Advice - First time buyer

PineappleMan

Hi all

I am seeking a little advice as I begin to plan my step onto the property ladder.

Firstly I was looking at the government 5% schemes however after doing some research it appears I do not qualify for the scheme. Also, with recent news reports who knows what changes will be made to the availability of these schemes.

I have been offered some money by a family member to cover a 10% deposit. This seems like my best chance of getting on the ladder before the house prices begin to rise rapidly.

What I want to do is buy wisely so that I can make the money back on the property value over the coming few years (and hand the deposit money back to this family member when selling the property).

As I am new to this game I am seeking resources that can help me decide which areas in Greater Manchester are worth investing in now (or even types of properties) in order to take advantage of the inevitable house price rises. Something like past and present sale prices may help me determine this. Are there any online resources/archives?

I do have a good knowledge of the area, but lack in knowledge of property.

I am looking at a max house price of £150k.

Many thanks

classy69

Something to get the ball rolling:-

http://houseprices.landregistry.gov.uk/

AlexMac

I'm a big fan of Zoopla.co.uk which is worth getting the hang of as its many tabs and options cover not only properties for sale by area (which you can also do on other websites like rightmove or findaproperty by price/locality or postcode, number of bedrooms etc to get an idea of what you can afford) but...

Zoopla also gives real sale prices, down to street or individual house, or aggregrated by postcode, with graphs and trends over the past 8 years or so since land registry info was on the web.

Having said that, past increases (like they say about the stock market) are no predictor of future growth. While on average, prices have gone up several % in the past year, in many areas they have barely recovered from their June 2007 peak (when I bought a seaside flat partly as a project, partly as investment; GRRR) after which in some areas prices dropped 20%...

I'm an optimist (having lived through the boom years of the 1980's - the noughties) and I do think prices will rise in the long term, but that's no longer "inevitable" (in your words) and I'm surprised that no-one has repeated the advice I see here often, that you should buy what you'd like to live in rather than see it as a purely a nest egg.

Having said that, you could also ask Estate Agents as one of the "(human) resources that can help me decide which areas in Greater Manchester are worth investing in now". Take their advice with a pinch of salt as individual agents will obviously want to flog theoir own stock, but a cross section of views and your own Bullsheet detector should gain impressions. Try also to find some developers to chat to in the pub. And beware the distorting effect of oversaes investors or the rental market. For instance, in London where I live, in my view there was a glut of 2-bed flats being constructed over recent years and I'd have throught the market was saturated , but bizarrely they still seem to be flying off the shelf- in many cases to overseas investors who rent them out.

Any way- happy Zoopla-ing and good luck

kingstreet

PineappleMan wrote: »

Firstly I was looking at the government 5% schemes however after doing some research it appears I do not qualify for the scheme

What makes you think you don't qualify?

You won't qualify for the Equity Loan scheme if not buying a new build, but Mortgage Guarantee?

A 95% mortgage and not owning another property, is about it...?

FWIW lenders do not like money from relatives when it's a loan and not a gift.