First time buyer: one bedroom in London

tom9980

Crashy_Time said:

Did you buy it?

Strange how you have remembered a thread from months ago but you seem unable to tell us the year you sold to rent when you moved to Edinburgh? Care to answer?

UnderOffer

How is your purchase going? Any update. 

Crashy_Time

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/64261392#/
Tasty 60k price drop, things are certainly moving in the right direction.

Crashy_Time

Of course the house is still laughably overpriced.

redefinr

Hello everyone, I have been away for a bit sorting things out - I finally bought the house! It's been such a long process with so many ups and downs but last week I finally got my keys!! What a feeling.
I had to switch off for a while as the stress was ramping up but I'm happy with the end result and surely a huge learning curve for me.... I'm extremely thankful to all the people who contributed in this thread which really gave me an enormous amount of informations, I don't even know if I would have bought without all the tips I got from here. Obviously, there's been (and still are!) a wide range of opinion but I was keen to buy in London and I finally did it.
In the end, i did not opt to use a broker, I got the mortgage straight off the bank myself, I went with HSBC and I'm quite happy with the offer they gave me. My solicitor was Grant Saw (Greenwich branch) they been amazing and I couldn't be more happy how they handled my case, I will have to write a positive review on them too.
The EA Purple Bricks was good too, honestly they straight to the point. I wasn't happy with Dexter (always always trying to make me an higher offer, always! some of the properties I bid they are still unsold on the market now!) or any other of those high end EA, didn't like the majority of them.
I know the house prices may continue to drop but it is what it is, I've made my move and now I don't need to worry anymore to throw away money on rent (which by the way hasn't dropped a single pound since the pandemic!).
I'm going through the bits and bobs now to furnish, give some repaint and finish the move...it will be such a great upgrade for me considering the flat I'm renting now (or the previous one) so I'm super excited.
Again, thank you so much to the contributors and I really hope I can help as well any up and coming buyers!

hazyjo

Blimey can't believe it! Congratulations! 😁🍾

Enjoy your new place!

jimbog

Brilliant news! So glad you went for one bedroomed one and you got what you wanted. HSBC/First Direct are sound. Now relax.....

redefinr

jimbog said:

Brilliant news! So glad you went for one bedroomed one and you got what you wanted. HSBC/First Direct are sound. Now relax.....

I know right! That was probably the best decision I have ever made. I had to compromise on the location - I'm going to miss West London but i'm sure it's just a matter of time until I will adapt to the new area!

UnderOffer

Oh thanks for the update, I did post at beginning of December asking how you were getting on. Sounds like a win win. 

lisyloo

Crashy_Time said:

lisyloo said:

Crashy_Time said:

lisyloo said:

Crashy_Time said:

lisyloo said:

Crashy_Time said:

lisyloo said:

Crashy_Time said:

The clampdown on Mum and Dad money from Nationwide and others is sure to have an impact on these expensive boxes that you are looking to buy?

Unless grandma or grandpa died from COVID. Sad but true.

Not sure what relevance that has to bank lending changes? The death rate hasn`t spiked in any meaningful way, and even if it did how does that affect a younger person needing to be in central London in a sky box, or more to the point someone hoping to sell an expensive sky box for half a mil or similar daft price? 

You were talking about help from BOMAD. If you have an inhertance then you don't need the same amount of bank lending.

I think it's pretty obvious how an inhertiance helps.

I do agree with you that London has a particular issue at the moment (which may go away when if get a vaccine).

Yes, but people have always been getting inheritance, why is it suddenly a game changer? Why did they introduce HTB if people are so flush with cash? - Answer - because most people are not flush with cash! And even less will be now that we are in a health/economic state of emergency. The game changer is that it is now harder for mum and dad to sell granny`s house in the Midlands and give little Johnny or Jenny money to throw at sky boxes in London. Interesting times indeed.

It's changed because the state killed quite a few people in nursing homes recently.

see graph for excess deaths here

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53592881

I am not saying everyone is flush with cash (only the genuine buyers matter), but its a factor that counters your bnking restriction for BOMAD for some buyers.

It doesn't matter about most people.

What matters is whether demand exceeds supply.

I've already posted the nationwide figures for July so no need to post them again, but as usual we are silll waiting for the long awaited crash.

The problem for most ordinary people wanting to buy a home is will it come before they've paid so much in rent that the gamble of waiting hasn't paid off.

How long do you suggest people wait? 6 months? 12 months?

What if we get a vaccine and they are vaccinated in 9 months time, go ahead then?

How long have you been waiting, since 2001?

Did it change your plans to start a family or involve you in massive IVF costs because you left it too late?

How many examples do you have where waiting to buy has paid off over say the last 2 decades?

As I say, I think you may have gone past the point where ANY suggestion of ANYTHING other than getting mortgaged up for the next 25-30 years will do? Of course you bought in the 90`s before the bubble so you are basically advising people to do what you didn`t do i.e take out ten times their income in debt for basic accommodation.

You need to explain why 60 years of renting is better.
btw - mortgages get smaller over time 
actually the property I bought in 1991 went down until 1996 (if you are going to stalk personal details you need to be accurate). It wasn’t a big issue for the majority who don’t monitor the paper value and get on with a happy stable family life.
who said 10 times income?
tell us why 60-70 years renting is better.

The property market of 1991 has no bearing at all on someone committing to large mortgage debt at the present moment (worst time in a long time, but luckily for many the banks won`t let them make this commitment any more) I find your notion that being in mortgage debt somehow creates "happy stable family life" to be frankly bizarre, like some sort of mortgage ad, and offensive to the many generations who grew up well in rented and council accommodation, and your frequent rants about IVF are strange as well, I`m sure all the council house single mum`s have IVF treatment and mortgage debt as their highest priorities? Why not just admit that you are a VI, you want your favourite/biggest asset to stay high and  why not just acknowledge that when you bought is nothing like someone trying to "get on the ladder" today?

My home is not my favourite or biggest asset although it is a lovely and spacious place to live in recent circs. My pension is the biggest and financially the most important as I will be living OFF that as opposed to living IN the house. Hopefully the difference is clear - the pension is an asset whereas the home is not viewed as one. The house value doesn’t matter although I appreciate some struggle with that concept or perhaps cannot conceive of being in that position?

buying a house and building a pension has worked very well for me.
can you tell me why renting would have worked better? And how long I should have rented for?
to me 22 years mortgage with no CGT seems far better than 70 years rent
can you tell us your ideal proposal? Without the benefit of hindsight of course.

Apologies for the delay - down to being generally happy and unobsessed (not exactly effective ramping :-)