How depressing - House hunting

moneywise22

Hi Amitoocautious.

I know how you feel as me and hubby are looking to buy our first place.
We are not going to settle for some terraced house with no parking just so we can get on the property ladder!

We are looking in a similar price bracket to you. £160,000 to £200,000 will get you a lovely detached house with a garage in our area (Midlands).

Everyone has the right to live in the house they want, and even though you feel your options are limited at the moment, if you spoke to an IFA you may find there are solutions that will get you the type of house you want.

I wouldnt rush into anything - even though you feel pressured by your inlaws it is wise to wait and find the house you want - dont be made to settle for any less. We certainly wont!

Just hang on in there and the perfect house will come along soon.

When we were looking in our local paper a few months ago all we could see were properties that were too small or in rough areas etc...so we stopped looking, now we have started looking again there are lots of houses that are just right. So we are having a great time with our pick of great properties!

Good luck - when you work as hard as we do we deserve it!

xxx

Melissa177

Everyone has the right to live in the house they want,

Sorry MoneyWise to sound like such a grump, but they don't! I want to live in Mayfair in a beautiful period home, but there isn't any chance of that happening (yet)!

We all have to make sacrifices to get what we want.

However, good luck finding a home - I do agree with you that if you keep looking and looking, and your expectations are not that unreasonable (which they don't appear to be), then you will soon find a property which suits your needs.

moneywise22

no we dont - dont be silly. i would never sacrifice what i want and nor should you. we are buying the house we want right now!

(maybe what you want is unreasonable)

we are buying our first home and it is going to be a lovely detached 3 bedroomed home with a garage and front and back gardens. which overlooks fields because we have cats and we are certainly not making them wander around some estate or built up area. we dont need to sacrifice anything.

paint

moneywise22 wrote: »

Everyone has the right to live in the house they want

Shouldn't that be the house they can afford?

mags24

This is certainly the time of year when more property comes onto the market - i.e. supply increases, but often so does demand, meaning that you are unlikely to pick up any bargains.

As to the person who thinks that we have the right to live in the house we want, well I'm still trying to find someone to sell me the Georgian 5bed of my dreams for what I can afford!

The problem is that the demand for purchases, especially at the low end of the market (1/2 bed flats and small houses) is far greater than the number of people who are buying them to live in, because of BTL. This is why the price of property has increased by 120% in 6 years when the number of households has not increased by anywhere near that amount.

moneywise22

mags24 wrote: »

This is certainly the time of year when more property comes onto the market - i.e. supply increases, but often so does demand, meaning that you are unlikely to pick up any bargains.

As to the person who thinks that we have the right to live in the house we want, well I'm still trying to find someone to sell me the Georgian 5bed of my dreams for what I can afford!

The problem is that the demand for purchases, especially at the low end of the market (1/2 bed flats and small houses) is far greater than the number of people who are buying them to live in, because of BTL. This is why the price of property has increased by 120% in 6 years when the number of households has not increased by anywhere near that amount.

Another person who's idea of what they want is ridiculous! When i said we have the right to live in the house we want, i meant a decent size in a nice area, not a mansion!!! get real.

Melissa177

Hi Moneywise,

Sounds good - I know money stretches quite a bit further in the Midlands than it does in London!

I've just paid £165K for an ex-local authority one-bed flat in Battersea. It's very nice on the whole, although it is one the edge of a rather large high-rise estate. I had looked around a lot worser places, which cost more money!

I did think amitoocautious was being unrealistic in expecting a lovely 3 bed in Basingstoke for £200K, however. I would be very tempted to ratchet up my budget.



I wish I could have a cat

Melissa177

mags24 wrote: »

The problem is that the demand for purchases, especially at the low end of the market (1/2 bed flats and small houses) is far greater than the number of people who are buying them to live in, because of BTL. This is why the price of property has increased by 120% in 6 years when the number of households has not increased by anywhere near that amount.

I'm not convinced BTL is the bogeyman. If there were fewer BTL houses, there would be correspondingly more people renting - and hence more prospective buyers.

Plus, BTLs are often HMOs, or groups of friends living together. Groups of people rarely decide to buy together - they end up wanting to buy their own place, or as a couple.

I think there are a lot of smaller households these days - I'm a household of one - which is straining the bottom end of the market. People stay single for longer, and want their own home.

Headintheclouds_3

Hi there amitoocautious,

As someone further up said, you have every right to feel disappointed that you may have to struggle to get on the property ladder. Life can seem unfair to everyone at some point (I bet we all have stories to tell about that!)

Anyway, as they said if the mountain won't come to Mohammed etc.; I know you have full-time jobs but what about learning some basic DIY skills so that you can buy a place which needs a little work? I'm constantly amazed at what non-tradespeople can turn their hand to with some patience and practice - replacing floorboards, replacing skirting boards etc.

Best of luck anyway - there's an awful lot of us scrabbling for that first rung

moneywise22

Yes headintheclouds. in about 12 months time after we have bought a house to live in we are going to buy a second house that needs work to restore. We both work full-time but relish the challenge of doing this, as it will be our work. We are not scatred of trying things we havent done before and are willing to work hard to make a it a success. If only more people had the get-up-and-go to do something for themselves then there wouldnt be so much bitterness in people who say things like "why should they buy the house they want when we can't".