Bad time to buy a house?

RelievedSheff

Moving house is always more expensive then you think it will be.

We part exchanged our old house against a new build last year and although the developer paid our stamp duty and legal fees and we only paid £300 for a man and van to help with the move it was still an expensive move. We had extra appliances to buy (our narrow fridge freezer looked odd in a space for an american style fridge freezer and there was a gap for a dishwasher which we didn't have) and there was extra furniture to buy, we have a classic car that was in storage for three months, all new curtains and poles, etc. The list was seemingly endless.

Don't underestimate the costs involved with moving house, they soon mount up.

[Deleted User]

Do you love the property? If you don't I wouldn't carry on. 
If these worries are already in your head, you'll only constantly fret over the house prices over the next few years.
Especially as you've said you're moving in 2 years. 
It took me 6 months from offer to be in my property, wouldn't dream of selling in another year & a half. Far too much hassle! 

MobileSaver

captaindough said:

not want to purchase a property for say 200K and it only be worth 160K a few months later due to a market crash...

House prices are not going to drop 20% "a few months later." If you genuinely believe that then you are on the wrong forum: there's a special forum called HousePriceCrash where you will be right at home; they've been predicting such a thing for nearly twenty years although, of course, they have been consistently wrong.

captaindough said:

I would be looking to sell within 2 to 3 years. ... fast forward to 2022 when I want to sell

I think you are mad! Regardless of what house prices do, the cost, time, effort and hassle of buying, moving, selling and buying and moving again in just two years time is not something most people would plan for.

Buying a home is a long term investment so it will cost you if you sell again in such a short time. However for many people that would still be preferable to renting and not being able to do what they want in their own home and always having the risk of having to move when the landlord decides rather than when they choose.

davidmcn

captaindough said:

davidmcn said:

captaindough said:

comeandgo said:

It is always a risk but the time to worry about the value of your property is when you are selling.

Thanks for your reply, I see your point but, as a buyer you would surly not want to purchase a property for say 200K and it only be worth 160K a few months later due to a market crash...

I guess my question would be, would people buy a property now with the uncertainty that is currently around? Or would they wait and see what happens?

When was the last time you think we had certainty?

Hard to say. But I will say...that with The US boarders closed this AM to the EU and the situation in Italy and the spread of the Covid-19 virus and the rapid falls daily in stocks, shares etc etc gives us a fairly realistic chance of financial crisis...but I’m no expert.

Consider there are probably people who thought there was "uncertainty" as soon as Cameron announced a Brexit referendum. And that was almost five years ago. I doubt any of them have thought there's been any more certainty since then, but they've probably had to stop prevaricating and get on with moving house etc.

ProDave

GixerKate said:

captaindough said:

GixerKate said:

It depends on why you are buying the house and how long you intend to live in it.  The value will rise and fall all the time, so what if in a couple of months time it is worth 40k less, a year later it could be worth 60k more....
Personally I'm in the middle of buying a house, its one that I'm hoping to stay in for a long long time.  Its a new build so my expectation is that the value won't rise for a while but I'm buying somewhere to make my home and its also a long term investment. 

Thanks, this property is more short term, 2 to 3 years. If we go into a heavy recession...would we be out of it in 2 to 3 years? If not then I wouldn’t be in a position to sell....because I’d take a huge hit...I care if I lose 40K.

Is it likely to go into recession similar to that of 2008? And would people buy now with that ever increasing possibility of recession or wait, say 6 months?

Hmm, if you don't mind me asking, why would you want to sell after only a couple of years?  Houses are generally a long term investment and I don't think you often see a profit after only a couple of years, especially if you factor in the costs of moving as these can be pretty costly (my move is costing approx 20k)

I would have thought you would be better off renting rather than buying...

When I bought my first house, I bought the only house I could afford, NOT the house I wanted.  2 years later I tried to sell it, in order to move up to a better house closer to what I wanted, and it would not sell because the housing market had crashed and nobody wanted to buy.  it was a whole year more before the market had even begun to turn and I was eventually able to sell.

RelievedSheff

ProDave said:

GixerKate said:

captaindough said:

GixerKate said:

It depends on why you are buying the house and how long you intend to live in it.  The value will rise and fall all the time, so what if in a couple of months time it is worth 40k less, a year later it could be worth 60k more....
Personally I'm in the middle of buying a house, its one that I'm hoping to stay in for a long long time.  Its a new build so my expectation is that the value won't rise for a while but I'm buying somewhere to make my home and its also a long term investment. 

Thanks, this property is more short term, 2 to 3 years. If we go into a heavy recession...would we be out of it in 2 to 3 years? If not then I wouldn’t be in a position to sell....because I’d take a huge hit...I care if I lose 40K.

Is it likely to go into recession similar to that of 2008? And would people buy now with that ever increasing possibility of recession or wait, say 6 months?

Hmm, if you don't mind me asking, why would you want to sell after only a couple of years?  Houses are generally a long term investment and I don't think you often see a profit after only a couple of years, especially if you factor in the costs of moving as these can be pretty costly (my move is costing approx 20k)

I would have thought you would be better off renting rather than buying...

When I bought my first house, I bought the only house I could afford, NOT the house I wanted.  2 years later I tried to sell it, in order to move up to a better house closer to what I wanted, and it would not sell because the housing market had crashed and nobody wanted to buy.  it was a whole year more before the market had even begun to turn and I was eventually able to sell.

You were lucky.

We bought our first house in 2007 and it was only last year that we were able to get enough equity in it to move on. That was 12 long years stuck in a home we had become to hate. Well that is perhaps slightly unfair, we liked the house just not the area or the neighbours!

timeism0ney

I'm in the same position but wanting to stay in the house long-term, 10+ years. Still, all the news about stock markets, oil and coronavirus are quite worrying at the moment.

phoebe1989seb

We've been at both ends of the property 'profit' and 'loss' game and fully appreciate that losing money isn't a nice experience 

Back in the late 2000s we sold a house we'd owned for ten years. It had increased in value by 5x. We'd spent approximately £100k (a bit less than our purchase price) on renovations but chances are it would have still gone up by a similar amount even if we'd done very little.

Another house purchased in 2011 increased in value by £135k in three years.

Otoh, we've made a couple of - largeish, think £40k+ - losses along the way, mainly as a result of selling after a short period (three years again) and have no plans to repeat this! We were *fortunate* in owning outright, but nonetheless it hurt.

Our current cottage is an interesting one - a previous owner sold it in 2006 for 11x what they paid after seven years of ownership, having spent a mere £20k doing it up from a derelict state! Twelve years later the next owners managed to get it repossessed and we paid £72k less than they had......

In the current uncertain climate, I'd  echo previous posters and wouldn't be buying if my plan was to sell again after only a couple of years.

Marvel1

No-one knows, it's risk you take.

Crashy_Time

captaindough said:

need_an_answer said:

Property prices rise and fall...if you've purchased a property you should ideally expect to be thinking of it as not a short term investment....so what if its worth £5k less in a few months time,you should be looking at it as somewhere to live in the early stages.
If your mindset is to track the value of it monthly then don't buy its the wrong type of purchase if you continually want to keep tabs on its value.

What sort of timeframe do you hope to keep the property for?

Thanks for your reply. I would be looking to sell within 2 to 3 years. My fear would be, as I said, purchasing for 200K, market crash, value of said property plummets due to current crisis, fast forward to 2022 when I want to sell and the property is worth considerably less...not 5k less.

Certainly wait until the virus stabilises/disappears, the economic damage is already done though so no need to worry about house prices going anywhere from here, choice between a nice discount soon and a big loss in a couple of years if you buy now is what you are looking at I think.