To buy or not to buy...

[Phylis 10]

no, not bitter. i bought a few buy to lets in the early 2000's, sold a few years later, paid my tax and put the money in the bank.

 

i'm sharing my opinion.

 

i agree though, lets stop this discussion, because the people on this forum with vested interests are getting upset by not hearing what they want to hear.

 

to any potential FTB's out there, please feel free to follow the advice of the learned people on here who say house prices never go down.

 

Tony - for an Admin you don't seem very impartial....hope you're house sale goes through soon ;-)

 

Ah you have let the cat out of the bag now. Youre bitter because you sold too soon. You sold the last time there was the big scare about prices falling. Has the bank paid you as much interest on your money as you would have made keeping it in property. I doubt it!

[sham71 10]

Ah you have let the cat out of the bag now. Youre bitter because you sold too soon. You sold the last time there was the big scare about prices falling. Has the bank paid you as much interest on your money as you would have made keeping it in property. I doubt it!

 

Profit is only profit once you realise it. You are welcome to your paper profit. I hope you realise the housing market is very illiquid once the prices turn down.

 

I have my REAL profit and I'm happy with it.

 

I'm trying to advise people that now is not the best time to buy in my opinion.

 

I don't know what you are trying to do.....other than have a go at me for not sharing your opinion. Feel free to make personal attacks about my bitterness, I don't really give a toss what you think. I'd rather hear from some FTBers who are trying to decide whether to buy and have a good discussion.

 

Why does my opinion bother you so much? I'd love to know why it threatens you so much.

 

Do you realise that if property prices fall, most people benefit. Home owners can move up the ladder easier (even though their property will have fallen in value) FTBers can get on the ladder easier. The only losers are those with more than one property and people looking to downsize.

 

I look forward to your reply which I am sure will yet again have nothing to back up your argument.

[Tony 10]

I don't think you are quite grasping the point of this thread. We're all very happy for you and your profit in the bank, but so what?

 

The OP asked if it was a good time to buy. The anecdotal evidence in this thread alone suggests that it is.

[Phylis 10]

Is now a good time to buy? Yes. Prices have apparently stagnated so buyers should be in a good position to haggle at the price. If you can afford to buy with out stretching finances to the limit then now is as good a time as there has been for the last few years. If you buy a house and prices fall a little so what. They will recover again. Property should be seen as a long term investment not a way to earn a quick buck.

[sham71 10]

I don't think you are quite grasping the point of this thread. We're all very happy for you and your profit in the bank, but so what?

 

The OP asked if it was a good time to buy. The anecdotal evidence in this thread alone suggests that it is.

 

The OP has a vested interest in the property market. It will benefit his business for prices to keep rising. There are no question marks in his post - he is stating his opinion (using the age old 'a friend of mine' technique)

 

I only mentioned money in the bank to counter the bizarre argument that I am bitter and this is the reason for me not agreeing with your opinions.

 

I'm also very happy that you are in property business and earning from it. Perhaps more people with 'views' on the market should admit their interest from the outset, then people can make up their own mind from all the arguments.

 

And, yes, I totally understand the point of this thread, like many others started by estate agents and other property professionals on many other message boards and forums. Panic has set in and they are desperately trying to talk up the market - thats my opinion and I'm sticking to it. Its a shame there is no real regulation to make them liable for this 'advice'.

[Tony 10]

You do the OP and many other a great disservice with your unsubstantiated claims. Perhaps the professionals simply know a lot more than you?

[sham71 10]

You do the OP and many other a great disservice with your unsubstantiated claims. Perhaps the professionals simply know a lot more than you?

 

so if someone follows your advice and buys a house, then there is a downturn and they get repossessed, that wouldn't be a disservice would it?

 

your arguments are pathetic and self-serving

 

this is not a debate, so I will bow out and say you are right, prices always go up

 

enjoy Dispatches on C4 this week - it will do the professionals a further disservice.

[Tony 10]

Yawn (again). My 'advice'? Here is what I said perviously in this thread.

Yawn. We've had this discussion before. As long as you want to live in the house and you can afford to pay the mortgage it's neither here nor there how much the one across the road sold for. Of course you could voluntarily sell at a loss, but you'd be stupid then wouldn't you?

 

How do you get 'reposessed' even in a 'downturn' unless you don't pay your mortgage??

[sham71 10]

How do you get 'reposessed' even in a 'downturn' unless you don't pay your mortgage??

 

There are a few ways you can suddenly become unable to pay your mortgage in a falling market...

 

1. Prices fall

2. Lenders get in to trouble (as in USA)

3. Interest rates go up as appetite for risk diminishes. I'm talking about mortgage interest rates here, not those set by the BoE. As we have seen recently the BoE now has little control over the rate that the market decides.

4. Monthly payments go up, possible leading to repossession, especially for FTB's who have stretched thmeselves for todays prices.

 

Another lesser known fact is that if you borrow 100k to buy a 110k house and then the value falls to 95k falls, the lender is no longer covered by the value of the house. They have lent more than the value of the asset. This can either lead to a margin call, where they ask you to make up the difference in cash so they are covered, or it makes it very difficult for you to remortgage at the end of a cheap fixed rate deal as you are effectively in negative equity.

 

Also, in a falling market, lenders will be much quicker to repossess at the first opportunity. Why wait for the value to drop and then repossess an asset worth less a couple of years down the line.

 

Hope the econimics lesson didn't bore you as you seemed a bit sleepy before.

[Tony 10]

Nope, you've still not got it despite your rather cockamamie 'economics lesson'. You seem to want to get into a technical discussion which would be fine if it had any basis in day to day realities, or you really knew what you were talking about.

 

As it is you're scaremongering so I will leave you to it rather than encourage you, but a final word of caution before I leave... while out and about this weekend take care that a passing albatross doesn't fall on you.

 

(You can have the last word if you like)

[Cyclone 10]

Well, I'd venture an opinion, but it appears that not agreeing with the 'it's a great time to buy' crowd will result in me either having my integrity, intelligence or attitude questioned.

Clearly it's not right if you don't agree with them and you must be bitter, stupid or have an ulterior motive for your opinion.

Whilst they on the other hand, with money in property, claim to be completely impartial and have no interest in talking the market up at all....

[sham71 10]

looks like someone else just had the last word for me

 

(or is this the last word....?)