Is now the time to buy?

ReadingTim

You'll only ever identify when the best time to buy was after the event has passed, so you can only buy when it suits you: when your circumstances - financial, employment, personal permit.

That said, the alternatives can be just as costly on a monthly basis, so it depends on whose mortgage you'd rather pay off: your landlord's or your own?

Cakeguts

You have to have somewhere to live. The choice is do you want to rent that somewhere or do you want to buy it? If you want to buy it you have to do it now or you will not have somewhere to live that you have bought.

LKRDN_Morgan

I've just bought and Brexit never even entered my mind. I can either spend xxx amount of years worrying about house prices and waste money on rent. Or I can use the money I spent years saving and put it into my own place. Not having the worry my LL is going to want their place back, jumping through the expensive hoops of lettings agencies or having someone come round every 6 months and report back to my LL if I live like a slob or not!
Brexit is so far down my list of worries it doesn't even register

Crashy_Time

always_sunny wrote: »

If you don't buy now, would you live rent free somewhere?
If you could turn back time many years ago, that was the time to buy but you can't.

As long as what you're buying is within your means and plan to live in it, it's always a good time to buy!

Many people have not bought within their means (if rates rise) though, therefore we have a bubble, meaning that even those who do buy "within their means" are going to pay too much?

Crashy_Time

LKRDN_Morgan wrote: »

I've just bought and Brexit never even entered my mind. I can either spend xxx amount of years worrying about house prices and waste money on rent. Or I can use the money I spent years saving and put it into my own place. Not having the worry my LL is going to want their place back, jumping through the expensive hoops of lettings agencies or having someone come round every 6 months and report back to my LL if I live like a slob or not!
Brexit is so far down my list of worries it doesn't even register

So once in property that becomes secured money, money you can`t lose?

LKRDN_Morgan

Crashy_Time wrote: »

So once in property that becomes secured money, money you can`t lose?

Of course not. Nothing is guaranteed. But if I'm viewing it as a risk I'd much rather risk having my own place than risk the constant worry I have in rented.
LLs need properties back for varies reasons. Maybe I've been unlucky but it's happened on 4 occasions despite the reassurances from the LA that it's a 'long term rental'

Crashy_Time

LKRDN_Morgan wrote: »

Of course not. Nothing is guaranteed. But if I'm viewing it as a risk I'd much rather risk having my own place than risk the constant worry I have in rented.
LLs need properties back for varies reasons. Maybe I've been unlucky but it's happened on 4 occasions despite the reassurances from the LA that it's a 'long term rental'

IME you have been unlucky. Avoiding LA`s and dealing directly with private landlords is the way to go.

always_sunny

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Many people have not bought within their means (if rates rise) though, therefore we have a bubble, meaning that even those who do buy "within their means" are going to pay too much?

It depends, if the OP instead of buying something that is £10/20k inflated decides to rent, the OP is going to spend money in rent instead (£500pcm=£6k/year). 2 years later is £12k, etc.

Those who have been waiting since 2007 crash, have been waiting for prices to drop for a decade now. Any day now, any day.

Crashy_Time

always_sunny wrote: »

It depends, if the OP instead of buying something that is £10/20k inflated decides to rent, the OP is going to spend money in rent instead (£500pcm=£6k/year). 2 years later is £12k, etc.

Those who have been waiting since 2007 crash, have been waiting for prices to drop for a decade now. Any day now, any day.

Chances are that price drops won`t be in the 10/20k range though when the market crashes? Renting a house means you are not attached to the debt (in a rising rate environment) or to the reduction in value (interest payable on the original price) when the market crashes?

n217970

There are arguments for and against. Firstly its worth mentioning that the housing market, like all others, is based around supply and demand. Demand is fairly consistent in that people need somewhere to live, supply more so as house do not "pop" into or out of existence. However lets look at the demand "to buy" and the willingness "to sell" - I have made a number of observations (of my local market) since the referendum. Demand I don't believe has fallen, supply on the other hand now has – good houses that are not stupidly overvalued are very slow to come to market and being sold within 10 days of coming on.

This fall in supply has been the main driving force in the increase of prices in the last 12 months and I imagine it will continue. I had to wait 12 months for the right “forever” house to come on the market and knowing how quickly I needed to be I undervalued my house for a quick sale (sold it same day it went on) and manged to offer on this days after it came on – in December. I got in a bidding war and if I am honest with myself I slightly overpaid for it. I bet the vendors couldn’t believe their luck. But that’s how house prices go up….

Having said all that first time buyers are likely to benefit from landlords selling off some buy to let stock with the new taxation taking effect. BUT this may increase demand for houses to buy from the very people who have been renting said stock - if they are able to. Its uncertain.

One thing I will say for certain is that you are very unlikely to see better interest rates on mortgages then you can currently get. As others have mentioned it doesn’t make a lot of sense to hold off buying for a couple of years in the hope you get 10-20k off a house when you have paid as much in rent and the bank now want 7% interest as opposed to the 3% they were offering.