Where in belfast area for first time buyer?

talksalot81

ginger_nuts wrote:

if you want to buy today then you pay todays prices .
If you want to wait then tomorrow prices will be higher .

Dont imagine that prices will fall .They wont !

This is the biggest problem. So many people are convinced of this and it is simply WRONG! Areas of England have prices lower today than they were 18 months ago. Property in the US is crashing. Property in Canada is doing likewise. Property in the South of Ireland is facing decreases....

The long term trend is upward, but we have been seeing growth miles ahead of the long term. In some respects, you are climbing a mountain and trying to tell me that eventually you will reach the moon!

As for the suggestion of external money funding the growth - this can go only so far. Belfast is not the business centre that Dublin or London is. Outsiders will not come into the market if the money they make working here results in their losing money!

Rent is dead money - bloody hell so is interest only! Interest only on a 150k property costs 700 odds a month, rent on the same place is 400. In 2 years you actually save 7k by renting. The mortgage only works if prices continue upwards significantly. I (and I am afraid an increasing number of more knowledgeable analysts agree) do not see this being the case.

I am at the point of giving up arguing. Buying into the market is a gamble you can lose. If prices dont go up or change, you are tied in and losing money. Fair enough, if i am wrong, I do not make the same profits, but at the same time I have nowhere near the risk involved as if i follow the 'good' advice. If you guys believe that a typical 1 bed appartment will cost over a million in 5 years (using our current 30%, that is the reality), so be it. But I think you are just naive to think it.

Edit: Look at the leading business story from BBC...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/default.stm

Keep in mind that the BBC as extremely slow to give out any stories like this and you should further note that the term they have used (slowdown) is an interpretation from the source who in fact predicted falls.

fredy34

This is an interesting discussion but dont be fooled into thinking that because people cant afford it the prices will fall. In japan its quite common for mortgages to be passed down from parent to child as they take out 50 and sometimes 60 year mortgages.

We have a long long way to go before things are that bad!

The owner of one of the estate agents (UPS maybe although it may have been another estate agent cant remember ) said that there was no way houses in the bloomfield area would go above 100k that was 3 years ago. Now trying buying one for less!


Its up to you mate, wait if you want, dont wait if you dont. No one knows for definate whats going to happen but its pretty clear at the mo things are still going up.

jetboy

I don't see that this thread is going anyware useful. You have reached a decision to ditch the house hunting race and are desperately trying to justify you actions. As for renting..using your example figure and assuming that prices rise only by current savings rates an interest only mortgage will cost you £0 over 2 years in real terms whereas renting will cost £9300 assuming you sensibly invested the difference between the mortgage and rental cost.. Wrap it up and lets re-open this in 2 years and see how far you've got. Good luck

NAR

jetboy wrote:

I don't see that this thread is going anyware useful. You have reached a decision to ditch the house hunting race and are desperately trying to justify you actions.

Totally agree post #52 is so different from post #1.
As for the BBC story an educated sheep could make those statements - all woolly! If the lazy journalist had gone back to the advice to Gordon Brown 3 years ago and found it turned out to be nearly true, well then this guy might have some standing in my eyes (as might the article!). This story refers to areas of the UK that have had many years of boom. Belfast, because of its inward investment due over the next 5 years will have boom in the housing market to match.

belfastgal

does anyone know what is the longest term you can get a mortgage for ? it used to be 25 years - is it possible to get one for longer say 40 years ?

leftieM

Whoever mentioned the Japan thing - didn't they have a huge house price crash? Some people have 100 year mortgages while their neighbours who live nearby got the same places for a 10th of the price after the crash.

ginger_nuts

belfastgal wrote:

does anyone know what is the longest term you can get a mortgage for ? it used to be 25 years - is it possible to get one for longer say 40 years ?

If its interest only it wont matter if its 25 years or 40 years ,its still not being repayed.

Thriftylady

belfastgal wrote:

does anyone know what is the longest term you can get a mortgage for ? it used to be 25 years - is it possible to get one for longer say 40 years ?

yes, 40 years is possible with certain lenders.

I took my first mortgage, at the age of 22, over 35 years. Then a couple of years down the line I increased my payments to shorten the term to about 23 years. Although on the face of it I wouldn't advise anyone to tie themselves to a 40 year mortgage, it can be the answer if you are sure that you will have the willpower to increase your payments once your financial situation improves. It was tempting not to bother, as the repayments were so low, but I was glad I did as when I went to sell I had obviously decreased the amount owed quite substantially in comparison to my original mortgage....

seatzie

>way over 200k for a nice FTB house. FTB's simply cant afford that. Ok so

just sold my house a few weeks ago, had a first time buyer bidding up to 200k then pulling out when it went higher, house across the road had a FTB bidding at 220k on it, so it seems all FTB's are not the poor struggling people we once were????

as for house price examples:
our first house bought in 1996 for 19k sold in 2000 for 48k, saw it on the market earlier this year for 120k (and I'm sure it went for closer to 140k!)

current house, bought for 90k in 2000 was on market for 185k sold for well over 200k (fingers crossed 6 weeks or so til moving date lol!!)

One other point - as for "buying into the market is a gamble you can lose"........I'm looking somewhere to live, I'm not doing it for the cash...................if the house I want is only for sale and affordable, why rent?

belfastgal

Thriftylady wrote:

yes, 40 years is possible with certain lenders.

I took my first mortgage, at the age of 22, over 35 years. Then a couple of years down the line I increased my payments to shorten the term to about 23 years. Although on the face of it I wouldn't advise anyone to tie themselves to a 40 year mortgage, it can be the answer if you are sure that you will have the willpower to increase your payments once your financial situation improves. It was tempting not to bother, as the repayments were so low, but I was glad I did as when I went to sell I had obviously decreased the amount owed quite substantially in comparison to my original mortgage....

I thought you could get a mortgage for longer than 25 years . Daughter wants to get on the property ladder now and then later when she graduates and hopfully earns more she can either sell or increase payments to reduce the term. if she waits another few years i dont thionk she will be able to afford it.