House Price Crash Discussion Thread

harryhound

Interviewing the work shy on invalidity benefit?
Telling single mothers that they need to set an example to their school kids and get a job?
Oh yes there also seem to be thousands a week being made redundant at the moment.

robbief_3

Heres a question for you lot, sure there will be alot of differing views. Me and my girlfriend are looking to buy our 1st house. We a have found some very good houses at good prices. They just need tarting up, stuck in the 90's a bit.
We then talked about buying one and doing it up, then selling it instead as we are in no desperate need to move into together right now.

Do you believe this is possible with the market continuing to fall. And less people buying. Or do you think it could be a money making opportunity, as you can buy low and sell for more?

Mary_Hartnell

It mighty be a reasonable time to buy a wreck and graft all hours to turn it into a decent home for you both. As an investment, facing falling rents and prices, it looks to me to be dead in the water.

katiegizmo

you may have to wait a long time for house prices to return enough for you to make a profit on it especially if you have to put more money in to do it up... its not something i would do...
if you and gf are not in a rush, save a hefty deposit and buy when the prices bottom out not when all signs point to prices falling further...

skap7309

robbief wrote: »

We then talked about buying one and doing it up, then selling it instead as we are in no desperate need to move into together right now.

Do you believe this is possible with the market continuing to fall.

In a word, no. Unless you plan on keeping it a few years before the market picks up again. No good spending £20,000 decorating it only to find its value has dipped £30,000. :rolleyes:

Katkin_2

My first post on this thread so please go easy on me.

Our house has been on the market for almost 12 months, and we have been reducing it steadily ever since. We bought in 2003 and although it has gone up in value we arent interested in making loads of money off it. We bought it to live in not to profit from. We dont care if we just got an extra 3% on top of what we bought it for (currently on for around 53% more than we bought it for and was valued at 83% more) BUT other sellers seem to be in a different world. We cant do this if we cant buy another house in that price range. I understand that people may be in negative equity when selling their house and am sorry for their position. Maybe if everyone stopped trying to make loads then the market would sort itself out. It is soooo exasperating as we've missed the deadline for moving now as it is schooling thats the problem for us and applications have now closed for this year. We may be stuck here for years.:sad:

dfarry

I guess the crucial thing is just how bad the economy gets, how that affects jobs and what happens with the interest rates/lending.

Will those seller that you mention be able to ride this current economic storm? if not then I suppose their properties might be repossessed before they sell... at least you have a lot of potential equity to cushion the blow when you eventually do sell.

Markie72

I have just recently moved into my girlfriends house and we are looking to start a family soon, with the intention to eventually move to a bigger house, she bought her 2 bed council house last year but is unable to sell at the moment. I own a bungalow and not sure what to do?, haven't had it valued yet but have just recently cleared my mortgage off, which was pretty lucky as I was made redundant at Xmas, not sure if I should sell it now or hang on to it and rent it to gain some income, with the view to sell when the markets stabalise in the future?

I have had conflicting advice from family saying sell now as houses are going to drop by 50% not sure where they got that figure from, and one saying you should always hold onto your propery regardless what's happing...

Can anyone offer me any advice
Thanks Mark

harryhound

There is an old saying that "a man who has a wife and children has given hostages to fortune".

Is this procreation business urgent?

adrian_bond

hi,

me and the missus bought our 1 bedroom flat in norwich in april 2007 for 103k. now worth approx 95k (online estimate). bah.

however, we have a fixed rate mortgage that will see us through for another 3 years which has a fairly lowish rate (5.5%) which we can easily afford (borrowed 97500k). our combined earnings at the time were 35k approx, with a 5k deposit, plus extra for solicitors fees and the like. we now earn more, but save and enjoy the money as we see fit.

we are very comfortable. we can go on holidays. shop. eat well. both own and drive practical but nice cars, and are doing well.

we had the opportunity to borrow 6 x our comibined salary (210k!!!) at the time, but politely turned it down as after talking to various people about houses before looking to buy, that 3.5 x is really the highest you should ever go unless your a major risk taker. i heeded this warning and didnt want the existance whereby it was cold beans and arguments every night becuase of overspending and ridiculous mortgages.

we knew the crash was coming, although like all people, didnt know when. we were absolutely against renting as we wanted to live together where our money was being put (even if only slightly) to our long term benefit, not to a landlord. rental experience at uni put me off for life!

i know people that have had to secure a mortgage by working six days per week, on a 100% mortgage, for the next 35 years. that sucks. they are stuck where they are, but for now are hapy not to move for ten years!

some people will ultimately disagree with my lifestyle, but we are happy and will move up the ladder when were good and ready (or when the missus gets so broody that its time to expand!).

please reply as this thread makes very interesting reading. cheers everyone. have a good weekend.