Owning your own home

How do people manage it! My girlfriend and I are looking into buying but the costs are prohibitive to say the least! We pay£ 750 an month rent which I thought was a lot but looking at a mortgage it seems we'd have to pay something around £1100 a month!

Woah, that's more money!

Had been thinking about it before you needed a 20-40% deposit to get a mortgage with an interest rate that is not a piss-take.

Rule of thumb (which is from a while ago I admit) was that for every 100K you borrow you are looking at a repayment of around £650 per month, so to get anything decent you are looking at just under £2,000 per month as a repayment which puts it beyond my means at the moment.

I can only speak for my girlfriend but she spent five or six years saving hard (to get a min 10% deposit + money for renovation + fees) then bought a place as a stepping stone while she pays off some of the mortgage in an area we don't particularly like but serves a purpose. You can't expect to get to live in the same level of housing, you need to make a compromise somewhere.

Dont go for these extortionate 5 year fixed deals. Get a variable rate. The intrest rates are not moving for at least 2 years in my opinion.

In 1989 we moved house, upgrading considerably. My wife went back to work after Christmas, had a flaming row and walked out without serving notice. She then found out that she was pregnant, which no doubt accounted for her behaviour or intolerance of the behaviour of others. No maternity pay. Interest rates then hit 16%. We moved again in 1996. House prices had only then returned to the level that they were in 1989. We took a five year fixed mortgage in trepidation after our earlier experience. Interest rates fell.

There is no moral to the story other than, make sure you can cope with whatever you take on.

Clive.

Fantastic story, I hope to splice my name in to that and tell it at dinner parties. Is that ok?

Buying a house or flat is a long term decision and for a few years it will be a money pit, but in time you should find it costs you less. Also don't think of a house as an investment, instead remember it's your home.

I hope to tell it at dinner parties.

La di fucken da....

I think there's a happy compromise somewhere in between. You do want to buy in an up and coming area, as obviously it could be a really profitable investment, but yes, you don't want to sacrifice your quality of life just to make a bit of money over a few years.

We bought (a 50% share in) our flat in Bethnal Green when the area was still an unremitting shithole. We moved from a worse shithole (Poplar) so it was a step up for us. Shoreditch was at the height of its hype, it was near Victoria Park, and Hackney was on the up, so we figured that Bethnal Green had to eventually get a bit of that trendiness as people were priced out of the surrounding areas. It took a while and was a very gradual process, but we were right and it is now a lot nicer to live there. Still can't afford to move anywhere else, mind you.

So that's what you do. Take a gamble on a dodgy area that has the potential to get nicer.
Or buy a real fixer-upper in a decent area. That's another gamble entirely.

with andyp here, to many see buying a house as an investment, when it is your home, think of it that way and it changes how you perceive the money you put into it.
ITs difficult now, because unless you have a lot of money set aside for a deposit, taking advantage of the lower house prices and mortgage rates is really difficult/impossible. Heard a general rule of thumb is that if your rent/mortgage takes up more than a third of your income its too much. But hey this is london my friend.
My advice, keep saving as money on rent is just pissed away. Find an area you can live in, which you can get to work from and won't frighten you because your gonna have to live there for a while, buy flat/house and renovate/make yours overtime, live in your home! If home is more valuable at end, and you and girlfriend need more space for family like stuff sell home buy bigger one.

La di fucken da....

hahahahaha

Dov. Feel free to use any of my stuff at DPs.

There is no moral to the story other than, make sure you can cope with whatever you take on.

this, allow for things to get worse by a couple of % if you can't handle that.. think long and hard about what you're going to do.

bought years ago made a few quid on that which allowed us to step up to where we're living now... the house is worth a little less than we paid for it, but since we're not moving it makes no difference.

Being on a variable rate is saving us loads which we're just paying into the house again.

Also it's not just about rent Vs mortgage, you also get all new manor of exciting bills to play with

you'd have to change your forum name, too.

Buying a house or flat is a long term decision and for a few years it will be a money pit, but in time you should find it costs you less. Also don't think of a house as an investment, instead remember it's your home.

+1
Bought for the first time a couple of years ago. Saw loads of places with heaps of potiental, as great investments (watch too much TV). Bought a house with heaps of potiental as a long term family home. Someday, I might even come to terms with the fact that its made out of wood.

I saved for ooh 30 years to get a substantial deposit. It's the only way to get a reasonable rate and still have money for midgets and drugs. Discipline, grasshopper, discipline.

Be thankful you bought one made of wood.

Straw - what the fuck was I thinking?

And in wolf country too.

I'd check your insurance for 'acts of wolf' clauses. I had a house built from sweets and ginger bread. Did'nt notice the 'acts of hungry children' clause untill it was too late.

dunno bout you lot but i see an increasing amount of my friends facing this problem at the moment...sick of seeing so many dorras paid on rent but can't buy a place.

i think there are 2 solutions...first is to sell your soul and get a six figure salary working in some seven day week corporate sell out job, and get a missus that either does or can do the same. doubling up always gets you more cash...on your own you're fucked.

second is to do what thebrick says. unless you're loaded first time buyers can't have their cake and eat it. if you really feel the need to live in/near london, look further out of town. anything with an hour or less commute - most commutes take that anyway. prices come down but you'll make lifestyle comprimises.

unless you move cambridge that is. 45 mins to kings cross, fixie heaven as its all flat and simply a beautiful city...never looked back.

You can also get into shared ownership where you're only paying 25%, 50%, 75% of a place.
Or buy smaller. Or older and renovate. Or further away. Or in another country. Or don't buy at all.

...My advice, keep saving as money on rent is just pissed away.

Money on rent isn't money 'pissed away'. I'll let you explain:

...it is your home, think of it that way and it changes how you perceive the money you put into it

Housing association?