How depressing - House hunting

ds1980

its doesn't have to take so long getting in and out of houses to make money. i have not lived in a property for more than 6 months in the last 3 years. My returns are not simply down to the upturn in the market. You have to buy low and sell high. Find people that really need to sell and complete quickly. Do your research and invariably you'll find houses undervalued by £10-15k at moderate prices. A lot more the higher you go.

they are out there you just need to keep looking.

Ps I live within the M25 and there's loads of places to buy for £250k.

I aim to make £25k per house at the levels we buy at and I do not do any work on them just simply put myself in a position that allows me to negotiate. If we can't get the increased prices we desire (ie valuations and then add £10-15k on top) we'll stay where we are or rent it out.

We are only in this position because we took the plunge when things were "tight" and stretched ourselves. We're now reaping the rewards and earn a hell of a lot less than £85k a year jointly in salary but a lot more than that if you take into account what we now own.

Go for it and take the risk. Remember you only lose out if you sell while the market is down! If you don't do this you'll always win!

zag2me

Just bear in mind "investing" in homes should only be considered on your 2nd property your main home should be something to live in.

Rabiddog_2

I cant believe someone wants a three bed house for their first property ..knowing that prices are very high. A couple of things , you only really need a 1 bed place (the other bedrooms are wants, not needs) even when you have your first child you only need a two bed place (so thats a way off). Have you considered the possibility of divorce (money is the main cause)? Have you considered the possibility of not being able to have children? Also someone earlier said to use 75% of your takehome to pay the mortgage (2300 + 2000, overpaying by 1000) which is a recipe for disaster. FYI I live in a grotty one bed flat in a grotty area, but really its not grotty and the area's not grotty (brixton). The first ten years I lived here I was in negative equity, its all hunky dory now of course, but a house is for living in..not for investment. Ladders have two directions up and down. Be realistic, you cant both expect to have good gains yourself, in the future and yet resent the gains of others. It's all down to Maggie Thatcher and immigration. She sold off the BEST council houses at up to 70% discount, and immigration makes the incessant demand for housing, whatever the price.

olly300

I understand about trying to buy the best house available as you don't want to pay stamp duty twice.

I have 3 friends' in couples who brought 3 bed houses as their first property. (Ok not semi detached but all have off street parking of some sort.)

The OP should actually contact estate agents her/hisself as lots of properties are seen and offered on and never go on rightmove.co.uk I was phoned up by local estate agents when I was looking before they put properties on their website or rightmove.co.uk. Some of the properties never appeared on the rightmove.co.uk as an acceptable offer had been put on them already.

Amitoocautious

The only reason we are looking at 3 beds is that as i have previously said i think the concept of the ladder is disappearing and this is me going on what i am seeing from my home owner friends.

Rabiddog i think you will find the reason we are trying to do it one salary is so we dont argue about money and cause problems in our relationship. As i have said we are not wanting to overstrecth ourselves, merely wanting to use 3.5 times one income and as that income is way above average salary why should it be so difficult to buy the average house!

MJMum

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maryjane01

I am in a similar position to you, I am 29 years old however I bought in London with my husband in September. I understand what you are saying about there being no house ladder anymore. We bought a 2 up 2 down terrace house. We only need 1 bed for ourselves at the moment, so we are renting the 2nd room out and all the rent money goes on overpayments (so we do not start to rely on the income and so we are in a better position financially for when we want to start a family). With 1 child we will still only need 2 bedrooms. If it gets to a point we need 3 bedrooms we will convert the roofspace (we are going to start saving for that soon even though it may not happen for 3 or 4 years). If you can get a big enough garden (ours is not very big) you can get very posh sheds with insulation and electricity. That may be what we will do if we need another room!

Look for potential. Since we bought in September, we have redecorated and put in a new bathroom. If we sold it tomorrow I am sure we could get £20,000 more than what we paid, having spent about £8,000 doing it up if we sold tomorrow (or in the future we wanted to move up the property ladder) we are already ahead by £12,000.

Also, you might think people our parents age managed to buy nice 'average' houses in good areas on one income. I know where my grandmother lived it was one of the first houses built on a new out of town estate, but 30 years on it was a nice area. The same with my parents. The area there house is improved greatly and became a very posh area over the 20 years they owned their house. I could never afford to buy there, but if they had to buy again now either could they. Also, our parents never had mobile phone and broadband internet bills today. Between me and my husband that is nearly £100 per month. My parents never had so many gadgets (that sem to need updating) either.

Amitoocautious I think you need to address your expectations. One problem with renting is that when it comes time to buy you probably cannot afford to buy a place as nice as a place you can afford to rent and that also skewes your expectations.

We have a combined income of less than amitoocautious, about £60,000. I feel very lucky because owning our own home (even though being a 2 bed it is less than the 'average 3 bed' you expect to be able to buy for yourself). I think there may be people reading this thread on a lower income that can only manage to buy a flat or that may even be jealous of me!

Melissa177

Amitoocautious originally asked:

Anyway just a bit fed up, does anyone else feel the same or will i just be flamed by the home owners who say we want it all?

Why do I think you were trying to find people who agree with you, rather than take on board most people's comments!

fivemice

Amitoocautious wrote: »

merely wanting to use 3.5 times one income and as that income is way above average salary why should it be so difficult to buy the average house!

I think your problem is with the one income part. I should imagine most three bed properties are purchased with two incomes in mind.

fatpigeon_2

Hi Amitoocautious

I think you're right to be concerned about where house prices are heading. It seems that wit 130% mortgages and IO mortgages the lending industry is desperate to lure everyone into massive debt without thinking twice about what could be around the corner. It's in their best interests to convince us there's no time to wait and that buying now is the best idea, hence their billion pound profits.

Unfortunately, you and your mortgage will be competing for the same houses against people who have no wory about the future and don't think about it other than to think about how much money they'll make when they sell. These people are willing to max out their credit and take the risk you won't. They're the ones pushing up the prices of the houses you're looking at.

Posters who tell you to take the risk because it paid off for them won't be there to help you if things go wrong. Trust your instincts and maybe consider renting and saving for longer?