Property values?

With the new laws coming in next year where by every seller needs a house pack containing a survy I think things are going to get even more difficult and prices rise further.

For instance if you are driving down the road and you spot your dream home for sale which you must have, right now you can bang your house on the market, immediately.

From next year before you can put it on the market you have to get this house pack made up including a survey. Thisc an cost up to a grand and can take anywhere up to a month.

In the meant time your dream home may well have gone, and the house pack you have done up is now only good for 6 months until you get a new one.

It will probably lead to a short term frenzy of selling this year (we are looking into it) and long term might effect the market that even less houses are up for sale pushing prices up further.

All I know if is I want to get a decent three bedroom I need quarter of a million pounds. I work hard but don't earn that type of mortgage money and its very disheartening.

There do seem to be rumours that prices & volume of sales are on the rise, but I suspect it must vary region-by-region. I live in the south east of england, & the market, at least at our price-point is flat & v. slow moving.
We put our house on the market about a year ago, & after 3 or 4 collapses in the chains/time-wasters, we took it off the market. Now its back on the market again, at a fractionally higher price than a year ago. (We've seen another house that would enable me to have a separate music room).Still no movement yet, but it is early days.
matt.

Pretty volatile the housing market, unless you're downsizing, lets face it, £200,000 looks great for that 2 or 3 bedroomed you're selling, but if you're looking to climb the ladder, there you go for another 25 years or there abouts

Fredrik

The first question to ask yourself is do you like the property, is it a place you want to call home. If the answer is yes, then buy it.

Property prices have always risen, dipped, risen, dipped and risen again. Fluctuating values are nothing new.

If you buy the house, you are buying it brick by brick every week, whereas as a tenant you are lining a landlords pocket. I speak as a Landlord that landlords are in it for the money, nothing else.

Buy the place and make it your own, you will never regret it.

People have been forecasting economic callapse ever since the day I was born and in the main the econony has done well and will continue to do well because the fundementals are in basically good shape.

Go for it.

Regards

Mick

The property market always goes up in the long run.

As Mick says the dips and rises have happened since time immemorial.

When I bought my first house I 'lost' 15% in the first 5 years as the market still had some way to fall.

But I just sat tight and the market value tripled over the next 7 years and I eventually had enough equity to buy a second house and keep the first. I now let that and the tenants pay the mortgage.


Regards


Mark

It is not so much whether the market will go down a bit (which would not such a catastrophy), but whether I can afford the place.

I love it, even though it is only a studio flat. First floor, and gets all the sun, and is not facing onto any traffic. It can be quiet like the countryside. Hereford is a fairly sleepy place.fields less than 100 yards away...

But I just hope it can be done, from which you may guess that I suspect not...

ATB from Fredrik

Fredrik,

Which will come first, the flat or the Hi-Line?

My advice would be that bricks and mortar tend to provide better shelter for your current and future systems, than a new interconnect!

Good luck.

Nic

Dear Nic,

You don't need to tell me! As soon as the flat thing came up two weekends ago, I shelved all spending of any description! I am not sure whether to regard this as an oportunity or a real millstone round my neck. I have only really ever had provisional homes since I was 19, when my father (a farmer) went bust, and after a short while we fell out terminally badly when he went to hit one final time. For the first time I did not back off... I moved out that day, with just one suitcase and 44 LPs! I used an accoustic HMV portable from the thirties for a good four years, as I was then, as now, not exactly rich! Poor as a church mouse would be reasonable description.

I never did sleep under the same roof as the old bugger again, and as I say never really have had a settled home since.

I want one, and I want it here in sleepy Hereford, unless I could land a more fulfilling job somewhere else that would finance a better place. In my experience, this simply is not likely, so I want to try to keep this is I can. I am still wondering how it can be managed...

How I came by my set in another story, but one does not sell gifts, in my view.

It is pretty stressful, I can tell you. Fredrik

Fredrik,

It is often said that moving house and getting married are the two most stressful things you can do. At one stage I moved home 7 times in 8 years, a combination of rented and owned properties, as my job moved around the country. We have now lived in the same house for 8 years, and I have no intention of moving.

Do whatever you can to buy your own place, as Mick and others have said, it is a far better investment than lining the pocket of your landlord. A few beers, or some of that Polish vodka will help relieve the stress.

All the best

Nic

If its a case of getting on the market then all you need is that feeling in your gut.

If you have that gut feeling, get it. It will all work out.

Fredrik. Buying a property is always a financial stretch at the beginning, but after 5 years or so the mortgage payment is less of a burden as it remains fixed and the cost of living increases. We saw a house we liked two years ago that seemed a ridiculous price, but looking back we are kicking ourselves for not buying it then. It was £550k then, but has just sold again at £850k. It'll only get less affordable.

Frederik

I am in somewhat a position that nic was in, in that I have moved 5 times in around four years (divorce and remarriage). I am not a big spender and have always gone the extra mile in regards mortgage payments to get a better house. I lost out big style with my divorce but am now starting to get re established with my new life and a hefty mortgage but a lovely house. We have moved in the last month into rented while our house is having a major extension. It, as Nic says stressful, particularly with a young brood but ultimately worth it. It isnt though as stressful as Court battles and solicitors or the death of a close one, or divorce in my experience (God is this Naim therapy??) We obviously don't know your financial position and as others have said the market always fluctuates, but I don't think we are in for a drop, but I can't read Crystal balls!

Do what makes you happy in your heart and what your head tells your wallet.

Good luck Frederik

Fredrik - I'll buy a lottery ticket this weekend. If I win enough, I'll buy you the house of your choice. I'll buy a ticket specifically for you.

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