It is nice to actually own your own home David, but many people confuse having a mortgage with owning their home. They don't, the bank does. As Merv says, "House prices are a matter of opinion, but the debt is real."

I feel very confident about having become debt free and saved hard during a very benign period. Sensible folk will do this to batten down the hatches for the storms that invariably follow such an easy period. The stupid will MEW to buy a BMW and sit it outside their crappy house that is apparently worth huge money.

I don't feel any sense of loss sitting in my rented house having previously sat in my own much smaller house even though the mortgage was cleared. A man even comes to do the gardening and I don't have to pay if anything breaks.

 

John are you waiting for a crash before you buy and if so how long do you feel it will be before it comes?

Oh by the way thanks again for the input I have to raise a couple of grand for cost before I start a serious house hunt anyway. In the book I am reading it states that estate agents will not take you seriously unless you are ready to rumble before you start viewing. The problem with me is at the moment the taxman and these cost like deposit, survey, stamp duty and legal fees. I was rather naively under the impression that the mortgage company will cover all of that?

By the way Pete thanks for the links the spitting image was ace brings back fond memories...why did they axe that show it was excellent!

 

Here's an interesting vid more or less confirming what John is saying.
I'm trying to sell at the moment and loads of viewers but no firm offers, although I wont be renting ..... my next house will be in Calgary - Canada

BBC News Player - House price boom could end

 

I anticipate waiting about 3-5 years before I buy back in again. House price corrections don't happen overnight.

 

John, so you feel it will be that long before we get a fall in house prices?
Kbsub I can't get the link to work could you summarise it for me please.

 

Go to BBC - bbc.co.uk homepage - Home of the BBC on the Internet and search for house prices and the video will come up to the right of the results

 

And here are some more "expert" views (albeit a few months old now)

House prices to soar 50% within six years | Special_reports | Guardian Unlimited Money

I personally think it's nonsense but I guess they should know more than me

 

Think like this .... buy a house now and it WILL go up in value in 10-15 years time.













Probably

 

KBsub thanks for the help with that...interesting report.
David thanks for that...now I am really confused and my wifes now thinks I'm talking out of my ar** not that I normally do that of course!!!

 

I bloody well hope so!!!

 

Okay guys I want to pick your brains...I have no deposit at the moment and I have a list of costs from the book for as an example £150,000 house:

1. legal fees £529.00
2. survey £411.00
3. mortagage fee £299.00
4. Searches £150.00
5. Stamp duty £1500.00
6. Deposit £1500.00

Okay I know I will need to pay a deposit almost staright awy (or will I?). What about the rest in my book it reckons a buy can take anywhere between 3-6 months so should I have the money all up front before I go to an estate agent for views or as I go along (should I raise/save the capital) or am I risking not hving the money when needed?

 

All those fees can be added on to the mortgage ...but I wouldn't recommend it , save up as much as you can , that brings the overall mortgage down and better interest rates for the loan . before even looking at any houses I would start getting some money together .

<I'm a firm believer in never go window shopping >

 

Yeah you never know there may be a crash even before I make tht money up!!!

 

As mentioned, doens't matter if you like or don't like it, if the lady likes it it'll be the one you buy

Personally I'd be wanting to stick a bigger deposit than 1% down to avoid the high lending charge most places stick on and to give you some equity in the place from the off.

 

I think the other thing re: house prices at the moment is are you buying to invest, or for somewhere to live in? If you're buying to invest, I wouldn't right now.

If you're buying for somewhere to live in, as longa syou can afford the mortgage etc, house prices are less relevant IMHO. Buy when you can afford it and it feels right for you. OK you might "lose out" in the short term, but money you make/lose on your house you never actually have anyway as long as you're still living there. The only way you'll actually gain/lose is doing something like John and moving from bought to rented, investing the money and then returning to bought when prices seem better

 

Thanks for the input guys we are still going to go for it but deposit wise it is unlikely to be much more than 1% unless I wait up to 1 years prices could have rocketed by then so it will cancel it out won't it?

Regards the wife she wants one of those bloody shoe box made of cardboard Wimpy homes (sorry do not know the correct spelling). We have already seen a really nice house with a long drive, potential space for a big garage (my dream) and I quote "sustantial garden" which would be my dream for my wife and kids. So go for 1% or wait and lots more will come up?

 

By the way seen it on the estate agents website not had a viewing.

 

oh dear.......

 

Totally with you on that one.
Moved around a lot with work so buying would have been tricky but have been "serial renting" for years and it's paying off now.

Rent is less that a half what a mortgage would be on this place (inherited by landlord so no worries about his mortgage payments going up), and every time the interest rate goes up, so do our monthly savings and now saved a hefty deposit for when we fancy buying.

Plan to buy this place eventually (landlord planned to rent it for a few years then maybe sell it) but for now, it's a hell of a bargain!

 

Yep david you said it...she is not set on it but she did suggest it (fairly strongly)

 

I would not be buying now... see House prices on their way down | Uk News | News | Telegraph for something from today about house prices

 

Thanks Merlin I have just made a copy of the article so my wife can read it otherwise she won't believe me!

 

Ah, this could be what we chaps call the "kitchen syndrome". Doubtless the brochure has a picture of a super clean and sparkly kitchen, a sort of woman's dream. No matter that the rest of the house is characterless Magnolia painted ill-fitting plasterboard with rubble under the patch they call a garden!

The way around this is to casually leave some kitchen brochures on the coffee table at your present place. When she asks what they are you just mention that when you move you were hoping that she could plan her own kitchen. That should distract her while you find something that you like as well.

 

Nice one David have you met my wife?!!! I may be able to get some contact to hopefully loan me some money...I'm no godfather but I know some people in the right places (nudge, nudge, wink, wink say no more...). So things may be looking up a little.

 

Anyone else with advice please?

 

I would forget all the scare mongering .Longterm, buying is better than renting.
If you see the house you want go for it .So long as you can afford the repayments ,you will be fine .If prices dip ,they will recover at some stage in the future .
Most people still buy a house to live in because they like it ,the area etc .It becomes a longterm investment that is still miles ahead of most other investments in terms of gains with smallish risk .
As a first time buyer you should not look at making loads of money in the short term and most people dont "buy " their first house for this reason.

Buy it ,enjoy it .See what happens in a few years time.Your circumstances may change over this period,eg kids ,jobwise etc .If it suits now ,do it .!
Good luck.

 

Thank you very much for that!

 

The thing is...

I remember reading a thread like this in 2003,

And 2004

And 2005

And 2006

I think you can see where this is going

For all those waiting around expecting a crash, it simply wont happen. There is a MASSIVE demand for housing at the moment. The young generation, professionals, teachers, police officers etc who are still living with parents and desperate to get a foothold on the ladder for example.
If a house crash happens, all these youngsters/couples are going to rush out and buy a house that has had a crash in value. HOWEVER, when that happens, you'll get a lot of competition for the same houses, and it will become like the Scottish system, highest bid wins sort of thing. There will always be another couple/person who will bid more than what you are willing to pay and this will drive the market back up.

Perhaps houses in the south of England may stagnate and drop a little, as they are already at silly amounts (£250k+ 2bed)
However elsewhere in the uk, i think will just come in line, and houses in say Newcastle will be worth the same as say houses in Surrey.

If it happens, it wont be a UK crash, it will be a south east England crash.

I wish i hadn't read these kind of threads on scoobynet back in 2003, as i was always holding out for this 'crash'. 4yrs on it still aint happened. Luckily i bit the bullet last year and eventually got on the ladder as i personally cant see 'this' huge crash happening. Simply too much demand for housing.

 

Historically, which is about the best way to look at this matter, house prices have risen inexorably decade on decade for the last 50 years. Now and again they stay stagnant and even drop for a couple of years before moving up again. An average house in 1952 was £1,890. In 2002 it was £96,800.

If you are reasonably sure that you will have an income that can cope with a nasty rise in interest rates then I'd always go for it. dl

 

It took 12 to 13 years for inflation corrected house prices to reach the level they were at before the last crash.

1996 prices corrected for inflation were the same as 1979.