Will anyone buy semi's these days?

cupid_s

roswell wrote:

Corrrection, you didnt have a 30 K deposit, you borrowed the best part of 30 K and used it as a deposit.

I know this is going off topic again. But how is 12k (the amount we borrowed in student loan that we put towards the deposit for the house, as I already mentioned) the 'best part of 30k?' It's only 40% by my calculations

Ok take off the student loans and we still had 24k anyway which is still a good deposit, and we would not have gone on the holiday. And take into account the fact that if we had not gone to university in the first place, we would have been earning money and would have saved a great deal more than 12k between us in those 3 years!

Now back to the topic, I have seen plenty of houses at about 150k with STAMP DUTY PAID highlighted across the top. It's an option if you really think it's the stamp duty putting so many people off. To be honest I would much rather have a house in the stamp duty range because now anything costing less around here would be too small for us when we have kids. I'd happily pay the stamp duty to have a bigger better house

Whits

vindalooloo wrote:

God, I wish you lot would shut up about Wakey and Castleford ... you're making me terribly homesick!!!!!

We moved over to Brid three years ago and our house has been up for sale for going on 5 months now. A massive 4 double bed Edwardian terrace. Up for £119,950.

Sorry:o

I know Brid quite well, in my job I'm all over Yorks and Lincs.

I can't believe that you can't sell, that sounds like a bargain to me.

Rachman_2

Bluelad wrote:

The remainder being made up by equity from the house we are selling ( this was bought 7 years ago).

Surely the most difficult position is the FTB who has to pay the extortionate price for my house. This is where the income multiplier falls down.

As I see it,when you go further up the ladder, it is the equity that is paying for it and that is what's presently fuelling the higher prices. It is also this equity and a fixed rate mortgage that lessens my concerns of price crash and negative equity. Ultimately houses can be priced at any figure, but it's what it sells for is what counts.

Er no, as you go further up the ladder, you have some equity, but you have to borrow more as the gap gets bigger - plus unless you have fixed for 5 years plus (which carries a second risk -, i.e. you need to sell and downsize but might have to pay a big lock in) - a short term fix is a sticking plaster, no more.

By way of example, 3 bed terrace in 1999, say £60K, 3 bed semi £95K, now 2006 3 bed terrace £125K, 3 bed semi £190K - so you have £60K of equity, so you are borrowing £130K less whatever you paid off, you would have been borrowing £95K less whatever you paid off before...... - equity is nothing until realised, debt is real.

And the poster who thinks they put down £30K of savings as a deposit - Christ on a bike.... - I take it neither of you studied economics.

cupid_s

Rachman wrote:

And the poster who thinks they put down £30K of savings as a deposit - Christ on a bike.... - I take it neither of you studied economics.

I take it you did (study economics) so please can you explain to me cos I honestly don't understand what you're getting at! Obviously I know some of the deposit was student loan. But at the time we bought our house we had 36k in the bank (24k discluding any student loan which we will, I know, have to repay at some point). What was it if it wasn't savings?

I just want someone to explain please.

moneysavinmonkey

Whilst not meaning to belittle your achievement.. saving your loan money is commendable as obviously you have been incredibly disciplined not to spend it and putting up with living at home beyond uni in my opinion deserves a medal...

using figures from your earlier post...

effectively you did only save 14.5k:
- 7k saved before uni + 7.5k left from you OH salary.

The majority (21.5k) of your deposit was made up from loans/grants:
8k leftover from your SL + 4K leftover from your OH SL + 9.5k grant

Whilst you may have have had 36k in the bank.
you will also of had joint debts of at least 17k + interest
(you didn't tell us the full amount of your OH's loan)
you can't just 'discount' these!!!

so even though you have been incredibly diligent in saving cash from a very young age, had financial support of your parents throughout + beyond uni + received low interest loans + grants, and combined your + OH savings, you are less than 10k in the black...

do you really think all young people can do this and that that will be enough to get them onto the property ladder?

moneysavinmonkey

Just wanted to add, that whilst my last post may seem a little 'to the point' i'm actually think the poster has done a great job in managing their finances and saving money through uni is no easy feat. I have a lot admiration for what they have done.

Student loans are comparatively low rate so it isn't usually worth repaying them early and is probably a better bet to invest the money elsewhere...

...why, after years of being apparently incredibly financially astute, the poster has gambled it all on the increasingly volatile housing market I don't know!

skim

Back to the topic of will anyone buy semis these days.

We've just sold ours after 10 days on the market.

We had 3 EA's come around
Valuation No.1 £130,000
Valuation No.2 £160,000
Valuation No.3 £125,000

We decided to go with the 2nd EA because they seems more professional & forthcoming with info etc, but we set the asking price of £145,000

We received an offer from the second viewing of £140,000 which is the price I had in mind in the first place before the EA's valued it.

The woman buying is downsizing from a 4 bed Detached due to divorce.

What annoys me is that If I'd have gone with one of the agent I'd have lost at least £15k if not more.

cupid_s

moneysavinmonkey wrote:

Whilst not meaning to belittle your achievement.. saving your loan money is commendable as obviously you have been incredibly disciplined not to spend it and putting up with living at home beyond uni in my opinion deserves a medal...

using figures from your earlier post...

effectively you did only save 14.5k:
- 7k saved before uni + 7.5k left from you OH salary.

The majority (21.5k) of your deposit was made up from loans/grants:
8k leftover from your SL + 4K leftover from your OH SL + 9.5k grant

Whilst you may have have had 36k in the bank.
you will also of had joint debts of at least 17k + interest
(you didn't tell us the full amount of your OH's loan)
you can't just 'discount' these!!!

so even though you have been incredibly diligent in saving cash from a very young age, had financial support of your parents throughout + beyond uni + received low interest loans + grants, and combined your + OH savings, you are less than 10k in the black...

do you really think all young people can do this and that that will be enough to get them onto the property ladder?

I don't understand where the figure of 21.5k coming from loans is all about (well I do but it is wrong, as I have said we put 12k of student loans towards the deposit, not 21.5). I had 9.5k student grant. This is not a loan and never needs to be paid back. That is where a grant differs to a loan, it was money given to me to help with me studies that never needs to be repaid. So we also saved the full 9.5k grant that I was GIVEN, not loaned so therefore it is not a debt. Had I been working (and I chose not to as I would be given a decent, almost equal amount for studying and felt this would benefit me more) I would have picked up slightly more than 9.5k anyway and therefore have saved an equal amount.

I do not see how someone can be classed as having no savings until they outweigh the amount owed in student loan. Any other loan and I would agree completely but even mortgage companies do not consider student loans when calculating mortgages etc, and nowadays they are a fact of life to many but to an awful lot of people they dont actually mean all that much as they are repaid at a relatively low amount. It is like saying anyone with a mortgage, but 50k savings in the bank doesn't really have any savings at all. To me it makes no sense but I know nothing of economics I admit. It just seems so silly.

I do think most young people can do something similar yes. As I have said I know a lot of people, those who went to uni and loads who didn't. All are saving a good deposit towards a house. I know no-one who has got/is considering getting a 100% mortgage. I'm not saying everyone should save 24k like we did, but I don't see why even a small deposit is beyond the reach of most people.

Also regarding us being 10k in the black. This is really not the case, even if it was when we bought the house things change

cupid_s

moneysavinmonkey wrote:

...why, after years of being apparently incredibly financially astute, the poster has gambled it all on the increasingly volatile housing market I don't know!

I am beginning to wonder that myself lol!
The problem was that when we we're looking to rent somewhere 3 years ago, the rents were too high for us to afford! We bought our house and are paying 430pm mortgage, (we do overpay as well but at the time we weren't sure we would be able to afford to do this). To rent somewhere, which would have been smaller than our house would have cost us 650-700 per month so even the interest we would have been getting on the deposit wouldn't have covered the difference and at the time we weren't sure we could afford the extra. Now the rent prices in my area have gone down whilst the house prices have risen so if I was buying now, well I wouldn't, I'd rent! A 2 bed terrace not far from me, in a very nice area, is on the market for 162500. The one two doors away almost identical is for rent at 475pcm! But there was nowhere to rent at this price 3 years ago when we were looking!

I can't really see the benefit of buying that house rather than renting the one two doors away and saving the extra 500 pm. But circumstances were different for us and so far it has worked out for the best (and I love my house).

moneysavinmonkey

cupid_stunt wrote:

A 2 bed terrace not far from me, in a very nice area, is on the market for 162500. The one two doors away almost identical is for rent at 475pcm! But there was nowhere to rent at this price 3 years ago when we were looking!

I can't really see the benefit of buying that house rather than renting the one two doors away and saving the extra 500 pm. But circumstances were different for us and so far it has worked out for the best (and I love my house).

in a roundabout kinda way.. perhaps this helps with the OPs question....
how much would it cost to rent a 3 bed semi compared with mortgage repayments?