Anyone regret buying property?

The_Morrigan

Benedict wrote: »

I must say I find it astonishing - but enlightening - that there appear to be so many contributors who feel that grossly overpaying for a property really doesn't matter that much - once you aren't attempting to sell.

So if you pay a few hundred grand too much! No sweat! Sure aren't you living in it! And sure isn't it a lovely June afternoon?

No wonder the country is in the state it's in!

You can't put a price on happiness and contentment.

danbohan

Benedict wrote: »

I must say I find it astonishing - but enlightening - that there appear to be so many contributors who feel that grossly overpaying for a property really doesn't matter that much - once you aren't attempting to sell.

So if you pay a few hundred grand too much! No sweat! Sure aren't you living in it! And sure isn't it a lovely June afternoon?

No wonder the country is in the state it's in!

what you want them to do line up for suicide pills ?, its called reality, good that so many people are level headed and happy enough to live where they are and make the most of what they got .

jackal

Zamboni wrote: »

This thread is pointless at this stage. Its like a brick wall.
Do the math people, seriously. I didn't buy but I have done the math and buying a property in 2006 on a tracker could easily cost less over the term of a mortgage than a buying cheaper house in 2010 at 5%.

The important price is not the price of the house but the total price you end up paying at the end.

Yeah it could... if ECB interest rates stay the same for 25 years.;)

iguana

NiMhaoldearg wrote: »

Benedict - just a question here, but would you be of the same mindset if you bought a top of the range tv for a couple of grand and two months later the same tv's price was slashed....I'm just wondering and not trying to start an argument.

I for one would. If I paid €12 for a pair of shoes and saw them for sale 3 weeks later for €9 I'd actually be gutted (unless I'd bought them the week before xmas). Years and years later I'd still be píssed off any time I'd think about it. Whenever I'd think about making another purchase I'd recall those shoes I overpaid by by 33% and I'd think again before buying.

I'd never, ever buy a top of the range tv because I would know full well that within 6 months it would no longer be top of the range and worth a fraction of it's cost. I have a lovely 42" lcd with nice picture quality that I got refurbished for €350, incl delivery. It'll be a long time before that's worth less than I paid for it and I spent quite a while weighing up the pros and cons of buying it. But the fact that my couch is 22ft from the telly and I like foreign films sold me on it, gotta be able to read the subtitles.

If I owned a house worth €10k less than I paid for it I'd be sick, even if I was still in positive equity. I'd think about how hard it had been to acquire that money or how lucky I'd been to come about it if it had been a windfall of some sort. I couldn't bear to think that it had effectively disappeared. I know people who are in NE have no choice but to get on with it, and I admire anyone who can just pull their socks up and forge on while looking at the bright side of things. And obviously if they do love their home and see themselves in it forever that would help a lot.

But I for one am so, so glad I sold my house before the value fell. I love my rental house, it's fantastic and even at the lowest interest rate possible, even on IO, even at today's house prices I'd be paying more each month than I am on rent. I enjoyed owning a home and I look forward to doing so again in the future, but that enjoyment in no way surpasses the knowledge that this is the right financial position to be in. I know my way of looking at finances will seem like an anathema to most people. They'll think I have no idea how to enjoy life if I'm still fussing over an overpayment of €3, but I look on those mistakes as important lessons to learn from and I derive great enjoyment from making prudent purchases and finding value and it's enjoyment I never have to regret so it's win/win imvho..

facksake

Well i'd prefer to be like NiMhaoldearg imvho

mprop

I dont regret it. I was able to release equity out of it after a few years and I used that to set up my first business.

I do however regret not selling it at the peak, but thats the benifit of hindsight. The way I see it now is that the house is mine and I will probably own it until I retire. By then I hope to have paid off a chunk of it and hopefully the values will have risen back up and over the mortgage value.

facksake

To be fair though you'll do a lot better financially, I just think that losing the €3 on the shoes is a bit much. That wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

You're a bit George from Seinfeld are ya? I bet ya get a kick out of making trips in great time or getting really good parking spaces to the point that you won't move your car unless you absolutely HAVE to??

iguana

facksake wrote: »

To be fair though you'll do a lot better financially, I just think that losing the €3 on the shoes is a bit much. That wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

You're a bit George from Seinfeld are ya? I bet ya get a kick out of making trips in great time or getting really good parking spaces to the point that you won't move your car unless you absolutely HAVE to??

I don't drive so no, I'm not like that. I am hoping to buy outright by the time I'm 35ish and I think I'm on track, depends on a few unforeseeables though. Right now I live in a lovely house in a lovely area for quite a bit less than the cheapest possible mortgage I could get for what this house is still worth.

I just believe in the old adage about looking after your pennies.

Benedict

For heaven's sake - if people paid hundreds of thousands too much for a house - then it's done so get on with life. But it's still better to get on with life if you've actually saved a packet! No? Some people seem to think that paying too much is almost necessary if you are going to be happy!
Trying to save a fortune in order to make your family's life a bit easier is not a mortal sin! It doesn't mean you're Scrooge!
According to Property Watch, average 3 bed semi in Dublin is now 343K. Refusing to pay 10 times the average wage for an average house is stupid. And you don't have to enrich estate agents in order to be happy and contented. Next time you're buying a car, offer the dealer double what it's worth. It will probably bring you happiness and contentment.

danbohan

Benedict wrote: »

For heaven's sake - if people paid hundreds of thousands too much for a house - then it's done so get on with life. But it's still better to get on with life if you've actually saved a packet! No? Some people seem to think that paying too much is almost necessary if you are going to be happy!
Trying to save a fortune in order to make your family's life a bit easier is not a mortal sin! It doesn't mean you're Scrooge!
According to Property Watch, average 3 bed semi in Dublin is now 343K. Refusing to pay 10 times the average wage for an average house is stupid. And you don't have to enrich estate agents in order to be happy and contented. Next time you're buying a car, offer the dealer double what it's worth. It will probably bring you happiness and contentment.

According to Property Watch, average 3 bed semi in Dublin is now 343K.
is that an up to date figure , if it is you are right its still nuts

facksake

Benedict you sound like the most unhappy person in this thread

Benedict

facksake wrote: »

Benedict you sound like the most unhappy person in this thread

I don't think that making personal comments is helpful. Rule 1 - attack the argument, not the person.

facksake

Ok - If people made the common mistake of buying a property for more than it's worth now and are happy and dealing with it then I say fair play to them. I think it's very admirable.

I don't dispute that your logic is correct but I dispute the fact that you seem to be annoyed at people for not being more upset that they're in negative equity! Maybe that's not what you're trying to do, maybe you're simply just trying to warn people for future reference, but it's not coming accross that way to me.

Leave the happy people alone

AARRRRGH

facksake wrote: »

Benedict you sound like the most unhappy person in this thread

I was just thinking that too.

Benedict

Absolutely not trying to suggest that people in serious neg eq should be depressed - but it concerns me that people are still vulnerable because prices are still crazy. Just trying to warn people - not depress them!

The_Morrigan

facksake wrote: »

Well i'd prefer to be like NiMhaoldearg imvho

Jaysus facksake don't say that too loud!!!

I'm just dealing with it - feck all I can do, and no point being miserable dealing with the "what if's"

but if you want, you can be in my gang

MRBEAVER

Benedict. maybe sometimes you have to live in the present. maybe by the time prices have fallen to where you think they should be it will be too late for you. I think buying a house to live in is a good decision and waiting years while life passes you by is the wrong decision.

iguana

MRBEAVER wrote: »

and waiting years while life passes you by is the wrong decision.

Do you think life is passing you by if you don't own a house? That's a strange philosophy tbh. I've never been more content with my living situation than I've been since I sold my house and moved back into rented. I actually found owning a property to be a bit stifling.

Benedict

I give up!

femur61

I don't htink SamG is rubbing our face in it, but have always wondered the difference in European mentality and the Irish regards property. Why are they happy with renting and we are not. I have heard the arguement about security and we were colonised for 800 years and we need ownership because for years not that we couldn't, but were inhibited by law in doing so.

kippy

OP is a bit cheeky but to be honest there's not enough threads outlining those who arent in a bad position so this may not be a bad thing.
I bought in Galway with my now wife in May 2006. 4 Bed semi Detached. We bought the house with the intention of living here for the longer term. We've both stable jobs, on a tracker mortgage with 20 odd years left. I am a 5 minute drive from work, she is about 15 minutes away. We're not in negative equity in our mortgage as we had a fair deposit put down on the house but should we sell the house now we would make a loss on what we had paid for it. Do I care? No. Why? Because we plan on being her long term. Its now our home, not just a house and the mortgage we are paying on it at the moment and for the term so far has been less than or around the cost of renting a similar sized house in the same area.
Sadly not everyone is in as good a position but there are a sizeable amount out there who aren't screwed. It really depends where you bought, what term you bought for and your job security.

Renting in this country is fine for a large amount of people in differing circumstances but frankly we had done it long enough and at the stage we bought the house we were happy to get out of that market. We were planning on settling down and didnt want to be renting any longer. It made sense for us to buy - it was that simple really.
Longer term renting in Ireland though isnt as well "Protected" from the tenants perspective as it is elsewhere.

Theboinkmaster

MRBEAVER wrote: »

Benedict. maybe sometimes you have to live in the present. maybe by the time prices have fallen to where you think they should be it will be too late for you. I think buying a house to live in is a good decision and waiting years while life passes you by is the wrong decision.

Saving 5 years for a deposit of €100k, buying a house to live in for €600k and then 2 years later you could have bought the same house for €400k.

Is that a good decision? effectively losing €200k+ cash?

And how exactly does life pass you by without owning a house?! That mentality is the reason the property bubble existed in Ireland.

kippy

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Saving 5 years for a deposit of €100k, buying a house to live in for €600k and then 2 years later you could have bought the same house for €400k.

Is that a good decision? effectively losing €200k+ cash?

And how exactly does life pass you by without owning a house?! That mentality is the reason the property bubble existed in Ireland.

In hindsight, no its a not a great decision. However if that person has bought a house that suits them and which they dont intend to sell for a long time I dont see how you can hammer them for it.

Lots of people want to own their own homes and see life passing them by if they don't, just like some people like to own a BMW or a Porsche. Do you hammer those people for wanting something in life?

Ultimately people make these decisions through out their lives, sometimes they work for you, other times they don't.

D3PO

Boinkmaster the topic isnt are you glad you paid more than you had to its do you regret it. Obviously nobody wants to pay more than they have to for anything weather it be a house or a car or a pair of jeans or even a pint of milk.

But if your going to live your life to the degree that paying more than you have to you would end up in a spending paralisis. You would never buy anything due to the fear of paying more than you have to.

Now the facts are even when we hit the bottom most people cant get in at that level, are we going to see more stupid threads like do you regret not getting in at the very bottom and paying 5 grand more than you could have ?


Some people like Benedict seem to be getting upset that some people in negative equity dont regret it for whatever their individual reasons are (personal, financial etc), I can only imagine its because it affects their ability to be smug.

If people just think about missed opportunities we would end up of a nation of manic depressives.

Lets start threads now on do you regret not buying oil at $70 and selling at $140,

or buying gold at $800 an ounce,

or do you regret not buying AIB shares at 40 cent and selling at over 2.50 euro (P.S I did this so I can be smug aswell, this opportunity wouldnt have existed if the property crash didnt happen)

point is there are missed opportunities every day for all of us. for every winner there is a loser thats how capitalism works. You either deal with it or go move to Cuba or North Korea or some other communist society.

P.S Id be e upset if I was 60 to 64 and closing in on retirment only to see my pension decimated by the current financial turmoil. These are the people worst affected not those who can afford their mortgages and are in neg equity.

dan_d

Benedict I assume you don't have a mortgage??

You're right in that houses will probably drop further. From my point of view yup, about 50,000 in neg equity, and in a house I'll live in for the next 20 years very comfortably. Hence the lack of worry. I may be living in cloud cuckoo land according to you, but that's my problem. Once I can afford the mortgage and live my life (which I can) then I couldn't care less what I lose/gain by various different interest rates or paying off early etc. There are some people, I will agree, who are in very bad situations, but tarring everybody with the same brush just because they were "stupid" enough to get into neg equity is not on either.

As to the obsession with buying...I have no idea why it exists here so strongly, and to be honest, I don't see a problem with it. It's all very well to compare with Europe, but there is a completely different social structure going on in most European countries.In the UK, most people buy aswell. It is as it is, and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter.

Right now, my opinion on this is that I have a house to live in and more importantly, share with the person I love, my mortgage payments aren't crippling me, and won't unless ECB rates rise to about 10%. I can enjoy life and I can afford to (and do) save money too. That's really all that matters to me.

(Just read D3P0's post....well said!)

kippy

Last two posters,
Well said.

gurramok

Some people have lost the value for money. A hundred grand here or there is nothing nevermind the price for the house.

The_Morrigan

Is it socially unacceptable to be happy with your lot these days or something? Just seems there are far more people getting bogged down with the "what if's" and "if only".

Yes some people are in bad situations, but not everyone.
Everyone should be accountable for their own actions - "buyer beware" and all that jazz!!

kippy

gurramok wrote: »

Some people have lost the value for money. A hundred grand here or there is nothing nevermind the price for the house.

What would you suggest people do? Fire themselves off the edges of cliffs because they are in negative equity?

Benedict

I'm actually not upset about anything! And I agree that people who have bought at hugely inflated prices should try to forget about it now and get on with their lives as best they can. I simply think that raising the matter may help current buyers to be more careful and to be aware that current asking prices are still way too high and will land them in neg eq. The rip-off isn't anything like it was - but it is still there and brushing it under the carpet is mean to the current and future buyers. People who are currently in serious trouble and would have been okay if they'd waited now wish that people had talked about what was going on. Instead, Bertie advised people who mentioned it to "commit suicide". The whole purpose of this thread should be to warn current buyers to beware. The rip-off hasn't ended! Those who were ripped off can do nothing about it. But let's help those who haven't been ripped off yet!