Am I crazy to be thinking of buying a house right now?

JuniorSherlock

Well our bank took into account the fact that he would probably retire at 65, which gives him 20 years to pay the mortgage. She didn't offer us 25 years and to be honest we didn't ask because we'd been told by a mortgage broker previously that we'd only be considered for 20 years.

Perhaps it's down to the job you do? My husband works with heavy plant machinery so I guess he would have to retire at 65. If you are in an office or self employed that might make some difference.

brit1234

I would stick with your original plan of spring or summer. You will save thousands each month you wait with the price falls.

JonnyBravo

Decide for yourselves.

There are lots of people in here desperate for no-one to buy til they do. They have convinced themselves theyre doing it with the best of intentions for others but of course in reality its simply best for them. Once theyve bought youll be encouraged to buy.

Write your list of pro's and con's. Write up a list of the risks. Check how long you can afford it if one of you loses your job. Check what happens if interest rates rise.

Then you decide and dont rely on idiots like brit1234 to give you any advice. The fact his advice is ALWAYS the same no matter who asks, and what their situation, should tell you something.

pinkshoes

No one knows what house prices will do, so you should be thinking of this as a home for you and your family, not as an investment.

House prices vary street to street, not just area to area, so you can't really take advice from anyone else on this about what's going to happen. In my area they haven't dropped at all; people just refused to sell, which is still the case, so many disappointed people who waited.

Why isn't this your ideal house? What would you need to change to make it your ideal home? Are you relying on house prices dropping to ever afford your dream home? The house actually sounds quite nice from what you've described, although not my cup of tea living in such a quiet area!

JuniorSherlock

Thanks JonnyBravo and PinkShoes.

First and foremost it will be a home. I'm tired of paying a high rent for someone else's home. This isn't our home at all, it's just a house we are borrowing. They come and inspect it every 3 months, tell us that we are using too much blu-tack to stick up the kids pictures on the walls, things like that.

This house has many bonuses - being in the catchment area for the school I wanted my daughter to go to in September is a biggie.

It's not an attractive house, but it can be made much better. It's not huge, but on our budget it's not bad for a 3 bedroomed house.

The possibility of further development is an issue, but they haven't applied for planning so I guess we just have to hope that they don't.

Ideally I'd love an old house full of character with a huge garden. That ain't gonna happen. I said I would compromise on the house if it was in the right area. I want my kids to grow up safely, I want nice neighbours. It sounds as though it has all of that. We can go on waiting for ever and in the meantime we get older, our kids grow up without having had a proper home and our lives are just wasted.

LilacPixie

You have to decide for yourselves I'm afraid. None of us can predict the future. Personally I'm looking but that is the best thing for is as a family. You need to consider mortgage v's rent costs plus the loss of whatever interest you are getting on your deposit amount. If the house is only worth 125k then every 1% fall in house prices would 'lose' you 1250 but I have no idea on your specific area and if prices are actually falling there. In your area is there much further for a 3 bed house in a desirable area to fall?

suljka

JuniorSherlock wrote: »

Thanks JonnyBravo and PinkShoes.

First and foremost it will be a home. I'm tired of paying a high rent for someone else's home. This isn't our home at all, it's just a house we are borrowing. They come and inspect it every 3 months, tell us that we are using too much blu-tack to stick up the kids pictures on the walls, things like that.

This house has many bonuses - being in the catchment area for the school I wanted my daughter to go to in September is a biggie.

It's not an attractive house, but it can be made much better. It's not huge, but on our budget it's not bad for a 3 bedroomed house.

The possibility of further development is an issue, but they haven't applied for planning so I guess we just have to hope that they don't.

Ideally I'd love an old house full of character with a huge garden. That ain't gonna happen. I said I would compromise on the house if it was in the right area. I want my kids to grow up safely, I want nice neighbours. It sounds as though it has all of that. We can go on waiting for ever and in the meantime we get older, our kids grow up without having had a proper home and our lives are just wasted.

Well I think you answer your own question - it will be home!! Not a dream home, but hay how many of us can actually afford that... if we don't win the lottery ??
It would be home, safe place for your children to grow up in, has good schools etc.
Isn't it time for us Brits to have a bit of reality check as well?! For years we've been chasing "the property ladder", trying to predict the market, putting off purchasing a home because we wouldn't be making profit on it when we sell etc. etc.
How about we start looking at house purchasing as buying a home rather than an investments?? No one wants to loose money, but hey by renting house we do that anyhow, you said so yourself?
And if the house falls down in value (which most likely it wont, at least not in a longish run) you'll still have a place to call home... rather than providing your landloard with a chance to buy yet another property and make money off us

The property you want to buy sounds like a bargain, you'd be paying less in mortgage payments than you are paying in rent now, so even if it was to loose a bit in value over the next year or so, you'd still be better of and you'd have place that is yours... just imagine, free to put as much blue tack onto your walls as you wish :rotfl:

You could say listen to your heart, or listen to your head - but it seems to me they might be talking in unison at the moment. Go for it!!! Good luck whatever you decide

JuniorSherlock

Quick thanks to all who responded.

You are quite right. We are losing £600pcm right now in rent. If we rented forever we'd still be paying that amount every month right up until we died, pension or no pension. At least with a mortgage once you've paid it off that's it.

We would be better off every month with a mortgage, we'd be paying less and that amount would go towards paying off the loan for our house. We can even shorten the mortgage by paying more if we are in a position to do so.

It will be a home first and foremost. Not an ideal home, but again it will be better than where we are at the moment.

Whatever happens to the market. If we go for this house we would be in a better place psychologically and financially.

Investment wise. Down here prices have stagnated. 2 beds will go down as first time buyers try to get onto the market, but 3 beds are usually a second purchase so that price won't lose much. In the last 2 years prices here have gone up and have now levelled off. Sellers are more willing to negiotiate but we find they add an extra £5,000 to the asking price to account for negotiations.

They have rejected our first offer so we have put in a second and have forwarded to the agents our mortgage agreement in principle. I have a second viewing today and I just hope our offer is accepted.

Fingers crossed!

Gwhiz

Hi Junior,

Just to say I am in the process of buying right now (land to build on as opposed to a finished house but the factors are all the same) and am looking at this as a long term place to live - a home!!!

I've rented for 30 months now and it will be 3 and a half years by the time I complete my project. I cannot wait to get into my OWN home and create a proper nest to live in. I know exactly what you are going through and as long as you want this property as a home for a good few years you really cannot go wrong.

You only have one life, so you should enjoy it to the full. If that means buying now, then I say "go for it"

suljka

Doctor_Gloom wrote: »

What happens when interest rates shoot up though? The rent won't be more expensive then.

Yeah right! Because what normally happens is rent always stay the same, no matter what happens to the market?! Right... and the pig can also fly :eek:

Doctor Gloom, why so gloomy