Help me - I'm weakening! (cant face renting anymore)

TT1_3

silvercar wrote: »

Accept that you can't pinpoint the exact lowest point in the market (especially as there is usually 3 months delay between offer and completion).

I would prefer to buy when prices are still dropping, when the market allows me time to look around and find my ideal purchase, when sellers are grateful to find a buyer and are willing to accomodate their foibles (completing on certain dates, agreeing to repairs, etc).

Rather than feeling that the pressure is on because prices have bottomed out, so if I don't buy quickly I could miss out. Where sellers are not so helpful, pressurize me into quick decisions and I feel that any attempts at negotiations will have the seller looking over my shoulder to find the next potential buyer.

I completely agree and i think now is the time to do that.....which i have.

mr.broderick

ruggedtoast wrote: »

So we’ve been renting this one bed flat for 3 and a half years, as long as we’ve been back in the UK, nesting instinct is strong in the OH (we’re in our 30’s). We find a new 2 bed place with a garden somewhere nice in North London, put down a holding deposit, and realise we have just been totally misled by the agent.

Its already furnished, and not to our taste at all, all along we’ve been told it was fine to get the landlord to move out stuff we don’t want – now a week before we’re due to move in we find out its not fine at all, he wont move out any of his furniture so we will have to dump all of ours or pay to put his in storage.

The agent wont refund our holding deposit as we cant prove what they told us, and we don’t realistically have time to find somewhere else anyway – to make matters worse we now see that the place is on Rightmove for sale! OH is heartbroken that all her plans for how she’d make it a nice long term home for us to have a family in have come to nothing. I’ve been on the phone all week but there’s nothing that can be done as even if we walk away from our deposit we have no flexibility on leaving our current place as someone else is moving in.

And this is the rub. 6 months ago, despite having good jobs, perfect credit and a largish deposit we would have to stretch ourselves to get even a 1 bed flat somewhere horrible. Now with the price drops we could feasibly afford a 2 bed flat somewhere nice. In 6 -8 months time when we can get out of this new tenancy we might even be able to afford 3 bed flat , or even a little house.

OH says “what about everything you’ve said about the market falling, and waiting a couple more years?” Shes not keen at all to buy a flat and thinks we could get a 3 bed house by waiting.

I just cant take renting anymore. I hate it. The insecurity, feeling like a visitor in someone elses house, having to constantly worry about tenancies and deposits and what you can and cant have in your own place.

I know prices will probably go down more and I know we would probably get a better deal by waiting but – good grief – we’re in our 30’s with above average salaries, savings and no debts and I just want us to own a little place to have a family in. Is that wrong?

I’m really feeling totally torn as for the 3 years I’ve been back in the UK I’ve been the strongest advocate for not participating and waiting for the inevitable crash – but now its happening I don’t know if the miserableness of renting is worth the potential gain of waiting for the bottom.

Your thoughts?

And there are tens of thousands like you and hence prices will rise steeply again in the not too distant future...

fc123

I was thinking about this thread again...............
It's equally as hard to know what to pay in a falling market as in a rising one....it's just that the falling one feels worse (as you always wonder if you overpaid).
I'm not being personal to Merlin, but I think you are in a really difficult position, in that, you forsee (as other sensible types incl moi on here) that prices will go lower than present. But it suits the family to puirchase now

The problem is that most Mr and Mrs Ordinarys aren't going to accept 2009 price on their property today.

So, you either have to play the waiting game or compromise on the price you pay to own now.

Actually, I do it with shoes all the time. See a pair, Love them, wait to see if they go into the sale (and my size is available).

The really good ones often don't go into the sale as they were so lush, they sold out at full price. Irrelevant to me though as my shoe budget is so micro now, I don't have the 'Full price' choice any longer.

Same with anything we buy incl houses unfortunately.

bjm81

mr.broderick wrote: »

And there are tens of thousands like you and hence prices will rise steeply again in the not too distant future...

yes thats right! what with all the inflation going around - food up 30% this year, fuel prices up - folk are going to have even more money to go spending on even larger mortgages! hahaha what a joke! Do you work for Gordon Brown, Nationwide or the Express?!

And then there is the economy...... uh oh. Yes GDP is expected to fall off a cliff this year so cant exactly see lots of jobs being created/big pay rises for the employed.

And then there is the small matter of credit tightening! Gone are the 95%+ LTV loans.

Demand has to be realised if prices are to skyrocket. This can only happen if the credit is available in ever increasing quantities (see above). No one is arguing that there is not demand for housing - ask anyone if they would like to own a house i'm sure they would! but in order for this desire to become reailty they need credit and the means to service it. Both look to be on a shakey foundation at the moment and for the next few years at least.

Kat_9Lives

I do really feel for the OP and those in a similar situation, you can hear how Tee'd off they all are from the posts.

I've never bought a house as an investment & I've never made a fortune on property either! BUT I do have my stuff around me, enough room for new stuff, no restrictions on what I do/have.

Life's for the living, I'd go for it in a sensible fashion. No paying over the odds, pay what you think its worth and make sure you can afford to stay there a decade.

The most important factor to me when buying a house is the can we afford it IF question. If mortgages rates go up, if one of us were out of work for any length of time etc etc.

Best of luck to you all.

Paul_N_4

I think some people here need to wake up and realise we're entering a downturn in the economy. We've had the peak and are now entering contraction. In a few years we'll reach the trough and then the expansion will begin again. These are economic cycles, and you can't change them. In a downturn, house prices will suffer.

Do people honestly think you can have ever increasing expansion i.e. the boom without the bust? What makes this period in history any different to the others?

Paul_N_4

TT1 wrote: »

I completely agree and i think now is the time to do that.....which i have.

Ah, so you've just bought a house and are now trying to talk everyone else into doing it.

phil_b_2

Paul_N wrote: »

Ah, so you've just bought a house and are now trying to talk everyone else into doing it.

those who have bought recently will defend their position by talking up the market and those who are holding out will do the same by talking it down. Works both ways. I'm an inbetweeny, having recently pulled out of a purchase in the 6th week .

I think anyone who buys a house they can realistically afford and arent stretched by arent doing the wrong thing. I think anyone waiting it out and renting also arent doing the wrong thing. There is no general right or wrong if you are sensible about what you do. Just do what is best for you. I dont think there will be a crash, but house prices certainly wont be going up again for a while either.

Kat_9Lives

Ofcourse it's horses for courses. I just wish people wouldn't attack others for buying now or not buying now!

Similarly people sharing an experience shouldn't be accused of trying to fill a sinking ship just because another poster disagrees with buying a house now!

Davesnave

Paul_N wrote: »

I think some people here need to wake up and realise we're entering a downturn in the economy. We've had the peak and are now entering contraction.
Do people honestly think you can have ever increasing expansion i.e. the boom without the bust? What makes this period in history any different from the others?

The possibility that we do not recover from this downturn within the 'normal' economic cycle? There are global wild cards operating which were not present the last time around. Though there may be a model within which previous boom 'n bust has operated, there is no law that says Great Britain PLC will return to its former position as an economic force. Personally, I think our economy is well-stuffed and that we may lack what it takes to drag ourselves back to being even a second rate nation.

However, to return to the woes of renting, which I'm shortly to try; I see there being two other advantages in it at the moment.

The first is the ability to try a complete change of location without financial penalty. The second is that if one is intending to nest rather than invest, it can take a considerable time to locate the right house. Sure, we've seen some lovely houses recently, all of which would improve on our present property, but we havent felt that 'love' thing that one has when something is right, be it a partner or a place to spend the next 20 years. A downturn provides one huge luxury; the ability to take time.

Frankly, I hope we don't have to wait long before the right place comes along, nor will I care if it is worth less for a while after we've bought it. If it's right, we won't be selling it, so we won't notice.