cold feet, please advise.

emmamc252

my partner and i are looking at buying our first house, we both currently live with parents, we have had an offer accepted and we have just had the survey back. the people we are buying off have not yet found a property they want to buy so time is dragging on. o know this is to be expected but i'm just starting to get far too wound up and stressed about it all. its just scaring the life out of me. we found a house that we love, and we do love it, but its right at the top of our price range, we can afford it but its a huge investment for our first house, over 200k. we have a 30k deposit and together we earn over 40k a year so its all makes semse but its just scaring the life out of me. we thought about buying a cheapy house for around 170is for our first home, but everyones said whatever you buy you have to be prepared to lose money or to stay put for the next 5-10 years, and if we bought a smaller house then we would prob want to move again within say 3 years as in that time my salary alone will have gone up at least 8k. just don't kbow what to do but its just killing me at the minute, if anyone can advise i'd be ever so greatful.

ruggedtoast

If you dont mind taking on a mortgage thats going to stretch you for decades to come in a place you cant move out of because youre stuck in a negative equity then nows an excellent time to buy. Otherwise, Id probably wait a bit.

carolt

If it's absolutely your dream house, then buy it.

If not, listen to your intuition. No point in stretching that much and stressing yourself out that much for something 'just to get on the ladder', if your salary is going to increase anyway, and house prices are (probably) going to fall.

jaype

I suspect everyone is saying that as they can see the market is up for a fall, even if it's just compared to inflation. If you wait you will probably be able to save more, so get a better range of mortgage offers (and perhaps at a lower rate if the BOE decides to cut rates as expected). Think hard - do you plan to have children? How would you cope with a mega-mortgage on a single salary plus £105 per week, or whatever maternity pay is now? IMHO this really isn't the time to buy, hence the fact that properties are building up on agents' books. How much do you REALLY love the house - could you be prepared to stick with it for 10 years till it's worth what you paid for it again (worst case, I admit). I'd give it at least six months and see what's happening - prices aren't rising any more so it's not like you are being left behind by the market like in the past.

clutton_2

when i first bought - moons ago - i was advised by all the property gurus - take as a huge a mortgage as you can afford - i didn't. within 3 years of my buying interest rate s went from 9% to 16% !!!!!! i know they will probably never get that high again, but, they may well go up substantially - who can foretell that ?

if you are really stressed out now, then imagine what you will be like if you cannot pay your mortgage one/two/three months a few years down the line.

listen to your gut instinct and buy somewhere cheaper and less stresseful

pinkshoes

Do you earn £40k each? I'd say a property over £200k with a £30k deposit is no problem.

If it's £40k between you, then just check you can really afford it (Mortgage, insurance, council tax, gas, elec, water, food, money put aside to deal with any problems that arise). What would happen if you fell pregnant?

It's not really advised to borrow more than 3.5x your joint salary.

Doozergirl

I don't want to scare you but you should really stop spending any money until your vendor has found somewhere to go. I'd advise anyone not to spend money until the chain is complete. There's more of a chance that things could fall through if they haven't yet commited to moving out; if you don't spend any money until they do then you're covered at least for the time until they do commit to a purchase.

It's quite a big mortgage. I'm not sure I'd take on that much on that salary but I can see where your logic comes from if it means you don't have to move for a long time. If you are young then I guess you will earn more as time goes on too. Perhaps you should fix that mortgage rate so you don't get any surprises for a while?

emmamc252

its not a case of shall we wait, we really need to get our own place, we earn just under 45k between us, 3.5 times that is only 135000, even with our deposit thats only 165k and realistically where we live thats not going to buy is anything decent.

Phirefly

emmamc252 wrote: »

its not a case of shall we wait, we really need to get our own place.

I think what evveryones trying to say is not necessarily wait till you can get your own place, rather wait till you BUY a place. Not that thats my opinion either way.

Doozergirl

emmamc252 wrote: »

its not a case of shall we wait, we really need to get our own place, we earn just under 45k between us, 3.5 times that is only 135000, even with our deposit thats only 165k and realistically where we live thats not going to buy is anything decent.

Well that's the problem with house prices hun. But you have to toss up between decent and affordable. One of those could put you in dire straits, one means you own a slightly more modest house.

Our first place was a one bed flat and we lived there with our baby. You have to cut your cloth accordingly.

slipp_digby

emmamc252 wrote: »

stay put for the next 5-10 years, and if we bought a smaller house then we would prob want to move again within say 3 years as in that time my salary alone will have gone up at least 8k. just don't kbow what to do but its just killing me at the minute, if anyone can advise i'd be ever so greatful.

ignore future earning potential, this is not a certainty. work on what you earn now and include some contingency in case rates were to increase.

to be honest IMO £200k sounds a push to me. if prices fall you are going to lose a chunk of your £30k deposit. does that bother you?

only you can really decide whether this house is worth the money and if you really want it now.

how long has it been since your offer was accepted by the vendor?