to buy or not to buy??

djpater

I know that there is no one who visits this site with an ability to look into the future. But what do you think is the best option for me?
My family and I are living in very low rent accomadation thanks to an Armed forces married quarter. With only 5 years left to serve I think it is about time I looked at buying a house for our future. However I am concerned by the endless stories in the press about an imminent house price crash. As i do not need to buy a house to live in at the moment should i choose another investment vehicle to put my money into. I can afford about £1000 pcm

ajaxgeezer

Would you trust anyone else to suggest things to do with your money? When you are talking about 12 grand a year for 5 years you'll get a million different responses between the security of saving to the thought that a thousand lucky dips on the lottery might improve your chances.

It's your money though, and only you know your own mind.

UK007BullDog

Well, I would buy now, even if it is just an investment property. However you do need a deposit to do that.

Even if there is a house price crash you still need a place to live in 5 years time. Do not think you can rely on the councils to offer you housing, especially if you have served for a long time they expect you to use your pension or pay-out to pay for private accommodation.

If you are worried about any possible crash make sure you can plow as much money as you can afford into the mortgage to pay it off quicker i.e. do overpayments. Fix it until you come out of the forces so you can use your lump sum without penalties to pay of a big chunk of the mortgage and it will also give you flexibility in case you want to sell as it is not in the right area where your future jobs are.

You would hopefully rent the property out which will pay the mortgage and even help pay it off quicker.

There are lenders who will give you a special rate i.e. you can buy an investment property on a residential mortgage.

Woolwich are one of those lenders.

Alternatively see a broker but make sure you get a residential mortgage as the rates are lower than on a BTL mortgage.

We used to be in the Forces so am in the Know