• Visitors can check out the Forum FAQ by clicking this link. You have to register before you can post: click the REGISTER link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. View our Forum Privacy Policy.
  • Want to receive the latest contracting news and advice straight to your inbox? Sign up to the ContractorUK newsletter here. Every sign up will also be entered into a draw to WIN £100 Amazon vouchers!

First Time Buyer - Purchase timing advice

Collapse
X
  •  
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #11
    Originally posted by rogerfederer View Post
    I don't know about you lot but my friends seem to be staying in the same houses with no plans to move, seeming to be scared to move in case the market blows up....

    Some people buy and sell houses and are hypersensitive to house price fluctuations. Perhaps he is looking to buy a home - not a short term investment.
    In which case, stalling in case the market falls is stalling while prices are rising, and stalling while interest rates are low.
    You’re saying your friends are scared to move - maybe, just maybe, they are happy where they are at the minute, and are enjoying their home. That’s not being scared or being risk averse or not making plans, that’s about buying somewhere they like as a place to live and not as a temporary house to last until they must buy something more expensive to keep up with heir friends.

    Originally posted by rogerfederer View Post
    I have bought and sold homes in Scotland some years ago, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but the prices seem to have skyrocketed for a dull two bedroom tenement to levels I can only recall in 2007. Young folks can have short memories of 2007 if they were too busy jetsetting rather than house hunting back then.
    You might remember 2007, but do you remember interest rates in the 1980s?

    If all you are doing is trying to force him to invest in somewhere that he doesn’t like, based on your opinion of what a house can only be for, then maybe ask him is he doing it as an investment, or is he looking to buy a home to live in for a few years.
    The fact that he was talking about wanting a place with land would make it seem that he has a longer term goal than financial investment. Maybe he’s not interested in living in high rise blocks of flats in a concrete jungle and actually wants a bit of peace and quiet, a view of grass and trees and a place he can call home.
    …Maybe we ain’t that young anymore

    Comment


      #12
      Originally posted by rogerfederer View Post

      Would you advise your hypothetical offspring to buy a house right now given the market conditions in most of outer-London?
      If said offspring needed somewhere to live, that they can afford, and they want; it would be interfering to do anything other than be supportive and encouraging.
      Last edited by Lance; 21 July 2018, 12:29.
      See You Next Tuesday

      Comment


        #13
        Completely agree with that last.

        A house is a long term investment. And who knows whether the current condition is likely to get better, worse, or stay the same.

        If said purchaser can afford it, and admits to all he doesn't know what will happen in 25 years, then go for it.

        (Pretty much the same can be said about buying the right pension. Who know what interest rates and tax laws will be like in 45 years' time. The thing is, just to start)

        Comment


          #14
          I've come back to this thread a few times since it was posted and each tine deleted a response as I'd started to type it.

          This is one of the most bizarre and frankly, inappropriate and over the line, threads I think I've ever read (in its own way). Has it occurred to you that 33 isn't so young that you need to protect him from the world? Has it occurred to you that if he's managed to build up anything like a £300k warchest he must be doing something right and luck is not the only factor? Has it occurred to you that you've already given him the benefit of your advice (a perfectly reasonable thing to do, given he's a friend and you're concerned for his welfare) and now you're just trying to recruit people to steamroller him?

          Others have made good points. He may not want a flat, he may want an actual house and home. Perhaps he doesn't actually like cities. Maybe this isn't an 'investment'. You say he's 'unintentionally' isolating himself - perhaps it's intentional!

          I think you need to open your mind and consider that he actually might just have different priorities and values to you, and that this is his prerogative. Honestly, if this were my friend I would also have given them my thoughts if I was concerned about the implications of their plan, but having done that - back the heck off. His life is his responsibility, and so far he seems to be doing OK at it given the size of his warchest!

          Comment

          Working...
          X