Anyone buying a house right now?

LCK73

HI

I'm interested to hear from anyone who is in the process of buying a house and in particular what are your reasons for buying right now especially in the light of falling house prices. Interested to know, not going to judge or pass rude comment (like some might do!).

I'm buying to be nearer to work (2 miles as opposed to 30 miles away).

Anyone else want to share their reasons?

How does the latest report from Guardian website that house prices might drop some 50% sit with you - it makes me nervous......my other half seems to think that as we are buying within the Lake District we will be 'cushioned' somewhat from dramatic drops.....

Over to you all.

Thanks

sazzy6

I am considering buying right now (see my thread) I want to buy because I really would love a house-which seem like a silly reason when you think about the drop so I am now reconsidering.

I live in grange-over-sands at the moment-quite near you

LCK73

I've read your thread earlier, didn't realise you were Grange over Sands based.

Have you spent long in Grange yet? You looking to buy in Grange, only ask as I think you may find Kendal a bit more 'happening' than Grange? Grange is lovely but as a 25yr old, Kendal might be more interesting. Hope you don't mind me suggesting that....!

It'll be interesting to hear people's reaction to the 'Lake District' being insulated from radical price drops eh....

Thanks

beingjdc

50% no.

Futures market says 30%

I reckon 20-25% is most likely between here and the bottom of the market.

Still, nowhere will be cushioned as such, though it'll vary.

Lake District might be punished more than most - in financial difficulties I'd always sell my holiday home first and my main home second.

As for buying now to be in a particular location - is there nowhere to rent in that location that would be suitable?

Otherwise go for it, and good luck (you'll need it )

PasturesNew

LCK73 wrote: »

HI

I'm interested to hear from anyone who is in the process of buying a house and in particular what are your reasons for buying right now especially in the light of falling house prices. Interested to know, not going to judge or pass rude comment (like some might do!).

I am not. I am waiting. Most people who are buying seem keen to have babies. Others seem to think they'll miss the boat if they don't do it now (I don't think they have newspapers where they live!)

LCK73 wrote: »

I'm buying to be nearer to work (2 miles as opposed to 30 miles away).

You could equally have rented. Distance is no reason to buy, when there is a rental available.

LCK73 wrote: »

Anyone else want to share their reasons?

How does the latest report from Guardian website that house prices might drop some 50% sit with you - it makes me nervous......my other half seems to think that as we are buying within the Lake District we will be 'cushioned' somewhat from dramatic drops.....

Over to you all.

Thanks

Guardian/50%: That is an actual price drop, plus inflation chucked in. But yes, if you look at it that way, 50% might happen in some areas.

Cushioned: No such thing really. In fact, I'd say that buying into an area that has a LOT of 2nd homes/holiday homes, you might be less cushioned for the following reasons:
- in order to shore up their main residence finances back in London, many holiday/2nd home owners will be flogging off their holiday home sharpish
- with petrol prices, there will be less tourists touring, so some holiday homes for rent will become unprofitable and hit the market
- with petrol prices so high, the lakes being a bit rural (not been for 30 years but there isn't much there) houses will drop in price because of the cost of local travel and travel to services.

LCK73

beingjdc wrote: »

50% no.

Futures market says 30%

I reckon 20-25% is most likely between here and the bottom of the market.

Still, nowhere will be cushioned as such, though it'll vary.

Lake District might be punished more than most - in financial difficulties I'd always sell my holiday home first and my main home second.

As for buying now to be in a particular location - is there nowhere to rent in that location that would be suitable?
Otherwise go for it, and good luck (you'll need it )

Thanks for rental idea. Probably could rent, but the rent would be the same as my mortgage payment. I'm lucky enough to own outright a property already so I'll rent that and get income from it to subside my new mortgage - kind of makes sense to me but I might be wrong and not thought through all the possibilities.....thanks

PasturesNew

If you look here, it seems to have taken longer to recover from the last crash:
http://www.hbosplc.com/economy/includes/19_01_08PostTownsData3.xls

helping_hubby

Hi LCK23,

We're nearly 4 weeks in (since we had our offer accepted).

We've been looking to buy since September 2006. We got married and I've been renting since 1998 and had enough.

We were actually buying a house last year, a 2 bed semi for £178500. It all fell through after about 6 months. We continued to look for somewhere. Found a house in July 2007, 3 bed terrace on the same ex-council estate for £189500, needed a shed load of work done (electrics, central heating, windows...) but we got out bid by someone who paid the full asking price. Nearly a year on we've looked at a few, but nothing has come close to the above 2 and most were sold before we even got a chance to view (houses under £180k don't come up very often around here).

Now, 4 weeks ago we found another house on the same estate, 3 bed terrace, identical in size/layout to the £189500 above, but needs much less work - more of a paint job and new carpets type work and was on at £180k. We got it for £170k. We're very happy as this is the area we've wanted to live, and I think have been quite patient waiting for the right house.

We're hoping to have kids in a year or 2 (we're 28 and 31), and we'd like to live at this house for about 10 years or so.

LCK73

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you look here, it seems to have taken longer to recover from the last crash:
http://www.hbosplc.com/economy/includes/19_01_08PostTownsData3.xls

THanks, this is a great piece of data.

[Deleted User]

we used to live in sedgwick and had to move to s wales. Property here (nice village etc) seems to have done better than sedgwick comparing the property we left and the property we bought

but back to the opening post: our dd and her dh are very actively looking to buy now in southern england

we bought here 3 years ago (different house after being in the other one for 22 years) and know that values have fallen but as we have no mortgage we look on it as living rent free for 3 years. If you want a home and expect to be there a longish time then buy. The bad times won`t last that long and there will be a mad scramble for homes

cazmanian_minx

Moved in to our new house last week - we've moved from Surrey to the north coast of Scotland as OH has a new job up here and although we could have rented, we found this house for sale in the place he always wanted to live when he was growing up, and hearts ruled heads! We're not planning to move until we're too ancient and infirm to cope with living in the middle of nowhere, so we reckon we'll get around 50 years here.

Caz