House buying help?

Crashy_Time

https://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/233423-rates-on-the-way-up/&

Smodlet

Cherryblossomzel, please check out a few more of Crashy's posts before you take too much notice of him... Though I guess, if you predict disaster for long enough, it comes to pass eventually. If everyone listened to him, we would all rent forever more. That's all I'm sayin'.

ETA: Have you checked out the Old Style Money Saving board on here for ideas?

If you wanted, you could post an SOA (statement of affairs) to see if anyone has suggestions for how you could trim your budget even further but you sound pretty sensible to me. There is a link somewhere on the Debt Free Wannabe board. You don't have to be in debt to benefit from the money saving ideas on there.

HTH.

Crashy_Time

Nobody is saying rent for evermore if you don`t want to, the point is that houses were pushed up in price due to a deliberate lending policy by the banks, and that is now unwinding. I have no problem with people buying houses at fair value (or at any silly value they want if they desire) but the point is that the banks and outside events (Brexit) will control house prices, not supply and demand or any increasing intrinsic value.
Regarding my link above, a big US bank deciding now is the time to offer higher savings rates in the UK must be relevant to house buying and selling, because they are obviously predicting (not very hard really :rotfl:) interest rates moving up? What level savings rate would make people go there instead of BTL, and how much of an impact could a BTL sell off, or cooling of interest in BTL have on the general market?

Smodlet

If, Crashy, it means property ownership for those who want homes rather than investments becomes even slightly less impossible a dream for those at the bottom of the ladder, I am all for it. I will shed no tears for BTL LLs, believe me.

I fear it may mean merely that fewer BTL LLs remain in the market but own larger portfolios thereby pushing rents up even further and failing to create any better opportunities for FTBs or those on lower salaries. I very much hope the first scenario is correct.

cherryblossomzel

House prices are slowing down and I am operating under the (possibly pessimistic) assumption that they will do so for a few years at least. But I'm looking for a place to live and for various personal reasons feel that now is the time for me to take this step. I'm not thinking about it as an "investment" in and of itself, although of course it would be unfortunate if I were to lose money on it.

My intention also wouldn't be to sell again quickly. I feel pretty stable at the moment and hopefully that won't change in the near future, so I'm as certain as I can be that I will stay here for long enough to weather any blips in the market. Interest rates going up just means I want to fix now.

Smodlet

Your instinct is probably a better advisor than any here. Good luck and good hunting, Cherryblossomzel.

DD265

We're in the same position as you OP, and are following the same reasoning. I didn't think we could get a mortgage with some credit card debt (and we haven't yet so we'll see how that pans out) but having been told that it should be feasible, we're just gonna go for it.

I bought the book recommended earlier in the thread for a couple of £ on eBay (and a companion one about improving your property so I get an idea of what to look for when we view). I'll let you know whether it's useful when it arrives

I also got some great advice on this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5877616/what-do-you-wish-youd-known-as-a-1st-time-buyer which could be helpful, it certainly gave me a few things to think about!

cherryblossomzel

DD265 wrote: »

We're in the same position as you OP, and are following the same reasoning. I didn't think we could get a mortgage with some credit card debt (and we haven't yet so we'll see how that pans out) but having been told that it should be feasible, we're just gonna go for it.

I bought the book recommended earlier in the thread for a couple of £ on eBay (and a companion one about improving your property so I get an idea of what to look for when we view). I'll let you know whether it's useful when it arrives

I also got some great advice on this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5877616/what-do-you-wish-youd-known-as-a-1st-time-buyer which could be helpful, it certainly gave me a few things to think about!

Thanks for that, will go look at that thread. Terrifying and exciting!

Crashy_Time

Smodlet wrote: »

If, Crashy, it means property ownership for those who want homes rather than investments becomes even slightly less impossible a dream for those at the bottom of the ladder, I am all for it. I will shed no tears for BTL LLs, believe me.

I fear it may mean merely that fewer BTL LLs remain in the market but own larger portfolios thereby pushing rents up even further and failing to create any better opportunities for FTBs or those on lower salaries. I very much hope the first scenario is correct.

Logically this doesn't make sense because Brexit is probably going to mean less people wanting to buy/rent in the UK, and politically it doesn`t make sense because these are some of the factors that caused Brexit in the first place! There will be a Corbyn government and rent controls before long if the present housing situation is allowed to continue, but as the US Fed is hell bent on higher rates it probably isn`t going to continue for much longer

Smodlet

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Logically this doesn't make sense because Brexit is probably going to mean less people wanting to buy/rent in the UK, and politically it doesn`t make sense because these are some of the factors that caused Brexit in the first place! There will be a Corbyn government and rent controls before long if the present housing situation is allowed to continue, but as the US Fed is hell bent on higher rates it probably isn`t going to continue for much longer

For once, Crashy, I hope you are right, I think...