How depressing - House hunting

keeperbear

moneywise22 wrote: »

All i am saying is if you cant afford what you want at the moment, why buy a house right now?? Whats the rush? House prices arent going to go up dramatically over the next few years, who knows, they may even come down.

The rush is the rental cost you otherwise pay. Furthermore, even a modest 2% per annum rise in house prices is 6k on a 300k property.

I have been reading about a fast-approaching housing crash for the last ten years. A mate of mine sold his 2 bed flat in London 24 months ago because he forecast a crash. Guess what? His old flat has increased £25,000 and he has been paying £1,200 per month in rent. Add in the transaction costs of his sale, and he is badly out of pocket.

I own my property and don't care if there is a crash. If there is, the price difference between my property and the next rung of the property ladder will narrow and allow me to trade up. In addition, a crash will be related to higher unemployment, so many high earners (such as the original poster) may lose their jobs and be unable to get a mortgage.

keeperbear

Rick62 wrote: »

What is this nonsense about 'the property ladder'? To buy and sell a typical house in the SE of £300k will cost about £20k in stamp duty, EA and other fees.

Every transaction has fees, see the stock market. There is a 'property ladder'. You buy what you can afford, life there for a while (I thought that is what houses were for!) and then trade up as your income and equity levels allow. Doesn't seem like nonsense to me!

keeperbear

Amitoocautious wrote: »

As i said the avergae wage can't buy an average house and i think that is wrong

Why is that wrong? It is capitalism. It is the law of demand and supply. They aren't building any more land, are they?

Swindlebiscuit

keeperbear wrote: »

Another poster thought your comments were a touch snobbish, and I kind of agree. You claim to be have been "bearish on property", and have been renting. Why? Other people, such as myself, bought a grotty 1 bed and moved up the ladder. I now have substantial equity and am glad that I didn't sit on the fence before buying. We all work hard, but some of us took the risk to invest in a property. I couldn't afford my property now, but it was still expensive ten years ago.

There's the problem, Keeperbear.

You took the plunge and bought a house and that's obviously been a good choice for you (and many others). But, by your own admission, you couldn't afford to buy the house you're living in now - even though it's ten years on! (and I assume you're earning lots more now that you did then)

So on that basis, why do you think it's unreasonable for anybody to be bearish on property? Don't you see that for those entering the property market now, even a "grotty one-bed" might be unatainable. But, by waiting a few years and getting closer to possibly having kids, a grotty one-bed becomes ever more unsuitable. It's this kind of smugness that annoys me about people who - through no real skill on their part - now sit on substantial equity and pour scorn on those who don't want to stretch themselves to the absolute limit to buy a shoebox in Peckham.

Melissa177

The problem Amitoocautious has is that house now cost 3 times what they did 10 years ago making any half decent house unaffordable for someone on a typical good wage

If houses are "unaffordable" to most people, who is buying them?

zag2me

Either lower your expectations or be prepared to spend more than 200k. I live near you and the kind of property you aspire to is around 250k.

Your original post makes it sounds like you somehow deserve a nice property because of how much you earn, but the simple fact is if you bought 2 years ago you would be looking at 200-220k, now 2 years on, prices have increased.

WesternExpress

If someone earning as much as the OP can't buy an average house then something is really wrong. What are us who are earning the national average supposed to do, or indeed those who don't get that (ie 50% of the population)? These days it's between the have lots and lots and the may never haves.

Melissa177

WesternExpress wrote: »

If someone earning as much as the OP can't buy an average house then something is really wrong. What are us who are earning the national average supposed to do, or indeed those who don't get that (ie 50% of the population)?

Move to the North? :rotfl:

MJMum

---

chelseablue

Hi Amitoocautious

I do understand where your coming from.

Me and bf live in South East and have a joint income of £55K and we would still struggle to afford anything!

How much of a deposit do you have saved? As you will see from my sig we are saving too - hoping to have £40K by the end of the year.

May I ask how old you are? Just thinking that you could stretch yourself a bit and you'd still have a lot of income left to save and after a few years you could pay a lump sum off the mortgage to have lower monthly payments and then have kids?

Good luck and dont ever give up. One day you WILL be in your dream house (thats what I always tell myself anyway!)