thoroughly fed up - tell me it'll be ok

tellmeagain

It took us 2 or 3 years to find the right place, and im so glad we waited, as we have ended up in a better location than i would have ever thought we could have afforded. Just bide your time and dont act in haste...sometimes not getting what you want is the best stroke of luck 

lookstraightahead

I rented for years following a divorce, and felt like a FTB feeling I was getting further behind. But honestly, it's just bricks, you will find your right time to buy. Remember all of those people tied down with huge mortgages at the moment, paying well over the odds. It will work out.

Mickey666

theartfullodger said:

Capitalism means, sadly, some people win, some lose.  Please don't believe buying property is necessarily a good idea. Property prices do not and have not always gone up.

Good luck.

1. - LIFE means, sadly, some people win, some lose.  Nothing to do with capitalism.  There are plenty of alternative regimes around the world with winners and losers.  Let us know which one you'd prefer and why you're not living there instead of here.

2 - Buying 'property' may not necessarily be a good idea but buying a home seems an eminently good one to me, if only to have zero housing costs after 25 years or so, save money over a lifetime, make pension planning so much easier and not be at the mercy of a landlord telling you what you can and can't do in your home, or worse, forcing you to move out because it suits their more important purpose.  Notice that I didn't mention house prices once . . . because it's not the most important reason to buy a home.

3 - show me a 20 year period where house prices have not risen.

trance_abbey

It's tough - especially as a single person.

I totally changed the area in which I was looking and started looking at flats when before I'd been set on buying a house... and I ended up finding the most amazing (but run down) maisonette that ticks pretty much all the boxes in a really funky area that I'd just not even stopped to consider before...

Hang in there!

Sunsaru

Strangely enough, getting divorced and being single made it easier for my to buy. 
Bargains are out there though. I got my house for about 7% under asking. Nothing wrong with it other than needing a serious lick of paint.

Newbuyer88

I think it really depends on your situation how you value owning a house. For us personally we want to be able to buy a home so we can leave it to our daughter (hopefully) in the future and give her a head start. I know some people won’t agree with that but most of the parents (including my own) do put extra value to owning a property for their child’s security (of course this is never set in stone but it gives another meaning to the process)

2bFrank

House prices are based on a upwards wedge, they go up and down but over the long term the keep increasing. I think we are just at the top of that wedge right now, and when the SDLT relief finishes they will start to calm down and I believe some types of property will drop slightly, however its only a short term drop and soon will increase again.

The truth is, is that we do not have enough properties for our population, and we are not building even nearly enough to keep up. This is a supply and demand issue, that has no sign of being sorted any time soon.

My advice would be too cool down if you are not successful and see where the land lays after the SDLT relief ends, I genuinely believe flats and housing with little space will tapper of and even drop slightly in price. Lockdown has made people evaluate a lot about their housing situation and they want more garden space, an office, bigger kitchen etc. these are the properties that will keep increasing in value.

Tunalc

Gosh am I glad I bumped into your post. I too am a singleton and have been looking for a while now, well only months really so not gone through what you have. I say I'm glad because I don't feel so alone after all...The properties in my neck of the woods are flying off the shelf and it doesn't help that we're on a direct line to London so folk are coming and offering well above asking price and in some cases for cash. Just when I thought I had saved 10% plus fees, it seems I need more and not in a great relationship with the LL so things aren't as good as they could be on the residential front. The one thing I believe though is that everything happens for a reason. As cliche as that sounds, I really do believe it. Now, we may not know the reason(s) but there is a reason for everything but I know it'll be ok. You have made it this far and I strongly believe you're made of strong stuff so you'll make it through the next hurdle and there will be folk like me cheering you on even though we don't know you.
I will be cheering you on, I believe you got this and it will be ok. 

ProDave

Just a question for the OP:

WHY did you not buy a house in say 2019 when the market was calm, prices were not rising at silly rates and people were not out bidding each other? 

Is is just the "I have got to buy now before prices rise and I can't afford to" that is pushing you to buy a house now?

History shows we are likely to have perhaps 3 or 4 years like this, then some event will tip the market over to the next slump, where nothing sells, prices fall, but you could have the pick of all the houses on the market with almost no competition.

okigen

It'll be ok! I'm on the same boat. I thought my healthy budget meant I could fetch a flat easily, but the reality is people are all getting a bit nuts. Some bought properties without even visiting! A few that I kept an eye on had an offer within 1 week, only for the buyer to pull out later because they couldn't afford it or get mortgage on it. When everyone around you talk like property experts, it's a red flag that you should now tread carefully.

And the same thing is happening to all other markets, in all other countries. There are macro elements underlying the gold rush but the general concensus is that this can't go on forever. So just hold tight be and our time will come 😉