to buy or not to buy...

Batchy

Buy now/ Buy later argument

BUY NOW (arguments)
Prices have fallen from highs seen in 2006/07/08
Interest rates are at records lows/ fix for many years at lowish rates
Stamp Duty holiday up to 250k
Less buyers and more to choose from, you can cherry pick
Distressed sellers are getting desperate, easy to negotiate down
Lawyers just are not busy, so things get done quickly (sub 2 months)
Start chipping away at that 25 year mortgage now, then start contributing straight into your pension for future, rather than continuing to save for a house, you still dont know what its going to cost. Leaving less time for pension.
Live in a area you want to be, rather than in one, where there is a rental available.
Be your own landlord, control, make your own choices
Make friends with local neighbours, have a social life!
Mortgages are available now, at 10%, 15% +...



BUY LATER
Prices may fall, will you buy into a falling market in the future, or will you still wait longer and benefit from even cheaper price or will they go up wuickly again?
More distressed sellers in the future? (who knows?)
Interest rates will eventually go up, but when?
Keep renting and saving, but low interest rates will not help savings
Keeping money in bank above 30-50k not such a great idea.
Might be difficult to secure a 75% LTV mortgage in future after further falls.
Having to take what you can get, from desperate sellers.

Its not all plain sailing waiting, there is a lot of unknown. It carries as much risk as buying in reality.

as long as you think about it and make an informed decision you can never go wrong with what ever decision you make as it will fit your personal circumstances. So its RIGHT for YOU!!

oneeye1

dont think there s a stamp duty holiday

LilacPixie

oneeye1 wrote: »

dont think there s a stamp duty holiday

is if your a FTB.

The OP is right, for some people and their circumstances now is a great time to buy, for others waiting could/would be the right choice.

vivatifosi

My house hunting techniques are different to the ones above.

Have I found "the one"? If yes buy, if not wait.

If you particularly want to live in a specific house or specific place then what the market is doing doesn't come into it. But then to me its about buying a home, not a house.

LilacPixie

vivatifosi wrote: »

My house hunting techniques are different to the ones above.

Have I found "the one"? If yes buy, if not wait.

If you particularly want to live in a specific house or specific place then what the market is doing doesn't come into it. But then to me its about buying a home, not a house.

Mines are sort of morphing. Now its a case of right do I like it? Is it right price? Can I be moved in before I get any fatter? :rotfl:

House hunting with two preschool kids and 6 months pregnant is eye opening to say the least :rotfl:

Davesnave

Why can't you rent & have a social life?

When we moved into our rental, we discovered some people in the road had been there 20 years and still didn't know each other.....so we threw a party. Lots of the folk in the road came along, some of them freely admitting that an extra incentive was being able to see inside 'our' house! :rotfl:

And why is it 'not such a great idea' to keep money above £30-£50k in the bank? Have you heard of multiple accounts? On second thoughts, if you are really worried, I can do some of the looking after for you....:)

I'm not bigging-up waiting, or buying. As viva says, I'm fussy, so if the right thing came along at the right price, I'd go for it. OTOH, if I was still looking, and there was nothing outstanding in my area, I'd not feel too concerned right now.

Generali

I wouldn't look too closely at capital losses TBH unless you think there's a chance you'll move soon. Any realistic loss measured over decades of home ownership will be negligible.

Batchy

Cheers guys,
I was trying to throw a lot of factors into the air, that could influence decisions!
Mine was the same as vivatifosi's exactly. I would say house buying is more of an ART than a Science... you can look at all the index's you like and charts, but at the end of the day each house is unique in a different area with different factors affecting it!

If its a HOME you want, you can certainly cherry pick at the moment, if its a cheap dream house, then you need to dig deep and open your mind a little to see whats out and about.

Most people comment on here about waiting to buy, and they dont really know what they want, or where they want it, or what they are prepared to pay.

Batchy

Davesnave wrote: »

Why can't you rent & have a social life?

When we moved into our rental, we discovered some people in the road had been there 20 years and still didn't know each other.....so we threw a party. Lots of the folk in the road came along, some of them freely admitting that an extra incentive was being able to see inside 'our' house! :rotfl:

And why is it 'not such a great idea' to keep money above £30-£50k in the bank? Have you heard of multiple accounts? On second thoughts, if you are really worried, I can do some of the looking after for you....:)

I'm not bigging-up waiting, or buying. As viva says, I'm fussy, so if the right thing came along at the right price, I'd go for it. OTOH, if I was still looking, and there was nothing outstanding in my area, I'd not feel too concerned right now.

Most renters come and go, with a lot of regularity, so never really have time to get to know people and what not, I used to be a renter for 4 years, never really had a problem with the fact!

The cash in bank thing, is more if you do have 50k tied up and its covered by the guarantee, all well and good but if the bank goes pop, dont expect to be able to get your hands on the cash the next day from the FSA... it would take a great deal of time to sort out!
This could cause problems if you need it, to buy, etc.

Davesnave

Batchy wrote: »

Most renters come and go, with a lot of regularity, so never really have time to get to know people and what not, I used to be a renter for 4 years, never really had a problem with the fact!

The best thing about renting in that so-called 'posh' road, was that it turned out to be not so nice as the less expensive road where we'd just spent 21 years.

LilacPixie

it's the moving again that puts me off renting plus the cost. I really struggle with the concept of spending £700-750 a month renting when we could buy similar for a mortgage of around £500 a month. With returns as they are interest on our deposit would not be alot so renting would cost us money. We are looking to buy something to do a minimum of 7-10 years if not forever so any drops in house prices are not a huge concern for us.