Bought house and regretting it

chucknorris

Crashy_Time said:

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

aoleks said:

Crashy_Time said:

Sunsaru said:

For 20 plus years I wanted my own house. The day i got my keys I walked into the house and thought

"What the frig have I done??"

Took me about 3 months for it to sink in. I'm now 8 months in and have sunk 5 figures into the property with another 5 planned. No regrets.

Do you think there is a possibility that you bought at the wrong time?

Do you think there’s a poasibility you sold at the wrong time? :-)

When do you think I sold?

I did have a good idea based on previous conversations with you, but I have forgotten now (it was a long time ago), but I think it was in the late 90's and if so, it was definitely 'the wrong time' (to leave the housing market). At the time (when you referred to it) I had the opinion that you were relieved to have got out unscathed after enduring years of negative equity, I realise that can be very uncomfortable, but it only matters when you sell. If it was the late 90's you did miss out on significant HPI, but of course hindsight is an exact science. And of course people sell for a variety of reasons, after all it was your home rather than merely an investment.

LOL, no you definitely have me confused with someone else, good to see you back though, I watched one of your films the other night, absolute classic.

I've sold most of my properties now Crashy, and I have just about got my portfolio where I want it for my retirement (trying to be diverse as possible), it is very different to not so many years ago, I included my share of our home, because although it isn't exactly an investment, is is after all is is part of my wealth:

Cash	2%
Investment property	8%
Own home	12%
Fixed pension	15%
Bonds (Individual corporate & funds)	15%
REIT's	19%
Equities (excl. REITs)	29%

Why are you posting this information?

For 2 reasons:

We must have exchanged hundreds of posts with each other taking apposing views because you were always arguing with 'HPI bulls' (although what you never quite got it that I was not one of them). And now as you can see from my portfolio, residential investment is only a very small part of it now, and I'll probably sell what I have left in approx. 1 to 3 years.

Also I am always interested in other people's opinions about how balanced portfolios are, I might not take any notice, but it is good to listen to other people's opinions, just to test your own logic (I wouldn't expect you to agree with that). 

chucknorris

andy444 said:

How anybody bought a house and very quickly regretted purchasing it? I recently bought a new house and frankly I'm having real doubts about whether I want to continue here.

There is a lot more work to renovate here than I first realised. I knew there'll need to be some updating decor required but it's now crystallised to me that I will have to spend thousands of pounds to get this place to how I want it.

I was in a fortunate position where I had two bids accepted on the same day on two separate houses and I opted for this house and frankly I wish I had gone for the other. It was a newer build that had been done up to a fair standard.

It is so cold in this house and I'm not particularly looking forward to rarely being warm here this winter. I'm thinking maybe I could rent this place out and ask my former housemate if I could move back in with him and rent whilst I consider my next option. Just feeling a bit glum at the moment.

We didn't exactly regret it, but we bought a house with the intention of both extending it and refurbishing it, but we never got around to it, when it came down to doing the work, we just couldn't face living through such major works, like living on a building site for months. The house itself wasn't that bad, it just wasn't as good as we would have liked. But we lived there for 13 years before buying something that we like a lot more.

Scotbot

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

I still don't  like my house 4 yrs after purchasing it. It is a head house, I needed somewhere to live after moving back from overseas. If I had rented it would have cost me around 75K whilst the house has gone up in value by about 60k. A no brainer financially. 

Of course to realise that "value" you would have to sell it, why would anyone pay you over the odds for a house that you don`t even like!

Incorrect. The 75k saved on renting is already in the bank. Which is the main reason I bought it, buying was always going to be a lot cheaper than renting for me as I was a cash buyer 

chucknorris

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

I still don't  like my house 4 yrs after purchasing it. It is a head house, I needed somewhere to live after moving back from overseas. If I had rented it would have cost me around 75K whilst the house has gone up in value by about 60k. A no brainer financially. 

Of course to realise that "value" you would have to sell it, why would anyone pay you over the odds for a house that you don`t even like!

Because of where it is. Walking distance to two Ofsted outstanding primary schools and 1 ouststanding secondary..  Of no interest to me as I don't have school aged kids but properties here sell very quickly.  Get leafleted by buyers and agents regularly. As they say location,  location, location. 

So you have no compelling reason to be there and you don`t like the house? Seems strange to me that the 60k that you think it has earned you is more important to you than actually enjoying the house!

The house might not be perfect for him, but he's probably like me, I would much rather buy and live in a house that I own, than pay rent (no matter how perfect a rental property might be). Not only has he saved the rent, but he has secured himself into the housing market, and he can later move to something more to his liking. Imagine if instead of selling your house, you had kept it, how much tax free equity and saved rent would you have right now? 

lookstraightahead

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

I still don't  like my house 4 yrs after purchasing it. It is a head house, I needed somewhere to live after moving back from overseas. If I had rented it would have cost me around 75K whilst the house has gone up in value by about 60k. A no brainer financially. 

Of course to realise that "value" you would have to sell it, why would anyone pay you over the odds for a house that you don`t even like!

Because of where it is. Walking distance to two Ofsted outstanding primary schools and 1 ouststanding secondary..  Of no interest to me as I don't have school aged kids but properties here sell very quickly.  Get leafleted by buyers and agents regularly. As they say location,  location, location. 

So you have no compelling reason to be there and you don`t like the house? Seems strange to me that the 60k that you think it has earned you is more important to you than actually enjoying the house!

The house might not be perfect for him, but he's probably like me, I would much rather buy and live in a house that I own, than pay rent (no matter how perfect a rental property might be). Not only has he saved the rent, but he has secured himself into the housing market, and he can later move to something more to his liking. Imagine if instead of selling your house, you had kept it, how much tax free equity and saved rent would you have right now? 

I personally had a very different experience of buying over the years where renting would have been much better for me. Bought too young then moved areas for work, also bought an old house that needed work doing on it later that I couldn't afford, and divorce where the house was a noose around my neck.
A positive of renting recently was that we made the money back as negotiated the price on one we were buying.

I think area is so much more important than house. My husband bought a house (again years ago) in an awful area - he did make money on it but he was miserable and hardly stayed there.

You don't always make money on buying houses - sometimes life throws curveballs, or they stop you moving on etc. My daughter is 22 and I would never suggest she buys a house yet - it reminds me of getting married too early in life. 

Property can of course be an investment if you buy a few and you're savvy, or if you can never see yourself moving again (I've moved far too many time). But it can also be the cause if a lot of debt. People overspend and are doing so now.

Slinky

Crashy_Time said:

RelievedSheff said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

I still don't  like my house 4 yrs after purchasing it. It is a head house, I needed somewhere to live after moving back from overseas. If I had rented it would have cost me around 75K whilst the house has gone up in value by about 60k. A no brainer financially. 

Of course to realise that "value" you would have to sell it, why would anyone pay you over the odds for a house that you don`t even like!

Who says the price is "over the odds?"

It is boosted by the SDH and zero rates, hard to sensibly argue against that IMO.

This was in the doorway of a local estate agent a couple of days ago.

phoebe1989seb

I feel the OP's pain and sympathise completely....    

We bought our current house almost four years ago and I still don't feel the love for it, although I adore what we've done.   

It was a repossession and not our first major project so nothing to do with the level of work required (there was no running water at the property when we purchased - used to be supplied by a well on a neighbour's land but an ancient dispute had put paid to that - so had to have a borehole drilled almost immediately). Actually we've owned far worse, but those always felt *right* somehow....this one didn't to me, although DH loved it from day one 🙄

Over the past few years we have been gradually making the place our own, mainly DIY which obviously takes forever when working (to fund the purchase of materials/necessary trades) has to take priority. We quickly went through our savings (have spent around £100k on the project so far) and - being mortgage-free in our fifties - it's not feasible to borrow money so we're constantly saving for the next job.

The location is great (in a pretty, rural backwater with only two near-ish neighbours) which was the main reason we chose it, but being 400 years old yet with virtually no character remaining, the property had little to recommend it.

The reason I don't feel the love is that I'm constantly comparing it to the house we sold to move here (and that wasn't even finished when we sold it). That was larger, full of period features and - whilst the overall part of the country it was situated in wasn't highly regarded - it was in a very *upmarket* village location with lots of grander, characterful homes that lent an air of grandeur to ours, lol! Worst house on good street and all that 😂

Also, with this house being much smaller - the intention was to downsize but this was less square meterage than planned - we had to let go of more furniture and other possessions than expected, so things we'd treasured for ages were sold. I need a *comfort blanket* of familiar stuff around me and to begin with - our worldly goods were in storage for the first six months - I didn't have that. Even though we've now got many of our favourite pieces about the place and - having reconfigured the whole space so it would be virtually unrecognisable to the previous owners - made it our own, it still doesn't truly feel like home to me.

One observation I've made is that every time we've sold/bought before, even if the new property has been smaller (and we've downsized a few times now) the new place has had something about it that's been nicer than the last. Apart from the pretty countryside location, I struggle to think of anything that's better about this house 🙁

I actually feel as though I'm in mourning for the one we sold.... possibly also linked to losing both my parents within a few months of each other not long before moving here ☹️

Immersing yourself in a mini project of some sort about the place definitely helps - I'm considerably more content when getting my hands dirty in the garden, with a paintbrush or just sketching out plans for the next changes 😁

chucknorris

lookstraightahead said:

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

I still don't  like my house 4 yrs after purchasing it. It is a head house, I needed somewhere to live after moving back from overseas. If I had rented it would have cost me around 75K whilst the house has gone up in value by about 60k. A no brainer financially. 

Of course to realise that "value" you would have to sell it, why would anyone pay you over the odds for a house that you don`t even like!

Because of where it is. Walking distance to two Ofsted outstanding primary schools and 1 ouststanding secondary..  Of no interest to me as I don't have school aged kids but properties here sell very quickly.  Get leafleted by buyers and agents regularly. As they say location,  location, location. 

So you have no compelling reason to be there and you don`t like the house? Seems strange to me that the 60k that you think it has earned you is more important to you than actually enjoying the house!

The house might not be perfect for him, but he's probably like me, I would much rather buy and live in a house that I own, than pay rent (no matter how perfect a rental property might be). Not only has he saved the rent, but he has secured himself into the housing market, and he can later move to something more to his liking. Imagine if instead of selling your house, you had kept it, how much tax free equity and saved rent would you have right now? 

You don't always make money on buying houses - sometimes life throws curveballs, or they stop you moving on etc. My daughter is 22 and I would never suggest she buys a house yet - it reminds me of getting married too early in life. 

Property can of course be an investment if you buy a few and you're savvy, or if you can never see yourself moving again (I've moved far too many time). But it can also be the cause if a lot of debt. People overspend and are doing so now.

Crashy sold such a long ago that it's impossible that he would not have amassed significant equity.

I moved quite a bit too (9 times), but when I moved, I didn't sell, I let mostly the property instead, apart from twice, once when I moved from Newcastle to London and also 3 years ago, because it was time to start offloading my properties then.

RelievedSheff

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

Crashy_Time said:

Scotbot said:

I still don't  like my house 4 yrs after purchasing it. It is a head house, I needed somewhere to live after moving back from overseas. If I had rented it would have cost me around 75K whilst the house has gone up in value by about 60k. A no brainer financially. 

Of course to realise that "value" you would have to sell it, why would anyone pay you over the odds for a house that you don`t even like!

Because of where it is. Walking distance to two Ofsted outstanding primary schools and 1 ouststanding secondary..  Of no interest to me as I don't have school aged kids but properties here sell very quickly.  Get leafleted by buyers and agents regularly. As they say location,  location, location. 

So you have no compelling reason to be there and you don`t like the house? Seems strange to me that the 60k that you think it has earned you is more important to you than actually enjoying the house!

The house might not be perfect for him, but he's probably like me, I would much rather buy and live in a house that I own, than pay rent (no matter how perfect a rental property might be). Not only has he saved the rent, but he has secured himself into the housing market, and he can later move to something more to his liking. Imagine if instead of selling your house, you had kept it, how much tax free equity and saved rent would you have right now? 

I agree with you on this point and we have a great example of this.

We bought a new build detached 3 bed house 2.5 years ago. The house on the opposite corner is exactly the same but mirrored and was bought by a landlord to rent out. The two properties were sold for exactly the same price. The rent on the rental property is exactly the same as our mortgage £1200 per month.

The rental has been rented by the same couple since it was completed. So in 30 months they have paid the landlord £36k towards his mortgage. They are financially no better off for having made those payments.

We bought ours and started off with £21k in equity. In the 30 months we have paid £36k to the mortgage company and now have an extra £14k equity through making our monthly mortgage payments. On top of this the house has gone up in value significantly since we purchased it meaning that our equity now stands at around £105k using a low estimate of what the house is worth on the open market. 

Of course the rental property has also gone up in value by the same amount but that is of no value to the tenants.

Buying in this case was a no brainer.

On the flip side our last property didn't perform quite so well. We bought in 2007 right at the peak of the market with a 105% mortgage so spent a long time with that one in negative equity. We didn't need to move so just stayed put, paid the mortgage and eventually after 13 years we had paid enough off and the property market in the area had improved enough that we could just scrape enough together to buy out current home.

Even with that property we were still better off buying than renting. Renting would have cost more per month in that case and we would not have been able to save the money for the deposit on the current house.

Newnoel

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

chucknorris said:

Crashy_Time said:

aoleks said:

Crashy_Time said:

Sunsaru said:

For 20 plus years I wanted my own house. The day i got my keys I walked into the house and thought

"What the frig have I done??"

Took me about 3 months for it to sink in. I'm now 8 months in and have sunk 5 figures into the property with another 5 planned. No regrets.

Do you think there is a possibility that you bought at the wrong time?

Do you think there’s a poasibility you sold at the wrong time? :-)

When do you think I sold?

I did have a good idea based on previous conversations with you, but I have forgotten now (it was a long time ago), but I think it was in the late 90's and if so, it was definitely 'the wrong time' (to leave the housing market). At the time (when you referred to it) I had the opinion that you were relieved to have got out unscathed after enduring years of negative equity, I realise that can be very uncomfortable, but it only matters when you sell. If it was the late 90's you did miss out on significant HPI, but of course hindsight is an exact science. And of course people sell for a variety of reasons, after all it was your home rather than merely an investment.

LOL, no you definitely have me confused with someone else, good to see you back though, I watched one of your films the other night, absolute classic.

I've sold most of my properties now Crashy, and I have just about got my portfolio where I want it for my retirement (trying to be diverse as possible), it is very different to not so many years ago, I included my share of our home, because although it isn't exactly an investment, is is after all is is part of my wealth:

Cash	2%
Investment property	8%
Own home	12%
Fixed pension	15%
Bonds (Individual corporate & funds)	15%
REIT's	19%
Equities (excl. REITs)	29%

Why are you posting this information?

Because we must have exchanged hundreds of posts with each other taking apposing views because you were always arguing with 'HPI bulls' (although what you never quite got it that I was not one of them). And now as you can see from my portfolio, residential investment is only a very small part of it now, and I'll probably sell what I have left in approx. 1 to 3 years.

Why are you selling out completely from investment property Chuck? Do you plan to reinvest the cash elsewhere?