P1_BEN

Hello People.....

I am in a position where I read all the articles about house prices and interest rates and I keep putting off buying a house. I just read an article which states average percentage of income paid on mortgage is 12 - 13%.

I'm from the south east and i wish that 7 - 800 pounds for a mortgage was 12 percent of my monthly salary...

Anyone else in the same position and what do you plan to do?????

Note I do have a P1 so you can see i have my priorities right!!

pbee

My mortgage is 30% of my salary, but hopefully in a few years that will fall (it has done a bit allready). My theory is moving is exspensive with all the fee's and taxes so go as big as possible so you count down the amount of times you move.

its only a decision you can make, I think I did the right thing in buying my first house when I was 18 im now 25 and have a 5 bed detached house, most of my firends cant afford the house i bought first time round so they are still living at home or rentinga dive.

Some of my firends thought i did the wrong thing in that a large proportion of my money went into houses instead of travelling and having fun.

suppose it depends on your priorities

cheers

Peter

ProperCharlie

P1 - there have been sh*tloads of thread about this but anyway: my £0.02 of advice is only do it if you can afford it. if you can afford to buy a place that you can see yourself staying in for 5-10 years, on a five year fixed rate mortgage, then i would say do it. you are only likely to get stung if you are forced into selling at the wrong time. If you have to burrow over the normal earnings/loan ratio, and can oly afford it by getting a discounted deal, i would say think twice, especially in the present climate.

(but i never became a millionaire overnight by following my advice, in fact i never became a millionaire at all, so far...)

darlodge

I just worked out that my mortgage is 55% of my monthly salary

Darren

P1_BEN

I think about this a lot, I am 25 and i earn a very good wage and always have for how old i feel I am. I think of people on the average salary 22k ??? (i think) trying to buy a cheap house... 150k now in my area.... Even if you buy as a couple thats a huge amount of your income each month, Maybe i'm in my own world but i really don't see how the market is sustainable when house prices at entry level are so insane.

I just wondered if there were people on here stuck in rented accomodation or still at home

Dream Weaver

We are currently trying to buy a new house and it is a nightmare.

Prices in the small area I live have reached similar to those in Bromley and Kent now, whereas the next town along(albeit a nasty place) still has Lancashire prices.

The advice we have been given is to stretch ourselves as much as possible, and TBH this is what we did 5 years ago on our current property. It was over budget, but now we are fine.

The only annoying thing is that the new mortgage is going to be about 50% of my variable monthly salary

We need the space though.

I just hope prices come down soon - we looked at a house yesterday, a small pre-war semi with pebbledash - yuk!! It is up at over 3 times what the guy paid for it less than two years ago.

Unfortunately round here demand far far outstrips supply by a long way - to the point where we often get letters through the door offering to buy our house - its not even up for sale yet!!

Scooby96

Buy a naff house in a good area, not a good house in a naff area

Location, location, location lovies

fitzscoob

ben, im in the south east also, 23 years old cant afford my own flat / house. As you say prices are stupid.

im on around 24k and im sure you are aware that wont buy me anything here any more. So my hands are tied, i have to stay at home with my dad until my gf finishes uni and gets a job, then we will combine our salaries and get the biggest mortgage we can afford.

nothing else for it.

Andrew Dixon

Hi Ben.

I was in a similar situation to you up until very recently. For years and years I've been saving up a healthy house deposit and then blowing it on something else (e.g. Scooby, season snowboarding in Canada, etc.) and deciding to spend another year living with my folks. Each time I've managed to find an excuse not to take the plunge. All of a sudden I'm approaching 30 and still at home. Not good!

After much thought (and much advice from here - thanks folks!) I've bought a reasonable 2-bed semi in a reasonable part of Manchester, and borrowed a reasonable amount of money to pay for it.

As I hinted, the key thing is being moderate about it - both in what you buy and how much you borrow. In my case I've borrowed so that my monthly repayments are no more than 33% of my take home pay. I decided against buying a fancy new-build flat/conversion as I felt that the value of these was less solid than a 'bread and butter' semi.

My advice is to go for it. All the time you are thinking about it, the housing market will be moving away from you - albeit a lot slower than it has been. As long as you look at it as a longer-term (i.e. 5 years) prospect then I really don't feel you are risking anything.

A

speedking

This is one of the first generations where people are dying owning houses worth large sums of money. That money is being handed down to fewer offspring who can then afford an expensive property (or push up the price of a formerly cheap property). It is this effect, rather than increasing salaries, that is stoking the flames IMHO.

Another thing to remember is that the govt. might introduce a tax based on how long you have lived in a property Long term decisions need to take that into account.

ProperCharlie

maybe some of you guys could get together in a club and buy a house between you - would be great if you could invite my brother too, so i can get him out of my fookin house!

unfortunately i only pay him 14.5k a year, so maybe he could live in the cupboard under the stairs or summat like that.

(just joking, bro!)

P1_BEN

Cheers guys.... I have to admit there are one or two other factors to take into account, Girl Friend earns a decent wage to so not so bad and I have just taken the plunge with IT contracting maybe a good thing maybe not?! Initial contract for 4 months at approx 10k a month before tax so I am hoping this will allow me to save a huge deposit... or get extended for 6 more months .... But i feel very fortunate to be in this position and really ********** me off that so many young people can't buy a house together... Not a lot to ask in my opinion!!! and still wondering how the market can sustain its current prices...

Tiggs

sell your car....always found it very odd why ppl buy a flash car and stick on their parents drive because they havent got a house??????

add the cost of a house purchase delay onto your P1.....pricey car!

T