Is buying a house a good idea?

buggy_boy

Pupnik wrote: »

I would say buy but buy sensibly, in an area that has not reached its cap (ie not London, not an expensive luxury new build), but only if you!!!8217;re intending on staying in that area. The thing to remember is house prices go up and down, if property prices crash they will stabilise and recover eventually (probably) so in the long term you are bound to get your money back. I!!!8217;d say make sure you can afford the mortgage repayments even if interest rates increase so give yourself some wiggle room, can you afford it on 5% interest, 7%? 10%

I agree, buy within your means, dont over stretch yourself... I think location for you (ie work family etc) is more important that an area reaching its cap, no point in buying in Newcastle if you work in London. But yes do not buy if you do not think you will be in that same place in say 5yrs time as just the buying costs are expensive.

Crashy_Time

dunroving wrote: »

Well, my "rent" (mortgage interest) on a 3BR semi-detached for the past 10 years has been about £100 pcm. Obviously, when mortgages were at 15% interest, or whatever they were back in the 1980s (I did own a mortgage back then, but can't recall), the figures would have been different, but for anyone who either already "owned" (mortgaged) a house in the past 10 years, or like me, bought one just before the last "crash", it's been a no-brainer.

Just in the past 10 years, I'd probably have paid £84,000 in rent. Instead, when I complete on my house in about a month, I'll net over £90,000. I know which scenario I prefer.

So you have been paying "mortgage rent" since the 80`s?

Crashy_Time

buggy_boy wrote: »

I agree, buy within your means, dont over stretch yourself... I think location for you (ie work family etc) is more important that an area reaching its cap, no point in buying in Newcastle if you work in London. But yes do not buy if you do not think you will be in that same place in say 5yrs time as just the buying costs are expensive.

I sometimes feel very humble in the shadow of the immense economic wisdom that is present on here sometimes, I really do.

Filo25

Crashy_Time wrote: »

I sometimes feel very humble in the shadow of the immense economic wisdom that is present on here sometimes, I really do.

You should give HPC a go then, a site where people seem to think the BoE is criminal for not crashing the economy just so that house prices will reach a level low enough so that they arbitrarily deem it fair..

PS House prices will never be low enough for HPCers to be happy, they could collapse 50% tomorrow and they would still be outrageously overpriced in the eyes of the some of the more obsessive residents.

I think my personal highlight on that delightful site is watching people's joy when retailers shut down and people lose their jobs, really heartwarming stuff......

dunroving

Crashy_Time wrote: »

So you have been paying "mortgage rent" since the 80`s?

Still not interested in your wind-ups, laddie. Try someone else.

goodwithsaving

Crashy_Time wrote: »

I sometimes feel very humble in the shadow of the immense economic wisdom that is present on here sometimes, I really do.

That's a bit rich coming from you!

Crashy_Time

Filo25 wrote: »

You should give HPC a go then, a site where people seem to think the BoE is criminal for not crashing the economy just so that house prices will reach a level low enough so that they arbitrarily deem it fair..

PS House prices will never be low enough for HPCers to be happy, they could collapse 50% tomorrow and they would still be outrageously overpriced in the eyes of the some of the more obsessive residents.

I think my personal highlight on that delightful sight is watching people's joy when retailers shut down and people lose their jobs, really heartwarming stuff......

Thought you said the BOE had saved the economy, make your mind up! :rotfl:

buggy_boy

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Thought you said the BOE had saved the economy, make your mind up! :rotfl:

BoE saved us from a catastrophic depression... If that were the case ironically you would have got your house price crash but also ironically that would have been the last thing you would be thinking of as there would have been huge unemployment...

Filo25

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Thought you said the BOE had saved the economy, make your mind up! :rotfl:

Are they now responsible for saving every single retailer in the world, in the face of cheaper internet competition as well, or just for managing monetary policy to try to remain within their inflationary target in the long run.

It must be sad to have this belief that the housing market in the UK is one massive conspiracy by the government against you, out of interest do you think the ECB and Bank of Japan is in on it as well, hence their lack of interest in raising rates anytime soon?

Crashy_Time

buggy_boy wrote: »

BoE saved us from a catastrophic depression... If that were the case ironically you would have got your house price crash but also ironically that would have been the last thing you would be thinking of as there would have been huge unemployment...

Nah, they just encouraged people to keep on borrowing a while longer, making the eventual depression worse.