This House market is exhausting and frustrating

sst1234

Whats crazy about buying a property you want for a price you can afford? That’s what people are doing, while others look on that could afford to pay the same but feel they don’t want to fair enough. But no point making yourself better by saying others are crazy, they are just moving along rather than being stood still. OP’s situation may be different because they are being outbid. But the attitude of some people is weird when they simply refuse to accept the market value of an asset while other people go ahead and offer an amount to secure what they want to buy. 

RelievedSheff

MobileSaver said:

lookstraightahead said:

Sebo027 said:

I wonder how many people are splashing "COVID cash" on properties that they won't be able to keep up payments with. 

Lots of people. They have no idea what they're doing.

On the contrary, I think those people know exactly what they are doing.

They are the ones getting on with their lives while others moan and complain about how unfair the housing market is. They are the ones enjoying their new homes while others continue to live in unsuitable properties and/or keep paying their landlord's mortgage instead of their own.

As for "keeping up with payments" you are forgetting that for years now lenders have had to apply ever stricter affordability checks to make sure that home owners can afford their mortgage payments even if things change significantly; the days of mass repossessions are long gone.

Exactly this. Buying a house is hardly a spur of the moment decision. It isn't something you just go and buy off the shelf in the supermarket or department store.

impatient2020

I think also one of the issues is trying to balance the timing of buying. 6 months ago we could have got more for our budget, today we get less and most likely needs work. Do we bite the bullet now and pay the going prices now and hope there is no crash? Or do we hang on and wait for the "Crash" that may or may not ever come?
My property sold in May 2020 when estate agents were back at work and my buyer the week of exchange reduced his offer by £10k as rumours were very strong that the market was going to crash and I was advised to take the money and run, then a month later stamp duty holiday came in and the prices rocketed. 
If this is the new normal then I guess we pay what we are comfortable with and that may mean having to compromise on our wants/needs and move again sooner than we would have to get what we eventually want. 
If only I had a crystal ball! 

BV88

It is a fools errand waiting for prices to crash. The reality is that money is cheap and the government will keep on printing more. The amount of government debt now means the only option is to erode that debt via inflation so don’t expect interest rates to rise with inflation.

Comparisons to 2007 can be made but the big difference is that this boom is not being accompanied by riskier and riskier lending practices. When properties are getting multiple over ask offers from cash buyers and people with low LTV mortgages then guess what, that is the new price! 

The rate of increase may stabilise but waiting for a crash in an asset class that has an extreme demand/supply imbalance that is only getting worse over time is delusional.

lookstraightahead

MobileSaver said:

lookstraightahead said:

Sebo027 said:

I wonder how many people are splashing "COVID cash" on properties that they won't be able to keep up payments with. 

Lots of people. They have no idea what they're doing.

On the contrary, I think those people know exactly what they are doing.

They are the ones getting on with their lives while others moan and complain about how unfair the housing market is. They are the ones enjoying their new homes while others continue to live in unsuitable properties and/or keep paying their landlord's mortgage instead of their own.

As for "keeping up with payments" you are forgetting that for years now lenders have had to apply ever stricter affordability checks to make sure that home owners can afford their mortgage payments even if things change significantly; the days of mass repossessions are long gone.

But you can be savvy at the same time surely? There are also vendors "holding out" for "the very best they can get" rather than getting on with their lives as well.

I agree life is too short to hang around waiting but you still have to think about things. 

As for enjoying their new homes, if they can't afford them, they won't enjoy them.

RelievedSheff

lookstraightahead said:

MobileSaver said:

lookstraightahead said:

Sebo027 said:

I wonder how many people are splashing "COVID cash" on properties that they won't be able to keep up payments with. 

Lots of people. They have no idea what they're doing.

On the contrary, I think those people know exactly what they are doing.

They are the ones getting on with their lives while others moan and complain about how unfair the housing market is. They are the ones enjoying their new homes while others continue to live in unsuitable properties and/or keep paying their landlord's mortgage instead of their own.

As for "keeping up with payments" you are forgetting that for years now lenders have had to apply ever stricter affordability checks to make sure that home owners can afford their mortgage payments even if things change significantly; the days of mass repossessions are long gone.

But you can be savvy at the same time surely? There are also vendors "holding out" for "the very best they can get" rather than getting on with their lives as well.

I agree life is too short to hang around waiting but you still have to think about things. 

As for enjoying their new homes, if they can't afford them, they won't enjoy them.

Is there any evidence to suggest that people can't afford their new properties?

Lenders have to put applications through stress tests with much higher interest rates since the crash of 2007. If the figures don't stack up then you don't get the mortgage.

eidand

The market is what it is.  Some people like to keep moaning or justify everything by accusing others of not knowing what they're doing. It seems to me the opposite is true. This is a money saving website which is why the opinions are so skewed here

I am not denying that each one of us would like a "deal" but the reality is different. Properties are being bought and a lot of people don't care about saving a few k here and there. I am one of them.

What matters is living in a property and area that makes me happy.

If that means I need to offer 25k more than someone else to secure something I want then so be it, who cares. I can always make more money. I'll buy the property ( I did anyway ) and I am happily living in it while others are happy to not "overpay".

On the topic of a crash, some have been waiting for a long time and will keep waiting. We live on a small island and not enough houses are being built. That's the reality. The prices are only going up, not down. Many don't want to live in flats anymore.

My point is that you can keep waiting for the market to "stabilize", although I am not even sure what that means. If a lot of houses are already sold then you will notice a lack of desirable properties and the effect of that ... what do you think it will be?

Gavin83

impatient2020 said:

I think also one of the issues is trying to balance the timing of buying. 6 months ago we could have got more for our budget, today we get less and most likely needs work. Do we bite the bullet now and pay the going prices now and hope there is no crash? Or do we hang on and wait for the "Crash" that may or may not ever come?
My property sold in May 2020 when estate agents were back at work and my buyer the week of exchange reduced his offer by £10k as rumours were very strong that the market was going to crash and I was advised to take the money and run, then a month later stamp duty holiday came in and the prices rocketed. 
If this is the new normal then I guess we pay what we are comfortable with and that may mean having to compromise on our wants/needs and move again sooner than we would have to get what we eventually want. 
If only I had a crystal ball! 

You could have always got more for your money 6 months ago, this isn't exactly a new thing. It's likely you'll get less for your money in 6 months than now. House prices might crash, they might not, there's really no way to predict it. Personally I think it better to continue with your plans than worry about something that might not happen.

Knocking £10k off was a mistake to be honest, there's no way I'd be reducing the price of my house because of what might happen. If my buyer reduced the price by £10k I'd pull out the sale and remarket, even if it meant losing a house I was purchasing. I am extremely stubborn though.

EndlessStruggle

doingitanyway said:

Well done @EndlessStruggle. You kept going until you had a house. That's my plan too

I've now got everything crossed as it does seem a little too good to be true especially the price.

I think they just went with my offer is because I'm a FTB, 25% deposit and it has tenants in and I'm willing to wait the 4+ months.

impatient2020

@Gavin83 oh yeah hindsight and knowing the market since, I would have told the buyer to stuff it, unfortunately at that time it was the same week estate agents came back to work, the market had stalled and pulling out would have meant losing our purchase (which at the time was going through quickly) so it was the best decision at the time with the info I had to hand. 

I don’t look back bitter at all, the property completed and I had the money in the bank rather than starting all over again.