percybigun

i think the 'house prices going down' predictions are scare mongering like it was 10 years ago, and it will probably never happen (for a long time anyway).

if they were going to go down, they would have gone when the country was on the bones of its arse in 2008/2009.

there is much more demand for houses now compared to the late 80's crash, because nowadays so many people have extra houses for rental income instead of having a pension. and that is likely to continue because nobody has any faith in pensions any more, and people will need some kind of income after retirement so they are using property.

nrwilliams

My advice would be buy as early as you can. I bought when I was 20 and now 35, mortgage has been paid off for 18 months! I used the Virgin OneAccount, best thing I ever did for my finances.

Alan_D

This guy was called a doom monger - http://www.europac.net/media/lecture...rprised_no_one

He was regularly laughed off business tv programs before the crash because of his predictions, but it unfolded exactly as he thought, and for the reasons he spoke about. So he knew what was going to happen. An interesting video if you want an explanation of things in layman's terms.

I really don't think the people who you say advised you in your previous post were doom mongers. They were probably right to advise you like that. Just because prices went higher didn't mean you should have bought, because you buy a house at a price because it is good value and you aren't paying too much. You don't buy a house because you think someone will be stupid enough to pay more for exactly the same thing in a few years; that's just speculating.

Kieron

I would say buying as soon as you can will help you in the long run. Yes house prices may go down but thats only applicable if your intending to sell. If your not then it makes no difference imho.

I bought my first house at 21/22 ish and am looking forward to being mortgage free well within my 40's. Still young enough to enjoy life but also to have a good few years earning so I can set my house up the way I like (extensions, decor etc etc) enjoy a few holidays and also save/invest for retirement.

Also those that say your 20's is when you should be having fun are right. But who says having fun has to mean getting shitfaced every Thur, Fri & Sat night and fucking fat birds? A mortgage doesn't mean you can't enjoy life.

The biggest money drain for me has been having kids and thats only because my wife gave up work. Going from two incomes down to one with another person to cater for was my flash cash killer. You've got to live somewhere so why not work towards a better future, rather than lining the pockets of others?

bpspa

iTrader: (1)

I bought my first house at 19 and haven't looked back, I certainly wouldn't be able to afford the place I have now if I had waited

BIGMATT1

i know what you guys are saying, my fixed rate ran out a year ago and my monthly payments dropped from 795 to 721 on alliance and lecisters standard vairable, but ive just been shopping around and most of mates monthly payments have droped considerably some have halfed! but the best deal i can get is only 29 quid less! on a tracker which is worrying cause its only going to go up!

The reason i can only get a shit rate is cause im getting into negative equity and need nearly a 100% mortgage.

Im not saying dont buy a house but think carefully if you want all this worry and hassel at such a young age and as a investment things arnt forced to work out so much can go wrong and it does become a massive part of your life, personly ive screwed up in several ways-

1)biting off more than we can chew and listening to the misus and her fucking parents telling us to "strectch" ourselves when we were already a bit pushed at the last house,it all worked out and went to plan for them 30 years ago and it was all that they were intrested in, the missus has since lost all intrest in the house after us both been skint for the first year and now she dont really give me fuck all towards the bills cause shes constanly skint and dont give a fuck about the house, our personal circumstances have change alot since buying, you dont know what might happen or change, im just lucky that ive still got my job and overtime has increased

2)buying a house that need work and under estimating the time and money involved

3)buying when prices were at there highest

4)buying a house with out a garage!

5)shouldnt have sold my last house, i could of paid it off last year! cant see that ever happening with this one

hope what ever you do it works out for you, house arnt like cars where you can fuck em off easily when they skint you or do your head in!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

Seen both sides of the story so here's my take on things

my dad bought our house in 78 and was originally paying about 2 weeks wages per month on the mortgage, about £60. 15 years later, that £60 was the equivalent to a days wages so be bad money to spunk up the wall.

When I originally started to look at buying a house we looked at one for £110k in 93 and then did fuck all about it. When we were seriously looking at buying a house in 05 that same house was up for sale at £450k and we eventually paid £280k for the one were are in now with a £100k deposit and another £17k worth of fees on top.

With the prices going up and down and now the consideration to move the house is worth £271k so not really lost out a great deL but we have spent at least £25k on it to be habitable and nice.

But the downside is that I need to fork out nearly 3 weeks worth of wages a month to pay the mortgage and it's only going to go up and in real terms my wages won't go up at the same rate.

The papers are also reporting that property prices are going up.

And if you are buying to let you need a bigger deposit and buy to let mortgage which not a lot of people are giving away nowadays.

With all this in mind you still need to find a 25% deposit for the house youvare looking to buy before you can consider being taken seriously but also you have to look at those get rich quick places that tell you they'll pay for your fees and stamp duty becUse they want you to buy it and fiddle te land registry valuations.

All said and done, your best bet is to get a remortgage on your folks place, use this money to put down as a deposit on a property, then rent that place out to co er the cost of te total mortgage payments while still living with your folks. This way you've not a tually zhelled out any money from your pocket and you are essentially taking out a legtimate 100% mortgage. Us Indians have been doing that for as long as I can rememebr but we do trust our parents not to scam us and default on the payments

Once you've got these figures you can then look at what you can afford to buy and co pare repayment options and costs to see if it's worthwhile. But it's a lot of money and even with the best will in the world, as soon as you get married and you think you've got someone else to help pay the bills they will either fuck you off or go and have kids, and as a parent, my kids cost me more than the house does a month so out of about £3k a month I have about £500 left after bills, and the mrs pays for everything else so if she was out o work we'd be properly fucked.

It's a really big descision to make but the sooner you do your homework the sooner you can buy a house and get on that ladder.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

Ps, I've easily spunked £100k on motors in 20 years and if I'd bought a house in the first place I'd be a property millionaire a few times over by now, the people who caught that boat have done ok.