Buy now (in Dundee) or wait?

bitsandpieces

I'm flat/house hunting in Dundee at the moment (currently renting). I'm trying to work out whether to continue renting and saving, or buy somewhere soon (I'm lucky enough to have a good deposit and be able to afford to buy now). I get the sense that prices are currently static or falling slightly - a good few places are being marketed below home report valuations - but hard to be sure, and different sources give slightly different figures.

My options are:
1) keep renting. My rent and council tax are low here, so I can save a few hundred per month easily... My rent's close to what the flat's capital value would earn as interest in the bank - so seems pretty reasonable. I'd like to buy at some point, but I'm happy where I am and I could comfortably wait years until prices fall or a bargain/perfect home pops up.
2) buy a nice flat in a good area: £160-80k should get me somewhere a bit nicer than where I'm renting. I could easily cover the mortgage for this.
3) buy a very nice house in a good area: anything from £250-300k. This would get me somewhere much nicer than where I'm currently renting, and big enough that I think I could stay for as long as I'm in the city and in decent health. This would be affordable, but would have a big enough mortgage that I'd need to keep a decent income for this to be affordable.

How would people go about deciding this? I'm struggling :eek:

Derboy

Stop looking at it as an investment. If you're happy where you are and there's no urgency just sit tight and keep an eye on the market. When you find something you love, then go for it. No point rushing into mortgage debt for place you might find you don't like as much as your current home.

Also bear in mind that estate agents market below HR value to get into the relevant price search banding on Rightmove. My house was marketed at £15k less that HR but I sold it for exactly the HR value.

bitsandpieces

Thanks. Good point about marketing prices and home reports - I've been struggling to find good stats on house price movements. There are quite a few places initially being marketed at HR valuation and then being marketed for a bit less after they don't shift - which, unless I'm missing something, at least suggests a market that's not rising significantly.

Good point about the (non)investment aspect of this, too. I'm only really looking at places that are nicer than where I'm renting (the £160k-plus places would fall into this category) but I'm pretty happy where I am and don't think a slightly nicer flat would make that bit a difference...

Crashy_Time

https://www.ros.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/40164/RoS-statistical-report-Jan-Mar-2016.pdf




Wait IMO.

bigfreddiel

If you wait you will never buy, there will always be a reason not to buy.

Reason to buy, well when you are old and receiving a pension do you want to be paying rent to a landlord, with all that uncertainty, ever increasing rent?

Cheers fj

Crashy_Time

bigfreddiel wrote: »

If you wait you will never buy, there will always be a reason not to buy.

Reason to buy, well when you are old and receiving a pension do you want to be paying rent to a landlord, with all that uncertainty, ever increasing rent?

Cheers fj

Do you want to be in negative equity in your twenties and thirties though? That is probably more relevant to the OP.

bitsandpieces

Crashy - thanks for the link. That really is hot off the press Just out today (I'd found ROS last week, but those stats wasn't released yet). Odd - prices have fallen a bit over the past year in Dundee but there's a big increase in volume of sales here.

I appreciate that I'll want to buy at some point, but unless prices suddenly start doubling or halving year-on-year in Dundee I'm unlikely to either be priced out of the market or left in negative equity. I'm also lucky that my rent hasn't increased for years. I could realistically end up quite a few thousand better or worse off depending on how I time purchase, though.

glasgowdan

300k in Dundee could get you a mansion! With butler, maids and a stable full of horses.

How about middle ground, 200-220k, nice detach house, all the rooms you'll need and a stress free lifestyle?

EDIT: Wow, why hasn't this sold yet? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51714340.html

bitsandpieces

glasgowdan wrote: »

300k in Dundee could get you a mansion! With butler, maids and a stable full of horses.

How about middle ground, 200-220k, nice detach house, all the rooms you'll need and a stress free lifestyle?

EDIT: Wow, why hasn't this sold yet? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51714340.html

I'd like somewhere more central - so won't get a mansion for my money - but the top end of my budget would get me somewhere very nice

I've seen a couple of nice houses that, once fixed up, would be around the £220k mark. I'm not sure I'd enjoy living there more than my rental flat, though...so if prices are falling there's a case for waiting until places that are currently at £250k come nearer the £220k mark. Not that I'm indecisive or anything :rotfl:

That huge place you link looks like a lovely house. I'd guess that it's for quite a specific market, though (with treatment rooms, etc.) and the area may also restrict the market.

Crashy_Time

What impact will the oil price and Aberdeen`s woes have on Dundee?

westernpromise

Anyone thinking of listening to Crashy's advice should be aware that he has been short property and renting for 20 years. He now needs prices to reduce by about 130%, i.e. for property to become worth less than nothing, for this to have been in hindsight a smart strategy.

More to the point, there has never been a time since 1996 when Crashy thought buying was a good idea. So what are the chances of his being right now?