Bought property, big mistake :( any words of wisdom?

Fedupofworrying86

Hi there!

Have been driving myself mad regretting our purchase as first time buyers so thought to vent some stress I'd turn to the lovely people on here to see if you can offer any similar experiences/words of wisdom or words of advice.
Myself and partner have been living in London for 6 years since finishing uni and have saved so hard to get a deposit together against the odds, thinking it was the best thing to do to buy a flat of our own. We had no help from anyone, don't earn above average at all (I earn below average) and decided not to travel or do basically ANYTHING luxurious for 6 years just to get our deposit together. It came our 'turn' to buy in 2014, just as the market soared and it can honestly say I hated every bit of the buying process but as we had always had In mind we would buy and without any real personal advice, we just thought it was the best thing, but I'm starting to think we should have carried on renting. We had one purchase fall through a week before exchange and lost out on many others in the bidding wars that kept occurring, so in the end we gave up on zone 6 and looked in a Watford.
We want to move way out of London in 2-3 years if we can make OH's job allow it, so will want to sell the 2 bed flat we bought in Watford then! But with the way the market seems we may even make a loss on our flat, everyone seems to be willing prices to come down but they forget about first time buyers who just worked so hard to finally do it, or any buyer who has just bought for that matter. Yes prices need to slow in their growth, but surely them dropping would just actually bring around huge problems for the economy with stagnation of the property market, banks falling into crisis and 1000's of people who just bought, losing money on their properties??
This is supposed to be a great time for us but I just feel consumed with worry that we have made a mistake buying in 2014 just for a short term home and feel so stupid as usually I feel most decisions I make are sensible. There is no way I'd have bought a property to make a loss!!
Obviously I don't know what will happen to prices but media talk/forecasts at the moment are really ruining this new experience for us and I'm wanting to rewind to our risk free rental life.
Mortgage life is not financially much better for us, think after interest and extra travel costs we save around 3k a year than on rent!! And it cost us around 5k to move!!
Sorry to rant but is anyone in a similar position? London is such a hard place to be if you are someone who is not well off and having to do it yourself, I love London life so much, hence why we chose to stay another couple of years, but I'm now wishing for the next two years to fly by so I can move on from this flat!!
Thanks all, weight of my mind just writing this! Any advice to pull me out of my negativity?

Pete9501

Nobody can say what house prices will do over the next 2 years. You have bought a home for the next couple of years and possibly longer. You are benefiting from really low mortgage rates and you have security of not being given a S21.

Enjoy your new home and if in a couple of years you want to move the take that decision then, having 2 years worth of mortgage payments in your favour rather than rent paying someone else's mortgage.

Doozergirl

London is a horrid place to afford, but it is still the best performing place to buy.

You'll be fine. Stop looking at house prices and debating forums etc. It's only at the front of your mind because you allow it to be.

You can't change anything, so just enjoy the freedom of your own home.

ManuelG

Remembering that if prices drop across the UK and you sell your house to buy elsewhere, where you end up buying will be cheaper too.

Pixie5740

A lot of FTB have an "OMG what have I done?!" moment so you're not alone. Nobody knows what the housing market is going to do so just enjoy your new home and overpay your mortgage if you can.

I_have_spoken

we have made a mistake buying in 2014 just for a short term home

Buying at any time for short term ownership is high risk as you need capital gain just to cover costs. OK, so some peeps get lucky and prices go to the moon in 18 months because a Waitrose opens in their area.

Sorry to rant but is anyone in a similar position?

It could be worse. Some of us remember when the market went mad in 1988 to beat the deadline on buying before tax-relief on mortgage interest was abolished, then 4 years later interest rates hit 15%, that's right 15% :eek:. A lorra, lorra peeps were just handing back the keys to the lenders.

Hoploz

Well you are 3k a year better off than if you rented for starters.

Prices will go up. There is always a seasonal lull in the winter, in the spring it will perk up again. Watford cannot be in the same category as the stupid price rises in central London last year. What sort of value is it? You are unlikely to go wrong. My brother got caught out in 1992 having bought in 1988. Ever since he has been the prophet of doom, constantly talking about prices crashing. He never bought another property after that. Well eventually they did. But not until after a good 10 years of growth! He is now 50 and renting. Health deteriorating, with a physically demanding job. TBH I am really worried about how he will keep a roof over his head in a few years time. That is life as a renter. (My own opinion of course)

If you want to move out but decide not to sell for whatever reason, perhaps you could let it and move on. I rented out my first flat for several years after moving out of it.

You are in charge of your own destiny here. No landlord deciding to give you notice just when you don't need it. You do as you like now. You are a grown-up!

Prob just a bit of an anti-climax. You will be fine.

kinger101

Just relax. Enjoy your home. Realistically, I think prices will be in the -2 to +4% this year. Over the next 2-3 years, I'd say they'll almost certainly increase in value. Just be thankful that from your hard saving, your now in a position to pay off your own mortgage rather than someone else's.

martin.cat

I think you're more likely to see a return in london then anyway else. Property is a big headache but at least you have some security now. I think if I was planning to move again in a couple of years I would have carried on renting.
I live in Lancashire and we bought summer 2006. At the time houses were selling in days. In fact we bought ours before it went on the market after seeing it having work and looking empty. House prices here have barely just recovered to the pre crash prices. We moved a couple of months ago and thankfully got 12% more but that was down to all the work modernising it which cost us. But we did have equity due to overpayments and repayments so we're quite happy and I'm sure you well if you take the Long view rather than the get rich quick notions

SG27

As others have said buying short time is never going to be great financially as you will have to pay all the associated fees again in a short period. But if I prices do fall so will the price of the house you buying so you could actually benefit.

phoebe1989seb

I think you'll be fine too.....although it was back in 2011 our DS (then 21 and newly graduated from uni) was lucky enough (thanks to inheritances, family generosity etc so not purely hard work like yourselves) to be in a position to buy a flat with his GF and her two younger sisters.

They bought a two-bed in SW London for around £230k. In 2014 they sold for £385k, having spent very little on works to improve the property.

I appreciate the market is different now to when they bought/sold, but I believe you'll always do at least reasonably ok in the London market.....

Relax and enjoy your home