Overpaid on new build flat

goodwithsaving

Even if you've overpaid by a few thousand, how much would the rent have been been for the same time? Do you value stability of 'easy' mortgage repayments which is easy to feel comfortable with, would you have felt overwhelmed by a huge mortgage? There's a lot to be said for just gaining experience.


I think first-time buyers is used as an excuse for a lot of things and there are plenty of sites etc. providing decent advice so there is no excuse for any buyer to go in blind or not research. But I do think maybe you made the best decisions at the time, and it'll have done you good in the long term. It wasn't a mistake at all. A lesson in home ownership and the process? Sure! Definitely not a mistake.


Children aren't imminent, I wouldn't worry. I worry that I have too big a place and won't ever have children or meet someone: no situation is ideal.

You've done well, don't beat yourselves up. It'll balance out

smem18

getmore4less wrote: »

£20k on £320k is 6.25% well within the range of its worth about £X.

How many more are for sale in the block not unusual for the last few to get a bit off so the developer can shut up shop and move on, sometime they sell a few to a investor at a discount and investor keeps them for a bit and then sell(as new).

5y fix go with a 5 year plan and nail the saving.

The other thing is look at the interest as rent and if this is lower than you were paying(you say you got a good rate) the excess is bonus money towards your equity that you would not have if you had waited a year for the cheaper one.

Yes an investor did indeed buy up the rest of the properties (all but two) and it looks like they’re starting to come on the market as shared ownerrship properties now. The two remaining properties are the really tiny ones without a balcony and not at all comparable to our much larger flat.

And you’re right about rent and interest. Our rent was £1350 but our mortgage is £1099 (also £100 per month for service charge). So even with the service charge, owning our own flat is cheaper than when we were renting and at least we are not pouring our money into our landlords mortgage anymore.

This was the main motivation to buy: it seemed to make good business sense because we could afford to and felt our money was being wasted paying a landlord. But we ended up getting a 1 bed new build because we really just needed somewhere we could move into and needed nothing doing to it (due to our hectic jobs) and also because we really don’t know where we want to end up and settle Location-wise for the future, so we didn’t want to max ourselves out on a massive family home. So we went for a flat in Borehamwood which is an equal commuting time for both of us, so seemed a fair place to settle for now.

Thinking over it and reading the comments, I think we made the best decision for us at the time and that we have bought ourselves much more time to really think about where we ultimately want to settle and to save up more money to get somewhere much bigger in the future. We’ve added as much value to the flat as we can by tiling the kitchen and adding a walk in wardrobe, and I keep it extremely clean and tidy as I know one day we will want to sell it! So I’ll just stick to the 5 year plan and be proud to be a homeowner!

smem18

goodwithsaving wrote: »

Even if you've overpaid by a few thousand, how much would the rent have been been for the same time? Do you value stability of 'easy' mortgage repayments which is easy to feel comfortable with, would you have felt overwhelmed by a huge mortgage? There's a lot to be said for just gaining experience.


I think first-time buyers is used as an excuse for a lot of things and there are plenty of sites etc. providing decent advice so there is no excuse for any buyer to go in blind or not research. But I do think maybe you made the best decisions at the time, and it'll have done you good in the long term. It wasn't a mistake at all. A lesson in home ownership and the process? Sure! Definitely not a mistake.

Children aren't imminent, I wouldn't worry. I worry that I have too big a place and won't ever have children or meet someone: no situation is ideal.

You've done well, don't beat yourselves up. It'll balance out

Yep rent would have been £16,200 for the year straight into the landlords pocket! Didn’t think about it like that

getmore4less

How much of that £1099 is interest add the £100 the rest is equity building.
(guess around £500 £290k @2% 30year.)

That means with the overpayment it's like saving £1k per month.

letitbe90

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think you are actually feeling what most people feel about their home.

We overpaid.
Everybody else got a better deal.
Wish I'd waited.
Wish I'd not bought this one.

The fact is - you deal with the facts and choices as you see them on the day.

Just feel OK about it ..... I bet "most people feel exactly the same" about their place.

I don’t think that many people actually feel like that, it’s usually new builds that’s it happens.

Last two purchases I did, i feel it was a cracking deal! (Whether it actually was it wasn’t isn’t the point):cool:

wine_night

Swings and roundabouts. We lost money remortgaging and paying an ERC on our mortgage as fixed on 10yr fix at a high interest rate. We also probably would have had better gains buying the other house we looked at in a top class location (but didn’t like as much).

It’s part and parcel of home owning, you win some, you lose some.

Enjoy your new home and don’t lose any sleep over it!

pinkshoes

smem18 wrote: »

I turn 30 next year and I am scared of leaving children too late, but we really don’t want to think about kids whilst living in a 1 bed.

I wouldn't worry about having kids in a 1 bed.

A friend of mine and her husband had a tiny 1 bed, had a baby (planned), then had a second baby 14 months later as they wanted them close in age. Baby 2 turned out to be twins!!

They ended up with the 3 kids sharing the bedroom and they slept in the lounge!

Kids don't have to take up lots of space!

Crashy_Time

Gwendo40 wrote: »

Actually I'd disagree with this.

I think the OP is in a very small minority in at least having the common sense to recognise that they paid too much for a property (albeit a bit too late)

Most buyers who overpay will celebrate like they've just won the lottery when they take on a lifetime of mortgage debt to buy some massively overpriced ex crack den, whether that's through stupidity or just stubborn pride who knows?

On here certainly, in the wider world I think many are awakening to how much of a rip off the property market has been for the last few years. All good.

jonnygee2

Lots of people lose money on property at some point in their lives. You are definitely not alone.

But - you have a property that's probably worth about 300k. You also have what I guess is now about 15k equity. And as you are now overpaying, you can probably afford a slightly bigger mortgage. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a two or even three bed around Borehamwood for about 350k?

Ultimately you've probably lost a bit of money. Maybe 20k? Even 30k? Right now it seems huge, but it's not life changing. You seem to have a good income. People have lost more, much more!

Crashy_Time

jonnygee2 wrote: »

Lots of people lose money on property at some point in their lives. You are definitely not alone.

But - you have a property that's probably worth about 300k. You also have what I guess is now about 15k equity. And as you are now overpaying, you can probably afford a slightly bigger mortgage. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a two or even three bed around Borehamwood for about 350k?

Ultimately you've probably lost a bit of money. Maybe 20k? Even 30k? Right now it seems huge, but it's not life changing. You seem to have a good income. People have lost more, much more!

Not for a long time, it is obviously making a comeback but for years people thought you couldn`t lose on property, and the banks/politicians milked this sentiment for all it was worth, and it got us to where we are now, Brexit is just one consequence of pumping the price of basic shelter to silly levels, the next big one could be a Corbyn government, so hopefully the HPI lovers will be happy with the results of the debt party?