The right time? Options or not...

GoldenShadow

Hi

Just wondered how you knew whether it was the right time for you to buy, or not?

I feel like waiting longer is always better, but it's getting to a point where I think I would value home owning so much it might be worth considering earlier than planned.

I'm also not sure how vast our options are. OH earns 30K I earn 23.5K. He is on a permanent contract. My contract is fixed term and ends March 2017. It's a grad scheme. People usually leave early and go into 30K + roles (some even starting on 40K). So whilst on a FTC I'm not worried about no job, but I know lenders could be. We both have clean credit records and do use credit cards then pay them off etc. We save about 1.5K a month.

I had previously ruled out Help To Buy, thinking it was better to save up more of our own deposit, but now I wonder if maybe I shouldn't have? We live in Essex and my right move search is usually from 180-220K and two bed + houses.

I think my biggest concern is how much of an issue my contract is, and whether it will become too big an issue the closer to March 2017 we get. I don't want to be waiting until 2018 and I feel like that will happen if we can't/don't buy before my contract is up

justcat

You'll definitely need to speak to a broker (well, I recommend it anyway).

The fact that you are fixed term for another 2 years will definitely work in your favour.

With regards to the end of your contract, where do you think you will be? Maybe you could save money when you have the house so that you have some money when the contract ends just in case.

How much of a deposit do you have?

GoldenShadow

justcat wrote: »

You'll definitely need to speak to a broker (well, I recommend it anyway).

The fact that you are fixed term for another 2 years will definitely work in your favour.

With regards to the end of your contract, where do you think you will be? Maybe you could save money when you have the house so that you have some money when the contract ends just in case.

How much of a deposit do you have?

Deposit fund is currently £14,750.

Work wise I work for the NHS so options are very wide ranging. The vast majority leave early for a permanent role and I am yet to hear of anyone who hasn't been in a permanent role by the end. I'd like to stay in the region I am in which is rather vast and has a lot of opportunities (east of England, from essex to Peterborough and Norwich across to Luton). Would like to have a relative contingency fund before we buy but just conscious of this 'window' we seem to have that I don't want to miss

ognum

GoldenShadow wrote: »

Hi

Just wondered how you knew whether it was the right time for you to buy, or not?

I feel like waiting longer is always better, but it's getting to a point where I think I would value home owning so much it might be worth considering earlier than planned.

I'm also not sure how vast our options are. OH earns 30K I earn 23.5K. He is on a permanent contract. My contract is fixed term and ends March 2017. It's a grad scheme. People usually leave early and go into 30K + roles (some even starting on 40K). So whilst on a FTC I'm not worried about no job, but I know lenders could be. We both have clean credit records and do use credit cards then pay them off etc. We save about 1.5K a month.

I had previously ruled out Help To Buy, thinking it was better to save up more of our own deposit, but now I wonder if maybe I shouldn't have? We live in Essex and my right move search is usually from 180-220K and two bed + houses.

I think my biggest concern is how much of an issue my contract is, and whether it will become too big an issue the closer to March 2017 we get. I don't want to be waiting until 2018 and I feel like that will happen if we can't/don't buy before my contract is up

Only you and your partner know the answer, are you going to be living in the same place for a number of years? Do you have adequate income for a home in your area? Are you really fed up with renting or happy to carry on?

More questions than answers when we don't know your circumstances!

goodwithsaving

I think it's hard to ever feel 100% ready with something as major as a house purchase and taking on a mortgage.

I'm in the process of buying with my boyfriend (assuming all goes to plan) and it's not really something we planned. It just, happened.
We knew we'd do it eventually so it wasn't a major thing to bring it forward by a year or two. In the present market it's a case of doing it now to secure somewhere that we love, not looking in a few years for something "that'll do".

Just make sure you know the bills for the place you buy, have a deed of trust drawn up if you do buy, maybe expect some stress induced disagreements and use this forum to gain as much knowledge as you can about the process.

Book an appointment with a mortgage advisor first and take it from there.

Anatidaephobia

I was on a fixed term contract when we bought a house. We saw a few mortgage advisers and none of them asked if our jobs were permanent or not. They only wanted the name and address of my employer, the start date, and my salary info from P60 and payslips. They didn't ask any further questions about our employment situation at all. As a result, it didn't affect our ability to get a mortgage. This was before the changes they made to the mortgage application process awhile back though so I don't know if/how it has changed since then.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

GoldenShadow wrote: »

I feel like waiting longer is always better

???

That seems deeply irrational.

In something like 18 years out of every 20, the demonstrably smartest financial decision is to buy immediately rather than wait it out and rent.

And as trying to time the markets is a mugs game, the best decision by far for almost everyone is to buy as young as possible and therefore minimise the percentage of your lifetime housing expense that you spend buying a house for your landlord instead of yourself.

getmore4less

Moving costs money and can take time.

often a lot more of both when you own over renting.

The base cash flow is the cost of renting over renting the money.

Once there is a sign of some location stability and the cost of renting the money is less than rent you can't go wrong unless you buy a money pit.

Timing the cycle is quite hard as it is 15+- years and as long as you can ride out the downturns(hence the need for location stability) you are fine.

We are probably post mid cycle on in stable/rising market(varies by area).

There was no real crash from the peak(2007/8) as most people rode the dip as interest rates are low(fewer forced sales and arrears are much lower this time round).

Plenty caught in the mortgage trap with high LTV purchase, negative equity.