Is now really a bad time to buy?

csgohan4

MobileSaver said:

BikingBud said:

People want to treat it as an asset, as their pension fund, as their legacy to the children/grandchildren.

Your HPC bias is coming to the fore now... The vast majority of people buy a house as a home first and foremost not as an investment.

BikingBud said:

Yes, yes there are many variables, location, int rate, fixed int rate, period of advance etc, etc but the thing that makes the most difference is price paid. 

Negotiating the cost down and reap the rewards now, lower deposit and earlier purchase, and in the long term, lower total interest paid.

You are completely missing the point that this is not a pile of bricks you are buying. You can't just go to another builder's merchant and buy exactly the same pile of bricks from someone else. Practically no-one decides to buy a house today, looks on Rightmove and buys a house the next day; there's a limited supply and there are numerous variables as to whether a house is suitable, price being only one factor.

I bought my house not because of an investment but to live for many decades. I got a discount, probably could have asked for more but where does it stop, you want a discount, then you want extras thrown. It's a balance between paying market value and low balling so much the vendor could not deal with you anymore.

 offer a price your both happy with, that should be it. but if you low ball too much and that respect is lost and you run the risk of not having that house over bargaining too hard. It's not like there's exactly the same one nearby who you could play each other against to get the best price 

Wkmg

I’ll just throw in my thoughts. We just had an offer accepted on a house. The house will be our forever home. It’s on a very desirable (to us and in general) road and houses only come up for sale on it once or twice a year. It’s right at the top of our budget. It is one of the historically less expensive houses on the street because it needs major renovation work (although it’s liveable at the moment). We got a bit off asking price (4%) but we managed to sell our current house for full asking price. The mortgage is very large but actually we can comfortably pay the monthly repayments, we both have very secure jobs (NHS) and both our salaries will be rising relatively quickly over the next 5 years. Should we sit it out for 3 months in the hope that we can get even more off? I say no. We might end up without the house we really want. Yes we might save another £10,000 off the asking price but we also might not be able to get it at all as the owner might take it off the market, sell it to someone else, dig his heals in etc... We also might not get the great mortgage offer we have, we might not be bale to sell our house etc... I think if you are motivated to move and you find a house you want you should offer what it’s worth to you and see how you get on. If you’re worried about your job, not sure if you want to move, or are buying to invest then I agree it might be a good time to watch and wait but for most people who are buying a home I think it’s probably best to just get on with it. 

Norman_Castle

BikingBud said:

Yet we cannot discuss getting the best possible deal on a house that will save us many tens of thousands of pound through life.  Quite bizarre really.

It does get discussed. There's no dispute a reduction is good but house prices are set by the market. You can offer what you think is right but if a seller isn't willing to sell at that price or someone else offers more its unlikely you will be buying.

Expecting the housing market to adjust to suit you is unrealistic. Expecting sellers to lose money just to accommodate you is unrealistic.

robatwork

jacko74 said:

Can you provide links to some examples of these asking prices that have supposedly already fallen?
I'm not seeing evidence of that in my area... yet.
Also what are you basing your analysis on that prices will ''bounce back and more'' before the end of this year?

I am on a few mailings from Rightmove and am seeing plenty of "reduced properties found". Here's a couple
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79381732.html
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68000787.html
both reduced in May.

It's not my analysis that prices will bounce back, it's just my opinion. If anyone tells you they have done analysis (which by definition can only tell us about things in the past) and on that basis they are predicting the future with any more accuracy than my humble opinion, they're lying. 

MobileSaver

robatwork said:

jacko74 said:

Can you provide links to some examples of these asking prices that have supposedly already fallen?
I'm not seeing evidence of that in my area... yet.

I am on a few mailings from Rightmove and am seeing plenty of "reduced properties found".

With all due respect I think you are experiencing confirmation bias; seeing what you want to see.

Rightmove shows only 6 properties have been reduced in that entire area since the Covid crisis began which is somewhat less than how many were reduced in the three months before the crisis. In other words whether prices go up, down or sideways there are always kite flyers and distressed sellers who start at a high price and drop the price as the months go by; the publicly available evidence shows that if anything less people are reducing prices than they normally would.

Of course, regardless of that, we are talking about asking prices here which may have little to do with actual sold prices so the evidence simply isn't yet available for anyone to claim house prices have already fallen.

BikingBud

MobileSaver said:

What will you do in four months if the price of the house you are after has not dropped 10%?

If I wasn't able to find somewhere at a price I was happy to pay I might sell all my chattels, buy a camper van and tour the world but this isn't just about me

BikingBud said:

Do you pay asking price for everything?   It's extremely rare that I do  

MobileSaver said:

I find that very hard to believe. What percentage of items do you negotiate a discount at your local supermarket? At your local takeaway? Local pub? Local cinema? Amazon?

Are you really a money saver?  Offers abound all over the place, if you really cannot find them on this site, of all places, and then  exploit them for your own benefit then that might be an indicator you need to address.

MobileSaver said:

You are completely missing the point that this is not a pile of bricks you are buying. 

That's exactly what it is.  A pile of bricks on a piece of land. How many times on here do people say "don't get emotional about it!" It's just business?

jimbog

BikingBud said:

MobileSaver said:

What will you do in four months if the price of the house you are after has not dropped 10%?

If I wasn't able to find somewhere at a price I was happy to pay I might sell all my chattels, buy a camper van and tour the world but this isn't just about me

BikingBud said:

Do you pay asking price for everything?   It's extremely rare that I do  

MobileSaver said:

I find that very hard to believe. What percentage of items do you negotiate a discount at your local supermarket? At your local takeaway? Local pub? Local cinema? Amazon?

Are you really a money saver?  Offers abound all over the place, if you really cannot find them on this site, of all places, and then  exploit them for your own benefit then that might be an indicator you need to address.

Welcome back to the thread.
You forgot to mention what percentage discounts you managed to negotiate at your local supermarket, pub, cinema, amazon

csgohan4

BikingBud said:

MobileSaver said:

What will you do in four months if the price of the house you are after has not dropped 10%?

If I wasn't able to find somewhere at a price I was happy to pay I might sell all my chattels, buy a camper van and tour the world but this isn't just about me

BikingBud said:

Do you pay asking price for everything?   It's extremely rare that I do  

MobileSaver said:

I find that very hard to believe. What percentage of items do you negotiate a discount at your local supermarket? At your local takeaway? Local pub? Local cinema? Amazon?

Are you really a money saver?  Offers abound all over the place, if you really cannot find them on this site, of all places, and then  exploit them for your own benefit then that might be an indicator you need to address.

MobileSaver said:

You are completely missing the point that this is not a pile of bricks you are buying. 

That's exactly what it is.  A pile of bricks on a piece of land. How many times on here do people say "don't get emotional about it!" It's just business?

What did your takeaway chap said when you demanded 10% off the bill because your tight/ moneysaving?
Same for the local morrisons check out till when you asked for a discount? 

Never knew you could get coupons/ points for buying a house, BikingBud is awesome for moneysaving

Parking_Eyerate

BikingBud said:

MobileSaver said:

What will you do in four months if the price of the house you are after has not dropped 10%?

If I wasn't able to find somewhere at a price I was happy to pay I might sell all my chattels, buy a camper van and tour the world but this isn't just about me

BikingBud said:

Do you pay asking price for everything?   It's extremely rare that I do  

MobileSaver said:

I find that very hard to believe. What percentage of items do you negotiate a discount at your local supermarket? At your local takeaway? Local pub? Local cinema? Amazon?

Are you really a money saver?  Offers abound all over the place, if you really cannot find them on this site, of all places, and then  exploit them for your own benefit then that might be an indicator you need to address.

MobileSaver said:

You are completely missing the point that this is not a pile of bricks you are buying. 

That's exactly what it is.  A pile of bricks on a piece of land. How many times on here do people say "don't get emotional about it!" It's just business?

I personally think that it is of course only sensible for  a buyer to try to pay a lower price if possible, I really don’t think anyone here says otherwise.

One thing I think is odd though is how you highlight that someone could save £20k or £25k over the life of a mortgage where really that is because they are saving £15k on the original purchase price (which is of course important if you can definitely achieve such a saving, who said it wasn’t?), and possibly then saving £5k or £10k over 20+ years, that being the interest cost of the extra £15k over the long term. After a price and borrowing amount has been agreed the main potential for saving over time in fact seemingly comes from reducing the mortgage term, which a lot of the contributors you deride undoubtedly promote. If you could overpay and reduce it by more you would save even more.
Further, given that the less you borrow the less you pay, I also think it is odd that you criticised someone for suggesting that not having takeaways could help people saving for a deposit but then highlight how you could save ~£70 a month by paying £15k less. I generally spend more than £70 a month on take away food (that could just be me but that’s no more than one a week on average), so I don’t see why such sums suddenly matter to you from one perspective but not the other. Don’t get me wrong, I think saving £70 a month is a very good thing if you can, I just don’t get the inconsistency at all. If you could save a bigger deposit you might be able to get a better loan to value rate and so pay less interest, how much would you save then?

Also, if a house is just a pile of bricks then why would you bother with such a large mortgage at all, you could save so much more money by using a deposit to buy something like this and renovating room by room whenever you have funds. Don’t think this is even the cheapest and there are also other options in better condition.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70760133.html

eidand

Parking_Eyerate said:

BikingBud said:

MobileSaver said:

What will you do in four months if the price of the house you are after has not dropped 10%?

If I wasn't able to find somewhere at a price I was happy to pay I might sell all my chattels, buy a camper van and tour the world but this isn't just about me

BikingBud said:

Do you pay asking price for everything?   It's extremely rare that I do  

MobileSaver said:

I find that very hard to believe. What percentage of items do you negotiate a discount at your local supermarket? At your local takeaway? Local pub? Local cinema? Amazon?

Are you really a money saver?  Offers abound all over the place, if you really cannot find them on this site, of all places, and then  exploit them for your own benefit then that might be an indicator you need to address.

MobileSaver said:

You are completely missing the point that this is not a pile of bricks you are buying. 

That's exactly what it is.  A pile of bricks on a piece of land. How many times on here do people say "don't get emotional about it!" It's just business?

I personally think there is nothing with wrong with a buyer aiming to pay a lower price, I really don’t think anyone here does.

One think I think is odd though is how you highlight that someone could save £20k or £25k over the life of a mortgage where really that is because they are saving £15k on the original purchase price (which is of course important if you can definitely achieve such a saving, who said it wasn’t?), and possibly then saving £5k or £10k over 20+ years, that being the interest cost of the extra £15k over the long term. After a price and borrowing amount has been agreed the main potential for saving over time in fact seemingly comes from reducing the mortgage term, which a lot of the contributors you deride undoubtedly promote. If you could overpay and reduce it by more you would save even more.
Further, given that the less you borrow the less you pay, I also think it is odd that you criticised someone for suggesting that not having takeaways could help people saving for a deposit but then highlight how you could save ~£70 a month by paying £15k less. I generally spend more than £70 a month on take away food (that could just be me but that’s no more than one a week on average), so I don’t see why such sums suddenly matter to you from one perspective but not the other. Don’t get me wrong, I think saving £70 a month is a very good thing if you can, I just don’t get the inconsistency at all. If you could save a bigger deposit you might be able to get a better loan to value rate and so pay less interest, how much would you save then?

Also, if a house is just a pile of bricks then why would you bother with such a large mortgage at all, you could save so much more money by using a deposit to buy something like this and renovating room by room whenever you have funds. Don’t think this is even the cheapest and there are also other options in better condition.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70760133.html

To be fair we all would love to get a great deal when buying a property, no one goes in with the idea of paying as much as possible. Several people have already mentioned that there are many factors when it comes to pricing and applying blanket statements to everything simply does not work.
The pile of bricks statement is a bit weird, I wish the guy all the best, I'd say buy a little piece of land, get 1k bricks and by all means, live under the pile