Anyone else utterly depressed re buying first home?

snowtoad

Hi OP, I joined just to reply to you to say that YES I am also going through this and it's horrible.

I'm also looking for somewhere to buy for the first time, and I am getting SO DEPRESSED about it. I'm looking in East London, and we started looking in Walthamstow, then it was too expensive so we looked in Leyton, then Wanstead Park, then Forest Gate... and now I don't know where to look any more, because there is just so little in our price range and the stuff that is, is all really short lease or buy-to-let only or over 60s only or it's sold within a day of going on the market and we miss out.

I am starting to feel like it won't happen at all, but with all of the house price increases I think if we don't buy now then we certainly won't be able to afford to buy in a year's time. But then, I swear, every time I do another property search prices have risen by another £30,000!

It's all just such a depressing experience especially when estate agents are rubbish and don't pick up the phone or ring you back and then they try and convince you to buy a hole in stabsville instead of something at least vaguely habitable. I've dropped plenty of things off our wish list so it's just finding anything at all that's becoming impossible now. Sigh!

OK I feel better now I've ranted.

TheCyclingProgrammer

pinkteapot wrote: »

Sorry for the slow reply...

You're right that in many ways they're similar. Similar size, both have good schools (including grammar schools), both have good and bad areas as you'd expect. Very similar amenities, range of shops, things to do etc. We do have the zoo which is fab.

There's a lot of whinging in Colchester about how bad the roads are in rush hour, but Chelmsford's no different!

Personally, Colchester feels much more 'homely' to me than Chelmsford ever did. I can't quite pin down why. The town centre is much older in Colchester - more historical buildings etc. Maybe that's what I like.

I like being so close to lovely countryside (Dedham Vale) and coast/beaches (Tendring area - Clacton, Walton etc). But then we're outdoorsy.

It's cheaper purely because it's further from London so there's less of a commuter effect, so you do get more for your money.

I think that for you the distance from your family would be the biggest issue. My mum's in Clacton and my parents-in-law are Chelmsford, which are both fine (half an hour to either). Billericay is a reasonable distance further on.

Greenstead is the main rough area in Colchester. It's also student central (close to the uni).

Some of the new estates (e.g. New Braiswick Park) are a bit of a nightmare for parking - same as most new-build estates in the country - crammed in townhouses with one parking space each which is nowhere near enough.

Thanks for the reply. You're right about parking on new build estates. We viewed a town house on the big new estate in Witham on the weekend and it was crammed, with roads so narrow there was only room for one car to pass. Cars were parked on the mini roundabouts! Crazy.

GoldenShadow

snowtoad wrote: »

Hi OP, I joined just to reply to you to say that YES I am also going through this and it's horrible.

I'm also looking for somewhere to buy for the first time, and I am getting SO DEPRESSED about it. I'm looking in East London, and we started looking in Walthamstow, then it was too expensive so we looked in Leyton, then Wanstead Park, then Forest Gate... and now I don't know where to look any more, because there is just so little in our price range and the stuff that is, is all really short lease or buy-to-let only or over 60s only or it's sold within a day of going on the market and we miss out.

I am starting to feel like it won't happen at all, but with all of the house price increases I think if we don't buy now then we certainly won't be able to afford to buy in a year's time. But then, I swear, every time I do another property search prices have risen by another £30,000!

It's all just such a depressing experience especially when estate agents are rubbish and don't pick up the phone or ring you back and then they try and convince you to buy a hole in stabsville instead of something at least vaguely habitable. I've dropped plenty of things off our wish list so it's just finding anything at all that's becoming impossible now. Sigh!

OK I feel better now I've ranted.

Gosh that is depressing. Part of me wonders where all this demand is coming from. I know we have Help to Buy. And I guess where we are is occupied by the bigger earners. As in, I expect more people down this way earn over the average salary than those in other parts of the country ie. Midlands and further North.

Nationally house prices will stop rising when people can't afford it, I think I'm just so surprised that people can seem to afford houses at the prices they're going for! Was reluctant to move 'home' due to hampering career prospects but I do love it there. It proves more tempting to move away but I know if I do the odds of ever movingore this way diminish drastically.

*Sigh*

pinkteapot

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. You're right about parking on new build estates. We viewed a town house on the big new estate in Witham on the weekend and it was crammed, with roads so narrow there was only room for one car to pass. Cars were parked on the mini roundabouts! Crazy.

It's my real pet hate. I don't like the feel of new-build estates. Narrow roads and packed-in houses - makes me claustrophobic! It's because successive governments have relaxed the planning laws, increasing the number of houses you can build per acre.

Both Colchester and Chelmsford have older areas where houses are more spaced out. Our current house and our last house were both built in 1990 (so not ancient - no rewiring needed or anything) and had/have lovely plots.

Go back to older houses (60s/70s) and you tend to get even better plots, but more maintenance on the house.

movilogo

My first (current) house buying experience was good. I am now trying to upgrade and feeling very depressing as price has gone up by 20-30% compared to last year in my area.

In fact, I am now thinking of completely giving up the idea and get on with life.
At least I'm in my own house and its price is also increasing (though not as much as I target house as I'm trying to upgrade).