House prices

This is true for the average joe but there are plenty of pros out there that have made a lot of money. Buy to let investors and the renovators. Now the next ones in line to profit will be the the cash buyers picking up foreclosures.

Seems like a possibly good time for house hunting right now. Its a buyers market now the shoe is on the other foot so to speak.
If you can get a mortgage you should be able to make silly offers on properties.
Who remembers the last time this happened, you could pretty much walk into a showhome and make a 50% offer on a new built home. Sounds good for a consortium or family/friends get together to buy an investment.
But we must all make our own minds up on these things, this is just my opinion.

Originally Posted by SV-net

Seems like a possibly good time for house hunting right now. Its a buyers market now the shoe is on the other foot so to speak.
If you can get a mortgage you should be able to make silly offers on properties.
Who remembers the last time this happened, you could pretty much walk into a showhome and make a 50% offer on a new built home. Sounds good for a consortium or family/friends get together to buy an investment.
But we must all make our own minds up on these things, this is just my opinion.

I'd like to see ANYONE who can get a mortgage at the moment!

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

I'd like to see ANYONE who can get a mortgage at the moment!

+1 Cash buyers are the ones in the driving seat.

Originally Posted by BigApe

Don't worry, your not alone. We too have not bought. We too can not afford to. We too rent.

I am one of those that live in a housing association house. It's a big 3 bedroom house and is ridiculously cheap for the size. So long as I pay my rent and stay out of trouble, I can live there for as long as I want to. The housing association just upgraded all the windows and doors. They are soon to fit a new kitchen. I have no desire to put myself in hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt and worry.

same as big ape on this one.Ex wife took the house and left me with not alot ,so I am happy now to have a home I can afford.
We pay £280 a month rent while the couple 2 houses down pay £680 private rent for the same size house.That means I can save ,go on holiday twice a yr and still do wt I like.

[timwilky]

locally on a mega development the developers are offering buy to letters 30 grand discounts per house if they buy 4 or more. Those who bought off plan are walking away loosing their 5 grand deposits, safe in the knowledge that the price of the house would have dropped by at least 20 grand.


I have a brother who is forever my house is worth x and never got the fact that the house is only worth whatever it enables you to do. Scale down or be lucky enough to have a second home, then yes it is worth whatever money it releases when sold. Beyond that is only worth what ever you are prepared to pay for a warm/dry place to rest your weary bones.

I have just sold my brother in laws place in Salford for £86,000 (if they sign the contract today), so it was a good investment by him who bought it for £6,000 10 years ago. The lad who has bought it may be laughing with his mates now, It only cost me £86,000. but I dont see it being worth £860,000 in a further 10 years. The boom in prices could not continue. People were looking at property as an investment and not as a place to live.

But I am sure I would never want to live even if it was so cheap

[Biker Biggles]

Id caution against buying that cheap house just yet.Prices will fall a fair bit more before they hit rock bottom,and thats the time to buy.Another year maybe?

Originally Posted by gid

same as big ape on this one.Ex wife took the house and left me with not alot ,so I am happy now to have a home I can afford.
We pay £280 a month rent while the couple 2 houses down pay £680 private rent for the same size house.That means I can save ,go on holiday twice a yr and still do wt I like.

Housing association property is a god send. I lived in a housing association flat in Leeds, quite trendy and walking distance to the city centre. I paid £240 per month for it while my neighbour who was privately renting paid £600.

Unfortunately I had to leave Leeds.

Its not that council rent etc is cheap
Its just that private is expensive

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

So unless the Gov steps in and taxes multiple home ownership to make owning 10 houses and renting out 9 of them and makes buy-to-let harder to do, the normal guy wont be able to buy their own home.

That's symptom, not a cause. The only reason buy to let became popular is because house prices were rocketing, not the other way round. Sure it didn't help, but it's because people could afford to pay the ridiculous prices, and then some, that prices continued to rise.

Or rather, people couldn't afford to pay the ridiculous prices, but were borrowing far beyond their means. Now the banks have got the jitters and realised lending £300k to a those on £20k pa isn't such a good idea, hence the difficulty in getting a mortgauge and price drop that brings.