Back to not being able to afford one....

[torledo]

....a house that is.

 

BBC News - House prices start 2010 with a rise, Nationwide says

 

looked sorta promising in the first half of last year, sat back in anticipation of a further annual drop

by the end of the year, but six or so months of rises later, and even January now showing a positive rise. I had hoped the rises in December were down to a dash to beat the tax changes, but i knew that was clutching at straws.

 

IT's as if it's back to the bad old years before 2007, when rises were a near certainty. IF i wasn't a lazy so and so, i'd emigrate......but from what i understand it's not much better elsewhere. in some places worse. but that's no consolation.

 

Great end to the week. not.

[Joh619]

I bought my house about nine months ago. Just before the house prices started going up again Edited January 29, 2010 by Joh619
spelling

[broc]

@torledo

 

You have my sympathies.... my son is in a similar position. He has a decent job, but little or no prospect of being able to afford a house.

 

I used to think it was tough when we bought our first house in the 1970s when there was a serious mortgage famine, but at least housing was affordable then.

[RinSewand]

Hmm, never a good sign. As far as I can tell it's actually impossible to buy a house unless you're a couple with a combined income... doh.

 

RwD

[techie08]

I know what you mean!!!! me and my wife are are on fairly decent salaries but would seriously struggle to pay a mortgage on £150,000 house. (average price of houses here) We had to sell our one bed house last year as we had a child but sold it at a £7000 loss! Now you need a 10% minimum to get a mortgage as well.

 

We have no option but to rent at the moment until we have saved enough for 10% by which time house prices would of doubled by next year!!!!!!!!!

[fafster]

I'm in a tough position right now. My job doesn't pay fantastically, and the fiancee is a primary teacher who's struggling to find work.

 

And to make matters worse, the base rate is expected to rise with inflation, too.

[AyatollahPies]

Same boat, but no longer bothered about it all. Spent far too long getting depressed. Now renting a house that I wouldn't be able to afford to buy (due to the ridiculous increases over the past decade), whilst still able to save towards my deposit.

 

I'm lucky in that my landlord seems like a nice chap. There are some that have the attitude of doing you a favour by letting you rent their house.

 

Remember, renting is only throwing money away, if you can afford to buy for less, and that doesn't just mean lower monthly payments.

[chrbb]

My son is in the process of buying his first house, in our area we still have houses for sale under £100,000.

 

Not looked at the property pages since he found his house but just had a quick look and as yet there doesn't seem to be an increase and some of the houses he looked at are still for sale, so the market is still slow. We also have new houses being built that are advertised with some sort of goverment assistant mortgage, seems that they pay the deposit and quite a few that do shared ownership.

 

No doubt it will pick up towards spring, so now would be an ideal time to buy - except no-one can afford the deposit it's crazy. We're going to end up where houses are owned by a few and rented out to the rest of us:mad:

[sidewinder]

Amen Ayatollah

 

There is no point getting angry over it, home ownership is important to a lot of people but it isnt the be all and end all in life. Theres nothing wrong with renting, as above it isnt throwing money away - you're paying for a roof over your head!

 

Personally it doesnt bother me, I'm more than happy renting for however long, I like not having the massive financial burden of a mortgage. If when I'm older the chance to buy somewhere I like is within my reach then yeah I'd probably take it, but not at the expense of crippling myself just to 'get on the ladder'

[BandyQuill]

Hmm, never a good sign. As far as I can tell it's actually impossible to buy a house unless you're a couple with a combined income... doh.

 

RwD

 

ha ha you say that but Claire an i still cant afford anything XD

[RinSewand]

Might be because you're looking at buying a new car

 

Aside from deposits, say combined a couple earns £34,000, which isn't unreasonable, then on a 3x mortgage you'd be able to pick up something for just over £100k, which gets you a 2 bed terrace round here at least... single person earning half that - £16k don't stand a chance.

 

All that's after you've saved for the £10k deposit as a minimum!

 

RwD

[AyatollahPies]

We're going to end up where houses are owned by a few and rented out to the rest of us:mad:

 

But they will be the first against the wall come the revolution.

[pagelad]

I think im lucky then, im exchanging contracts on my first house this week. Got it while the prices were still pretty low and a lot was knocked off the original asking price.

 

I dont think prices are moving up much at all in the Middlesbrough \ Stockton area yet though.

[torledo]

My son is in the process of buying his first house, in our area we still have houses for sale under £100,000.

 

Not looked at the property pages since he found his house but just had a quick look and as yet there doesn't seem to be an increase and some of the houses he looked at are still for sale, so the market is still slow. We also have new houses being built that are advertised with some sort of goverment assistant mortgage, seems that they pay the deposit and quite a few that do shared ownership.

 

No doubt it will pick up towards spring, so now would be an ideal time to buy - except no-one can afford the deposit it's crazy. We're going to end up where houses are owned by a few and rented out to the rest of us:mad:

 

in my area average prices are somewhat higher....i'd probably buy two if avg. houses in my area were under 100k , but it seems to be a bit of a two-speed market where i am. There's very little good quality housing coming on the market, some of the half decent 3 and four bed homes that have gone sold stc of late have left me scratching my head in disbelief because of the high asking prices.

 

but then it's not April 09 and there doesn't seem to be much incentive to keep cash in the bank now...and with each monthly rise more and more sentiment gets baked in. Truly depressing.

 

I personally don't have a problem with the deposit. I have the 25% deposit but my problem is mortgage affordability. I don't see why i should have to take out a ridiculously large mortgage, spend 10%+ more than equivalent prices compared to 2009, just because the govt. are desperate to win an election and as each day goes by are trashing my savings. I've been priced out for years, and still the correction hasn't made things much more affordable.

 

Now mattx is going to come along, and tell me to chill.

[chrbb]

:)Sorry if daft question but have you tried putting in a low offer on one of the higher priced houses? If you have no house of your own to sell, a quick sale may be more important to the seller. We also looked for obvious reposessions with my son drivng round looking for houses for sale that were empty.

[pagelad]

:)Sorry if daft question but have you tried putting in a low offer on one of the higher priced houses? If you have no house of your own to sell, a quick sale may be more important to the seller. We also looked for obvious reposessions with my son drivng round looking for houses for sale that were empty.

 

 

This was the advice i got and it seems to work. I also used Zoopla to have a snoop at what everyone else paid for there houses.

 

Mine was originally on the market for 100k but they accepted an offer of 91.5 with 2k cashback option. The 2k has been taken off the deposit meaning i only needed to stump up 8.

[torledo]

:)Sorry if daft question but have you tried putting in a low offer on one of the higher priced houses? If you have no house of your own to sell, a quick sale may be more important to the seller. We also looked for obvious reposessions with my son drivng round looking for houses for sale that were empty.

 

i did put one or two lower offers in last year, but the sellers were somewhat obdurate...i don't have a house to sell and have a larged deposit but i'm competing against cash buyers and people with big deposits [from mum and dad or years of saving]. In a lot of cases there's no pressure to sell......the one's that have gone SSTC i suspect have been sold for around 95% of the asking price.

 

Your absolutely right though, i think my best best is a quick sale, one of......death, divorce or care home move. Not that many repo's coming on, but a death or relocation sale might make the vendor more liable to accept a lower offer. That seemed to be the case back in the first of half of 2009. I think the other poster had the right idea in buing 9 months ago....

 

I just wish there were a few more forced sales, i think the market needs these but they don't look likely.....at the moment it's disproportionately weighted in favour of the sellers. that's just my opinion form following my local market.

[Mr.Ben]

My 1 bed flat cost me 105k two years ago, at the time I was on Technician Wages, Now i'm NM it's ok, but thankfully I inherited an amount good enough to be a deposit.

 

I live about 10 miles from Bath

 

Sadly, I think most of us will be hoping for our parents to leave us something before we can own a house.

[Quackers]

They will not rise too much unless people can afford to buy them. So i do not believe the artical.

 

I think the majority of people being accepted for a mortgage are to do with these goverment schemes.

 

House prices are still way to high compared to what people get paid. Something has got to give.

[jamesb]

They will not rise too much unless people can afford to buy them. So i do not believe the artical.

 

I think the majority of people being accepted for a mortgage are to do with these goverment schemes.

 

House prices are still way to high compared to what people get paid. Something has got to give.

 

Not necessarily. There's the potential for a vicious circle.

 

Person owns two houses, rents one, but pays their living expenses by still working full time.

Rent builds up, person uses it to put a deposit down to buy another house - uses the rent from the first to pay the mortgage.

Rent builds up more, with both sets going to pay off the mortgage, and buy a third house.

 

Repeat.

 

So basically those who own enough property to rent it out could potentially keep prices high enough that those who simply want to buy a house to live in, instead have to rent from them.

 

I'm far from an economist so I'm sure there's some problem with this model, but it still worries me.

[AyatollahPies]

I really feel sorry for those looking for housing these days. As Quackers says, something's got to give... but what?

 

I'll tell you what has to give. MP's being able to rent out their houses. Why else has nothing been done about it yet? Pigs and Troughs that's why. It's not in their interest.

 

I have no problem with the idea of there being landlords, as there will always be people that will never be able to afford to purchase a house, but thanks to Liebour and Mr Brown raiding private pension funds, every man and his Dog suddenly took it upon themselves to become landlords.

 

Fine for the baby boom generation, but for the majority under 30 (and some above) we have been royally shafted, and we shouldn't put up with it.

[mitchell1981]

Have you looked at any of the government schemes?

 

I've just bought a house on a scheme called New Build Homebuy. Basically you buy a percentage and rent the rest (at pretty good rates).

 

I got a brand new house priced at £165,000 which is reasonable in this area, and I pay about £300 mortgage and £200 rent. I own 25% of the house, but can increase the percentage at any time. Obviously if you do that then the mortgage goes up and the rent goes down.

 

I only had to find a 10% deposit on 25% of the value so £4125.

 

I think this is a good way to start if you are a first time buyer. I could afford this on a single wage although I am a network manager.

[torledo]

Not necessarily. There's the potential for a vicious circle.

 

Person owns two houses, rents one, but pays their living expenses by still working full time.

Rent builds up, person uses it to put a deposit down to buy another house - uses the rent from the first to pay the mortgage.

Rent builds up more, with both sets going to pay off the mortgage, and buy a third house.

 

Repeat.

 

So basically those who own enough property to rent it out could potentially keep prices high enough that those who simply want to buy a house to live in, instead have to rent from them.

 

I'm far from an economist so I'm sure there's some problem with this model, but it still worries me.

 

i think you've just discovered buy-to-let.

 

the only problem in that example, is the current BTL mortgage requirements of having a 25% deposit.

 

Part of the reason for the massive explosion in BTL has been the non-requirement for putting down large amounts of cash, being able to buy with little or no money down.

 

IF that comes back in a big way, banks and borrowers encouraged by rising prices for instance, then watch out below....

 

the more traditional investor/landlord with a few properties here and there.....they didn't get where they are by paying silly money for houses. they leave that to mr and mrs dual income no kids or the noob BTL investor [who the banks aren't falling over themesleves to lend to at the minute]. but yes, they too have more properties than they strictly need which mean less property available for sale.

[chrbb]

 

Your absolutely right though, i think my best best is a quick sale, one of......death, divorce or care home move. Not that many repo's coming on, but a death or relocation sale might make the vendor more liable to accept a lower offer. That seemed to be the case back in the first of half of 2009. I think the other poster had the right idea in buing 9 months ago....

 

 

I was too polite to mention death, divorce or care home move:D:D, but we did also look for older houses in need of modernisation that the elderly occupant had perhaps gone into a home (or died).

 

At the minute timing seems to be the key, weighing up low saving interest rates and keeping an eye of house prices.