PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.

Is buying a house a good idea?

12728303233

Comments

  • caronoel
    caronoel Posts: 908
    I've been Money Tipped!
    Forumite
    Property market healthy then, nothing to see here, move along, get that fix while you can, don`t worry about the price just the monthly payment :T Judging by the views on this thread quite a few people may think buying a house now isn`t the greatest idea ever......

    Much like your own thought process when you sold up to rent in the late 90s eh?

    How did that work out for you, now that you are in your 50s and living in a rented bedsit?

    :rotfl:
  • MobileSaver
    MobileSaver Posts: 4,217
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Judging by the views on this thread quite a few people may think buying a house now isn`t the greatest idea ever......

    That would presumably depend on whether they need somewhere to live and whether they would rather pay off their own mortgage or a landlord's mortgage year after year after year...

    What would you do in their shoes?
    Every generation blames the one before...
    Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years
  • eidand
    eidand Posts: 1,023
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    Forumite
    I would definitely encourage you to do whatever you can to get on the property ladder. If that means saving for several years then so be it. There one simple truth, rent is paying someone else's mortgage.

    Just be careful, do your numbers, don't borrow more than you can afford, buying a house is a really long term project. What I did was to get a house which wasn't very expensive and the mortage is itself was more than affordable. Took it over 30 years, with 2 years fixed interest. The idea was that after those 2 years, if I can afford that, I will be paying more into my mortgage and if sometimes I can't then I don't have to worry about it.

    The idea is to do whatever you can to pay it off as quickly as you can, so definitely pay more into, I pay more than double. You can also remortgage over a shorter period of time with better rates, if you can and when you can. The longer the term, the more money you pay in interest so you definitely want to shorten that as you get older and earn more and more. There are advantages as a first time buyer as well.

    One last thing I would say is do your research and buy a house you like in an area you like. Try and get a decent size garden, if you can, so you could actually extend the property later, if you need to. Extending can work out much cheaper then buying a bigger property. The important part is to choose wisely and to like your property and area as you will be living for a while. Jobs come and go, where you work changes so I wouldn't rely on that too much.

    Once you own a property, you start building equity, you have access to other cheaper financial instruments and your credit score improves.

    At the end of the day, we all have to make a decision, if to do it and when to do it. Looks like your time is now, if you decide you want to buy then start saving. The bigger deposit you have, the better rates you'll get.

    Good luck.
  • Crashy_Time
    Crashy_Time Posts: 13,386
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    Forumite
    LOL! Did you actually read the article? :rotfl:

    Whoops! Anyone who chose to rent instead of buy five years ago must be kicking themselves that they made the worst financial decision of their lives...

    So the vast majority (over 88%) take out a perfectly normal income-multiple loan...

    Ah, so even the small number taking out high multiple-income mortgages have been rigorously vetted for affordability - nothing to see here then...

    Oh dear, so even your favourite crash-friendly scaremongering click-bait rag is reporting that there won't be a crash... you couldn't make it up Crashy! :T


    Comments are interesting in this one. High headline prices mean nothing if transactions are falling, and trying to advocate online and elsewhere that high house prices are good will be seen in the future as very stupid and short-sighted IMO, more and more people now realise that the housing bubble was stacked towards the benefit of bankers and allowed politicians to avoid addressing low or no wage growth.


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/house-prices/uk-house-prices-drop-sluggish-market-continues/?li_source=LI&li_medium=li-recommendation-widget
  • jimbog
    jimbog Posts: 2,109
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Forumite

    Thanks. From your link:

    the market has seen some modest growth over the longer term with prices in the last three months to April 2.2pc higher than in the same three months a year earlier
    Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
  • MobileSaver
    MobileSaver Posts: 4,217
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    jimbog wrote: »
    the market has seen some modest growth over the longer term with prices in the last three months to April 2.2pc higher than in the same three months a year earlier

    Ha ha, I can't quite work out if Crashy has just lost the plot or if he has finally seen the light... all he seems to do these days is highlight articles that confirm what most of us here have been telling him for years; that there's not going to be a crash!
    "UK's property market ... simply idling along"
    "Halifax said it expected annual price growth to remain in its forecast range of 0pc-3pc this year."
    Every generation blames the one before...
    Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years
  • Crashy_Time
    Crashy_Time Posts: 13,386
    First Anniversary First Post Name Dropper
    Forumite
    "The number of completed homes sales between February and March - the most recent data available - fell by 7.2pc to 92,270, the lowest level since May 2016"
  • MobileSaver
    MobileSaver Posts: 4,217
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    "The number of completed homes sales between February and March - the most recent data available - fell by 7.2pc to 92,270, the lowest level since May 2016"

    Crashy, so does this mean it is definitely "crashy time?"

    If so, roughly when do you think prices will crash by the 50% you and your HPC friends have been predicting for the last 15 years? By this Christmas perhaps? A year from now? Or when?
    Every generation blames the one before...
    Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years
  • buggy_boy
    buggy_boy Posts: 657 Forumite
    "The number of completed homes sales between February and March - the most recent data available - fell by 7.2pc to 92,270, the lowest level since May 2016"


    Sales volumes mean nothing if there are not an increase of properties for sale... Just like with renting people are staying put for longer, probably because of the high cost of moving, also more people are extending rather than moving...

    Sales volumes are an indication of the number of property sales that have happened rather than any sort of indication of price, there can be lots of reasons for low sales volumes but the only time it will have a knock on effect ...

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Rightmove-House-Price-Index-16th-April-2018-Final.pdf

    The number of properties per agent is exactly the same month on month as last year.... The average time to sell is pretty much exactly the same as last year. You are so blinkered with the headline of sales volumes falling as you are so desperate for a crash you ignore all other information which would give you the full picture..
  • dunroving
    dunroving Posts: 1,881
    First Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic First Post
    Forumite
    buggy_boy wrote: »
    Sales volumes mean nothing if there are not an increase of properties for sale... Just like with renting people are staying put for longer, probably because of the high cost of moving, also more people are extending rather than moving...

    Sales volumes are an indication of the number of property sales that have happened rather than any sort of indication of price, there can be lots of reasons for low sales volumes but the only time it will have a knock on effect ...

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Rightmove-House-Price-Index-16th-April-2018-Final.pdf

    The number of properties per agent is exactly the same month on month as last year.... The average time to sell is pretty much exactly the same as last year. You are so blinkered with the headline of sales volumes falling as you are so desperate for a crash you ignore all other information which would give you the full picture..

    I just need to take a 10-minute walk around my area to see abundant evidence of this. Lots of people are building out, up, back, because local houses get snapped up so quickly (and often for such daft prices) that they've just decided to stay put and extend.
    (Nearly) dunroving
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards