My long-term plan

sal_III

JamesBro wrote: »

The biggest help to get over the "dream" is to be of the mindset that prices won't be going through the roof and that there is a levelling out of house prices. If I feel as though I won't be on Rightmove every month checking house prices after I sell up, then it's most helpful! If it only stands to make a 20/30% profit max in the next 10/20 years, then I'm fine with that.

Though it has already gone up by £25k in two years. But it's a two-bed house, which can only go so far, I guess.

Don't be so sure you have made £25k in two years, You won't know until you actually sell.

No one can predict the house market with high degree of certainty in the next 10, yet alone 20 years, but if the somewhat respected Nationwide house price index is to be believed, there is already a slump in London prices. I know that the multi-million properties of central London are skewing the figures to an extend, but even the rest of the country is down to about 2% annual growth, which barely reflects the inflation.

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/-/media/MainSite/documents/about/house-price-index/2019/Sep_Q3_2019.pdf

need_an_answer

I went on holiday many years ago and whilst I was there saw a piece of land for sale in a very up and coming spot.

It was cheap and for a few weeks whilst on holiday and maybe for a few months after we returned home the dream festered....well for 6 months actually.

20 years later we returned to our holiday destination and were talking to the owner who had just sold that piece of land...to the exclusive hotel development that had grown up around it …..

Yes you've guessed it...it went for a very tidy sum.He was almost able to name his price simply because the land was just where an access road was needed.
Our younger selves would have been taking a huge gamble if we had bought the piece of land...the timing wasn't right,it would have impacted how we lived our lives for probably many years until it was sold...and ultimately was a risk at the time we just didn't take.

Our older selves now,sometimes look back and think how different things could have been if we had taken the leap,bought the land and built the little house we wanted on it...not just because it would have meant moving a few thousand miles but that now we'd be living amongst Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados

No regrets...its just a good story to tell now...

hazyjo

I moved to Leigh on Sea which is near enough to London to commute and go out, and still holds enough value to make it comparable. There are plenty of other areas which are lovely too which won't mean losing your 'value' as such. You need to find the right area for you.


I visited and considered: Hertford, Stanstead Abbots, Sawbridgeworth, Stansted Mountfitchet, and prob others, and settled on Leigh on Sea as it's perfect for us.

JamesBro

Thank you to everyone again.

I'm realising that worrying about house prices going too high after selling is not really worth it, and will affect too much life to worry about.

London commuter belts / making a big change sounds the best option by a long way.