Owning your own home

god damn it that really makes me feel depressed

You just know that Evoque is on the never never.

They must have raised the outside up to or very close to the DPC, as well as removing any kind of natural drainage. Mould is so LLL

It looks like a funeral parlour with easy access for the Hearse.

Or, as described,

Low maintenance gardens
Ample off road parking

The first paragraph is a bit bipolar:

Welcome to 122 Bishop Road, an exceptional detached true bungalow that offers more than meets the eye. Renovated four years ago, the current owner has real eye for interior design and the whole property has been designed with high end fixtures and fittings.

WTF is a “True bungalow” .
Traveller vibes ATMO

Catford problems.

Any thoughts on house market. First time buyers. Property near Penge , on for £500k but needs a lot of work and we have offered c. 10% below the asking. Don’t really want a project but cost dictates . We should be able to manage a mortgage even at higher rates than current , but should we be waiting :)

Waiting for what?

Lets say there's a meaningful slowdown or dip that pushes your chosen house to -20%; will the sellers still be able to move? Will the bank still lend you money? Will the overall economic impact that comes along with that mean you and your partner still have jobs? Etc.

What are you (or will you be) paying on rent vs monthly mortgage payments? For us that was a major push. We'd been covering a mate's mortgage while they were travelling, so when they came back, we were looking at something like £1,800 to rent vs £1,200 in monthly payments.

Looks like a modern mcdonalds

A lot of the house price crash loons reckon things are going to dip by 30-50pc.

In some areas that could possibly happen. however in areas backed by strong rentals (like London) I cannot see that happening.

If you need somewhere to live and can afford it, buy it but make sure you have a plan B i.e you could rent out a room, extend the term or borrow money off your folks if the shit hits the fan and you lose your job or whatever. I think it could be a rocky next year or two until rates start to retreat.

Thanks Hugo- thinking similar thoughts to you , just wanted a bit of reassurance . We are paying close to what you were for a nice place much more central than we are looking to love to ( which we know is a good deal ) , mortgage will be more as I want to pay off quickly . Personally I think any dip will be short , and could be a good time to get a good deal now , while their is an air of concern in the air, before thinks stabilise again. Place we are looking at is an estate sale , which weirdly seems to be the case with a few we have seen . Offer is in now , has been for a while , and should find out next week ..

mortgage will be more as I want to pay off quickly

Get as long a mortgage term as you can and make overpayments to pay it off more quickly, you're better off having the flexibility of lower monthly outgoings if circumstances change.

Good thinking sir . Duly noted. We are waiting for an offer to be accepted before contacting the broker my mate has recommended to asses options…

When we bought our place the term was 33 years and we'd always over payed but we've now got 2 in nursery fulltime so we stopped overpayments about 6 months ago. It was great to do something so easily.

You never know what situation you'll find yourself in, whether it's kids, job change or just finding a better way to spend the cash so it's best to give yourself as much flexibility as possible.

I agree, it is a sound approach.

We have been overpaying £300 per month but our 5yr fixed has ended and new payments are £300 more so we have just stopped the overpayments for a while.

This 100% we looked at a few places that actually had the traps and a large caravan parked up down the side.

Only rooms in use were the kitchen and downstairs bathroom by the back door.

Who knows. I bought at the height of COVID and plenty of people were predicting a crash then but actually prices continued to go up.

If you're planning on living there, and you'd be happy to live there for a few more years then go for it.

We bought before the referendum. Price went down over the course of the following year, but still back up by the time our mortgage came around.

Not something we have to worry about, but near us the >£1m houses are now dropping. I imagine this is because those people at this end have big mortgages, so >5% causes some real pain.

Which pushes people into negative equity area and then they aint gonna sell, unless the bank takes it and then they down give a fuck. The houses over the last 4 years have got insane and it needs a real dead end to bring things back down.

Its a lose lose unless you need to sell.

I've got two and a half weeks' worth of commuting back to London.

It's a longer commute, but this is a nice change from West India Dock Road:

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A lot of the house price crash loons reckon things are going to dip by 30-50pc.

Even a stopped clock is right once a day.

Maybe this isn't the hour though.

Twice...

Hah! Time for me to go back to bed.