Is now a bad time to buy?

Midlife

I sale agreed a house at the height of the boom, literally two months before it all fell apart in early 2007. In the end we didn't go ahead with it and I finally bought 8 years later in 2015.

We missed the bottom as the bank which literally had been throwing half a million at us saying 'borrow as much as you can for as long as you can' just refused to lend us anything for years. In the end, we got a nicer house for slightly cheaper but also had to pay about 100,000 in rent for a family home in the 8 years between.

Additionally, our new mortgage has me repaying until I'm 70.

I love my house and our circumstances now so I feel as though I won. It worked out in that the 100,000 rent I paid was about as much as the house decreased in value by.

In truth though, I'm not sure if I objectively did win.

If you're a cash buyer and don't have family circumstances weighing down on you. i.e. you can rent a room for a few hundred quid a month, then waiting seems to be an option.

If you're a family, then stability and a long term solution to one of life's major problems would come first.

riclad

IF you are a cash buyer, and can borrow say 100k plus why wait.
Buy a house if you can,
i went home to a small town,40 miles from dublin.
In the last 12 months house prices have gone up by 30-40 per cent.OF
course in rural area,s its still possible to buy a house for amybe 100-130k.
I think dublin is very expensive,
eg there seems to be no plan by anyone,
to build the no of houses or apartments that are needed .
Maybe some sites are being held by speculators,
maybe we simply do not have enough builders to build the houses we need .
And its hard to get finance for a 100 house estate.
vs getting finance for large office buildings .
And theres a limited amount of sites in dublin that would be suitable
for building houses on.
It may be easier to build offices or apartments in dublin.
i,d predict prices in dublin for houses will rise for another
few years at least

Maewyn Succat

riclad wrote: »

IF you are a cash buyer, and can borrow say 100k plus why wait.
Buy a house if you can,
i went home to a small town,40 miles from dublin.
In the last 12 months house prices have gone up by 30-40 per cent.OF
course in rural area,s its still possible to buy a house for amybe 100-130k.
I think dublin is very expensive,
eg there seems to be no plan by anyone,
to build the no of houses or apartments that are needed .
Maybe some sites are being held by speculators,
maybe we simply do not have enough builders to build the houses we need .
And its hard to get finance for a 100 house estate.
vs getting finance for large office buildings .
And theres a limited amount of sites in dublin that would be suitable
for building houses on.
It may be easier to build offices or apartments in dublin.
i,d predict prices in dublin for houses will rise for another
few years at least

Completely off topic but can I ask what device you are posting from?

conormc1984

Maewyn Succat wrote: »

riclad wrote: »

IF  you  are a cash buyer,  and can borrow  say 100k plus   why  wait.
Buy  a house  if you  can,
i went  home to  a small  town,40 miles  from dublin.
In  the last   12 months  house  prices  have   gone up  by  30-40 per cent.OF
course  in rural  area,s  its  still  possible   to buy  a  house  for amybe 100-130k.
I think  dublin  is very expensive,
eg there  seems  to be no  plan   by  anyone,
to  build  the no  of houses or apartments    that  are needed .
Maybe some  sites  are being held  by  speculators,
maybe we  simply   do not  have   enough  builders to   build the houses we need  .
And its  hard to  get finance  for  a 100 house  estate.
vs  getting  finance for large   office  buildings  .
And theres a limited  amount of sites  in dublin   that  would be   suitable  
for building  houses on.
It may  be easier  to build  offices or apartments  in dublin.
i,d predict  prices  in dublin    for houses will  rise  for  another
few  years at least

Completely off topic but can I ask what device you are posting from?

LOL

Cyrus

Midlife wrote: »

I sale agreed a house at the height of the boom, literally two months before it all fell apart in early 2007. In the end we didn't go ahead with it and I finally bought 8 years later in 2015.

We missed the bottom as the bank which literally had been throwing half a million at us saying 'borrow as much as you can for as long as you can' just refused to lend us anything for years. In the end, we got a nicer house for slightly cheaper but also had to pay about 100,000 in rent for a family home in the 8 years between.

Additionally, our new mortgage has me repaying until I'm 70.

I love my house and our circumstances now so I feel as though I won. It worked out in that the 100,000 rent I paid was about as much as the house decreased in value by.

In truth though, I'm not sure if I objectively did win.

If you're a cash buyer and don't have family circumstances weighing down on you. i.e. you can rent a room for a few hundred quid a month, then waiting seems to be an option.

If you're a family, then stability and a long term solution to one of life's major problems would come first.

this is a very good post and is the point missed by a lot of people,

in certain cases you may have been better off buying in 2007, security of your own home, tracker mortgage, paid off sooner etc

Quaderno

RisingDamp wrote: »

What are peoples thoughts on the market stability? Is it crazy to buy now when the value of the property could be flattened by 2020?

We can finally answer this question. Yes, it was a bad time to buy.