thinking of selling up

Melissa177

I didn't realise the ones on Charlotte Despard Ave were difficult to get a mortgage on - I did have a look around one, but when I got to the property, there was an elderly man slumped over a broken washing machine in the doorway with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken in his lap. :eek:

The estate agent was really embarrassed - I made a quick exit!

Dithering_Dad

I looked at doing this myself a few months back, but Mrs Dither slapped me down because she loves the house, neighbours and the kids were happy in local schools.

I did my sums and found that I could rent a comparable house for less than what I was paying for mine in just mortgage interest. I had a plan of putting the house equity and the monthly mortgage savings into a safe-ish investment for about 5 years and waiting for the crash.

I also thought about the savings I could make by not having to pay water rates, building insurance, building and garden maintenance, mortgage protection insurance, mortgage life assurance, etc, etc. Shame Mrs Dither didn't go for it because we could have built up a really nice nest egg with these saving.

Even if there isn't a property crash, we would probably stanbd to make better gains in 5 years of stockmarket investment than 5 yrs in a stagnant house market. this alone would have helped us buy the same standard of house but with a markedly reduced mortgage.

But then that's women for you, always thinking of the family rather than my finances

franklee

Melissa177 wrote: »

I'm prepared to be proved wrong, but I think I'll take my chances and get on the property ladder rather than hope for a housing crash. I think there is something quite perverse about hoping for a housing crash - it's like you're "hoping" for the economy to go tits up!!

I find this "hoping for a crash" an interesting point and it's often made. My actions are not based on what I'm hoping for but what I think will happen. If it came to what I'd have hoped for that would be not to have had this boom in the first place. But it's happened and needs dealing with which I'm doing the best I can for myself and family. I acknowledge I've been lucky this time round and unlucky last time (1988). But by simply being born a decade or more later than me it's not right that others are priced out, as it must now seem to them, forever. They're not of course IMO, it's a cycle just like before.

So I'm not hoping for a "crash" but reacting to what I think is the inevitable. At the end of the day anyone who has over borrowed has pushed up the prices for everyone pricing out many first time buyers. Once BTL's stop buying, which is bound to happen as they're just buying in expectation of capital gains, who is going to prop the market up How long will newbie landlords be prepared to sustain the monthly losses posted above

lynzpower

Franklee I agree.

Im not sititng here poring over the daily mail and hoping for a crash unlike some in our nuber. I wont gloat and i wont be happy for anyone who loses thier homes and are devastated by that. I have visited HPC and I dont agree with a lot of what they say.

BUT I know this. if there are NO ftbs, then no one can move. No one moves, prices inflate articficially due to supply & demand. most ftb in london is around the 250 mark. which is mad money really lets be honest a quarter of a million!

Regardless of whether the market crashes or not, I ddont want to spend 700 every month in interest. It simply isnt money saving. some people will say oh it s good interest, cos its a mortgage and that different? Really- how so? Im spending 700 quid of my moneyu to the bank for them lending me money on a house that if I cnat afford to pay for ( this 700 permuim lets remember) they take it back & I lose everything.

kingkano

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

I looked at doing this myself a few months back, but Mrs Dither slapped me down because she loves the house, neighbours and the kids were happy in local schools.

I did my sums and found that I could rent a comparable house for less than what I was paying for mine in just mortgage interest. I had a plan of putting the house equity and the monthly mortgage savings into a safe-ish investment for about 5 years and waiting for the crash.

I also thought about the savings I could make by not having to pay water rates, building insurance, building and garden maintenance, mortgage protection insurance, mortgage life assurance, etc, etc. Shame Mrs Dither didn't go for it because we could have built up a really nice nest egg with these saving.

Even if there isn't a property crash, we would probably stanbd to make better gains in 5 years of stockmarket investment than 5 yrs in a stagnant house market. this alone would have helped us buy the same standard of house but with a markedly reduced mortgage.

But then that's women for you, always thinking of the family rather than my finances

I see just a few problems there.... what if the market doesnt even stagnate but keeps growing for 2 years? Would you make 'better gains'?

Also, why do so many people seem to think the property market will crash inside its own tiny little vacuum with nothing else affected?? Believe me if it goes, the stock market and the whole economy will be following it down the gurgler.....

sm9ai

franklee, well said - 100% agree.

Also on a side note: if those who hope for a crash are doom mongers what are those who hope house prices continue to increase? If house prices continue to rise then it will all end in tears so are they not also doom mongers?

lynzpower

some people see anyone who says anythig negative about the state of the economy as doommongers. Ive never been able to fathom why either!

sm9ai

Also with house prices


Todays Headline on Metro - Houses rise by £8k in a month
Current BBC News ticker - House prices fall by 0.1%

So who the hell are you supposed to believe? Or does that just depend which category you fall into?

kingkano

thats part of the trouble. I do wonder was the 8k london only and the 0.1% nationwide But they all measure their own statistics.....

Generali

sm9ai wrote: »

Also with house prices


Todays Headline on Metro - Houses rise by £8k in a month
Current BBC News ticker - House prices fall by 0.1%

So who the hell are you supposed to believe? Or does that just depend which category you fall into?

The Metro headline refers to houses on Rightmove and is an index of asking prices. It shows that people are being very bullish about the prices they hope to get for their houses.

The BBC ticker refers to the Dept for Communities and Local Govt index. It seems to measure price at completion on properties that require a mortgage. Presumably, that has a bias away from Prime London (as more people buying there will do so for 'cash') hence the fall as it's excluding the most rapidly rising area of Britain excluding Northern Ireland but NI's a special case I think.

A pretty static market probably sums up the state of the market in the country as a whole IMO.