Impossible House Buying

Hannahneedshelp

We have got ourselves into a bit of a conundrum = impossible house buying.

We want to buy a house near where our family lives (inside M25 Surrey) but the average house price is around £350,000. We are first time buyers, selective about location, don't mind doing some work on the house and only have £250,000 absolute maximum. House's within this price range are few and far between, often falling in areas that we feel are undesirable.

Does anyone have any tips about how to go about finding a house?

Many thanks in advance :eek:

FireWyrm

Find a house you like, make an offer. You may get lucky. It's a buyers market so use that position. Negotiate hard. Youre not buying a CD here and you're under no obligation to pay the price asked, just like you are under no obligation in a shop. I'm surprised more people don't haggle in life....

Annisele

I'm in a similar position - I can't afford to buy where I want to live.

My current solution is to rent. It's not perfect (and in another ten years I might be kicking myself after house prices have rocketed up yet more) but I can walk to work rather than spending two hours a day crammed into a tube. That is valuable to me; others feel differently about it!

bristol_pilot

Buy a house suitable for first time buyers, not the 'average house'.

KateLiana27

Make a list of priorities, from "must haves" to "would be nice". You will not get everything on the list with your budget, so you may have to decide whether an extra bedroom, a smarter postcode, off road parking or good schools is most important to you, and sacrifice one or more of the others.

Widen your search parameters by a mile each way.

Check out the Police UK crime maps to find areas that may not be fancy, but are safe enough. Don't be put off by rich friends/acquaintances who turn their noses up at some less fashionable areas - they can afford to, you can't!

Look for probate sales (ie when someone's elderly parent/relative has died and they're looking to get rid of the house quickly) - often a great opportunity if you want a place to modernise. Basically, a motivated seller who is not relying on getting top price to fund their move is your best bet.

Be patient. Houses come on the market all the time - even if there aren't any that you can afford and like at the moment, if you keep looking chances are you will eventually find a decent one. This will be especially so if prices come down further, as they may well do.

And the obvious one - save more

pimento

I'd love to live in Mayfair but I can't afford it.

somethingcorporate

Cut your cloth accordingly.

bristol_pilot

FireWyrm wrote: »

It's a buyers market so use that position.

not in London / within M25, I'm afraid

Alybea

If you can't afford a house where you want to be you either, change location, or you look for for something smaller.
You can't just magic £100k out of thin air.
Areas tend not to be black and white... Good/bad. Try the fringy areas? Go for a walk through the areas, reputations tend to be ingrained in peoples conciousness for years rather than based on actual truth.
I've bought a house in what's considered to be an unfashionable area, but by picking the right street i feel safer here than i did renting in a trendy area.
Expand your horizons, or rent.

hazyjo

Do you both drive? There are many houses around this price in areas that are fine. Give us your absolute 'essentials', and I'm sure there'll be some volunteers to nose RM for you!

Do you have kids? Do you need to commute into Central London?

If you can't afford to buy what you want with £250k, you'll have an awful lot of saving to do. I'm sure most of us would like our first properties to be a house with garden, 3 beds, potential to extend/convert, in nice areas where we grew up, but most of us end up with flats or 2 bed starter homes and move up when finances allow.

Do you have more than a 10% deposit?

Jx

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Hannahneedshelp wrote: »

Does anyone have any tips about how to go about finding a house?
:

Yes.

Start by looking for one you can afford, in an area you can afford. What you want is of no relevance here. What you can pay for is.

There's about a zero % chance of you being able to buy a 350K house for 250K inside the M25.

So time to lower your expectations.