London House Prices Rising", and dozens of articles appeared in mere seconds.

No trouble at all.:D

tawse57

HAMISH_MCTAVISH - let it go, go out and get some fresh air, go for a walk or a swim. If you are single gfo and have a pint and look at pretty girls. If you are married grab your wife and drag her over the kitchen table.

If you are happy a hosue owner in your own home then why on earth are you here and why do you feel so strongly about all this? If you are neither a seller or a buyer then why spend so much time on a house buying and selling forum?

Go on, treat yourself and your wife.

westlondonbuyer

Trust me Hamish, as I spent 15 years in media , I know which are the most reliable information resources. The article you linked to was written by Savills and provided through Associated Press; the Evening Standard spends almost nothing on journalists because it's now a free paper.

Oh, and if you managed to find "dozens of articles", how come you're posting one written a whole financial quarter ago, using data from Quarter 1?

westlondonbuyer

We cross posted, Tawse57. Yours was much better than mine!

tawse57

westlondonbuyer wrote: »

Trust me Hamish, as I spent 15 years in media , I know which are the most reliable information resources. The article you linked to was written by Savills and provided through Associated Press; the Evening Standard spends almost nothing on journalists because it's now a free paper.

Oh, and if you managed to find "dozens of articles", how come you're posting one written a whole financial quarter ago, using data from Quarter 1?

Westlondonbuyer has a point Hamish - today the Mirror, Independent, Telegraph, Guardian and Moneyweek all have long articles on UK house prices falling, growing lack of confidence from surveyors and apparently the numbers of buyers are amongst the lowest since March 2009 - you can't ignore all those articles in the mainstream Press today and then refer back to something from months ago.

mostlycheerful

Well, yes, if the cost of the rent is likely to be less than the apparent likely drop in the value of a property then, yes, it could make sense to wait till the market bottoms out to buy. And you could avoid losing quite a lot by this strategy. However, as sonastin points out, it is likely to only be possible to know when the market has bottomed out after the event, by which time you may have missed the benefit. So it’s kind of how long is a piece of string.

However, perhaps one way of pinning this down is that if you assume that sooner or later property will come back up again then inevitably it’ll be more lucrative than renting at some point. So in the meantime it therefore doesn’t necessarily particularly matter if for a year or two you lose some equity as you’ll be getting it back again when it comes back up. Unless perhaps you think that property could stay down indefinitely or forever. But it never has done so historically and in the absence of global catastrophe eg world war, an asteroid landing, global plague, 10C increase in temperature etc it is likely to do what it has always done previously and sooner or later bounce back up again and quite possibly boom again.

However another idea to consider is that while it’s a buyers’ market it might be worth your while going around making lots of very low offers in the hope that someone who is desperate and can’t sell will give you a bargain. A recent report said that there’s been 760,000 sales since Jun 09 and 1.1 million people who can’t sell so it might be worth offering just £250k for several £350k and even £400k properties and someone might bite. Or if they don’t then you could do another round and offer them all £275k and again wait a bit for them to stew and someone who has to move now and can’t wait any longer may possibly decide that it’s your offer or nothing and that something’s better than nothing. A harsh approach to make to desperate sellers but all’s fair in love and war so why not. It’s not your fault that the market is down so you might as well take advantage of it if you can. Might just be a waste of time doing this if they all say no but on the other hand you might land a bargain for just a bit of hard negotiating.

LilacPixie

op - have a look around and see whats on offer for the funds you have/are willing to spend. If something suits you offer what its worth to you and let the vendor decide yes or no. Meanwhile stay with your family, try not get on each others nerves and save as much as you can just incase prices start to climb significantly which TBH I doubt but you never know.