House buying urgent advice needed

hcb42

you dont say how much you have, but 0.8%....house can do better than that if you want one.

However do not rush into buying this relations house, keep your decision separate

Tryingtomoveout

If you want to grow your money you may consider investing in two BTL properties, living at home for the next five years, and reeling the cash in in the medium to long term.

AdrianC

firsttimeruk wrote: »

Its in instant access at present only gaining 0.8% unfortunately.

0.8% before tax...

There's a third option - invest it properly, so it actually earns some meaningful return.

Remember - buying a house isn't "spending" money - you're acquiring a long-term asset. Short-term market wobbles are irrelevant.

pyueck

hcb42 wrote: »

you dont say how much you have, but 0.8%....house can do better than that if you want one.

However do not rush into buying this relations house, keep your decision separate

Again you can't say that. A house is an asset which can rise and fall, and contrary to what some say on here, there are no guarantees even over 10, 15 etc years. With cash the OP has all the protection of the FSCS. This is not to mention the other risks of house purchases such as maintenance costs.

Please the OP has already made it clear that he is risk averse and likes the security of the cash. Please don't advise him to buy what is a risky asset that may or may not be right for him.

pyueck

Tryingtomoveout wrote: »

If you want to grow your money you may consider investing in two BTL properties, living at home for the next five years, and reeling the cash in in the medium to long term.

Are you going to caveat this with the risks?

sidefx

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

You're heavily risk averse, easily stressed and easily influenced.

You need to separate the two decisions -
a) do I buy and
b) do I buy that particular house.
Rolling these decisions into one high pressure decision isn't helping you.

If you decide to buy, go look at other houses and compare.
Don't just buy some turkey a family member may be trying to offload on you to make their life a whole lot easier.

Excellent advice.

kinger101

It would have been sensible to buy the house two years ago when you got the cash. It all depends on what your priorities are. Do you want to live with your family forever.

Nobody has a crystal ball, but I suspect prices will be fairly flat this year. Say -2% to +4%. Even if prices fall more, it doesn't really matter if you plan to stay somewhere long term. It's a home more than in investment.

The only thing we do know is holding money in cash over the long term is not a wise investment (though your bank makes a nice profit). So if you're not going to buy a house, you really need to think about a diversified portfolio of investments. If you pick funds rather than single shares, this reduces the risk. I'd use trackers (e.g. FTSE 250) for perhaps a few actively managed funds which you should benchmark against the trackers.

In your position though, I'd buy a house. One I wanted though rather than something a relative was trying to sell to me. On what basis is it being discounted? X% of some figure they've plucked out of nowhere?

Mojisola

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

You're heavily risk averse, easily stressed and easily influenced.

You need to separate the two decisions -
a) do I buy and
b) do I buy that particular house.
Rolling these decisions into one high pressure decision isn't helping you.

If you decide to buy, go look at other houses and compare.
Don't just buy some turkey a family member may be trying to offload on you to make their life a whole lot easier.

Excellent advice.

If you do buy this property, are you going to live in it or rent it out?

If you're planning on getting tenants, do you understand your legal responsibilities as a landlord?

Randomjargon

Just stay with your mum and dad