Topic: The 'Eeeek...buying/saving for a house' thread

[Jake]

Drove past the house I was keen on from rightmove at the weekend, its not a detached at all its a fucking semi. Lying estate agent c*nts.

[Drinks Sangria]

Drove past the house I was keen on from rightmove at the weekend, its not a detached at all its a fucking semi. Lying estate agent c*nts.

Hate the way houses are marketed, there's so much bullshit. Was it a full on semi, or a link detached, like it has next door's garage etc attached to it? Because they always list link detached (semis) as full detached.

If you read the marketing on my house you'd think I was buying a mansion on acres of land, not a mid size three bed detached with a reasonably sized garden.

Estate Agents in general are leeches.

[CraigDS]

Don't get me started on Estate Agents...

[Drinks Sangria]

Don't get me started on Estate Agents...

What alarmed me was the unbelievable thickness of more than 1 or 2 that I dealt with during my house search.

I wrote back in here a few months ago when I was completing on my house and there was a cock up with the survey which was 100% the estate agents fault (that narrowly avoided costing me an extra £2,500 in stamp duty) and they were so slimy and evasive and just awful when I tried to get them to be accountable.

[CraigDS]

What alarmed me was the unbelievable thickness of more than 1 or 2 that I dealt with during my house search.

I wrote back in here a few months ago when I was completing on my house and there was a cock up with the survey which was 100% the estate agents fault (that narrowly avoided costing me an extra £2,500 in stamp duty) and they were so slimy and evasive and just awful when I tried to get them to be accountable.

Oh they'll never admit that.

The one who handled my move out in Sept didn't send over the condition report until I chased it nearly 4 weeks later (so kept my deposit all that time too). When I pointed out it was way beyond the time they had to inform me of any charges she turned into a right twat and basically ignored me so I had to use the deposit scheme dispute service which took another 8 weeks to get my deposit back because they never bothered replying to them either.

She clearly just decided to make me wait as long as possible for my deposit because of her own fuck up.

[Drinks Sangria]

Oh they'll never admit that.

The one who handled my move out in Sept didn't send over the condition report until I chased it nearly 4 weeks later (so kept my deposit all that time too). When I pointed out it was way beyond the time they had to inform me of any charges she turned into a right twat and basically ignored me so I had to use the deposit scheme dispute service which took another 8 weeks to get my deposit back because they never bothered replying to them either.

She clearly just decided to make me wait as long as possible for my deposit because of her own fuck up.

That's horrific, way worse than what happened to me and downright vindictive I'd say. She was probably embarrassed to start off with but that reaction to it is horrendous, it's potentially playing with people's only source of funds to secure a roof over their heads.

With mine, it was the way they fucked up that I couldn't quite believe - the Surveyor got to the estate agents, who had the doors locked because of Covid, he knocked on to get the keys and they were all on the phone, gave him the 'one minute' sign and after 15 minutes no one had let him in so he left. Pathetic from the estate agents.

[reddebs]

It looks like it'll not be long before I complete on the apartment and finally get the keys.

It's been that long I've nearly forgotten what it looks like 😂

[rob1966]

It looks like it'll not be long before I complete on the apartment and finally get the keys.

It's been that long I've nearly forgotten what it looks like 😂

Nice one.

[Slippers]

Headline in our local rag today:'Man Threatened Estate Agent With Bow And Arrow'.

We've all been there.

[Barneylfc∗]

Headline in our local rag today:'Man Threatened Estate Agent With Bow And Arrow'.

We've all been there.

And Craig is nowhere to be seen today. Interesting.

[CraigDS]

And Craig is nowhere to be seen today. Interesting.

 

[bradders1011]

About to start the process of becoming a first-time buyer so thought I'd read through this thread and bloody hell it's just made me more miserable about the prospect.

[reddebs]

The solicitors are doing my head in now and I proper kicked off today.

It's not ours as such, although they're fucking useless at chasing things up and/or keeping us up to date. 

The vendors solicitor has been a total waste of space though.  Not doing what they say they've done or will do, sending stuff to the wrong place or not sending it at all.

It's been 3mths now, for a cash purchase, on an empty property with no chain and we're still waiting 🙄

[rob1966]

House just up from us has gone up for £280k, missus paid £142k for ours in 2006, its fucking nuts

[Drinks Sangria]

House just up from us has gone up for £280k, missus paid £142k for ours in 2006, its fucking nuts

Double in 15 years. Madness.

We bought our property in September last year, 3 bed detached with a good drive and garden, small semi-rural village where average prices are around £500k (more than double what we paid for ours - they're all typically big 5 bed homes though and large country cottages, farm houses etc). We live in one of the smallest, most modest houses here. Across the lane from us is a small 2 bed semi, similar size garden but smaller and less bedrooms, drive space for one car, other houses to the rear while we have fields behind us. Someone has just bought it for £15k more than we paid for ours last year. It's crazy.

It's mad some of the things that increase prices - when we moved here, we were in one tiny village high school's catchment area. Due to rezoning of areas, the more prestigious high school in the closest town extended their catchment to include our village and property prices went up 10% overnight. We got FTTP installed in the village and that seems to have helped drive demand, as some of the bigger, ridiculously priced homes the size of which almost no-one could need have been bought up by people who worked and lived in London, as now there's full fibre, it's doable to live and work here. Then, another stroke of luck I suppose - the local pub which was always okay but nothing special got purchased by a nationally-known chef who's been on TV etc and the place has been done up and looks fantastic - people are expecting this to drive the price of houses up too, which I find mad.

I don't know if it's even logical for most of the above to push prices up - the school I suppose, but the other things seem like they shouldn't be adding thousands to the value of a property. Only 6 months ago when we were moving here, estate agents were talking out their hoop to us saying the area is outstanding value because it's 'remote' and far from amenities so prices are low.

Forecasts saying national prices due to rise 10% again this year. I actually do worry for the younger generation, late teens early 20s now. It's ridiculously hard to get on the property ladder without financial support from parents or family. I feel like the generation below me (maybe 23 - 28) are the last ones who'll relatively be okay in getting a house and it's still shit for them.

[clinical]

When the baby boomer generation start to die off (horrible way of putting it I know, sorry) who's going to be able to afford these > £600k homes. Housing crash is inevitable, surely?

The housing market is being propped up by them spending their massive increase in equity they've built up. Surely at some point there won't be enough people around with such money to buy these properties.

I bought house Jan 2021 and according to zoopla it's gone up £50k. Sounds great but most likely the house we'd want next has gone up £80k or so in the same period.

[redbyrdz]

When the baby boomer generation start to die off (horrible way of putting it I know, sorry) who's going to be able to afford these > £600k homes. Housing crash is inevitable, surely?

The housing market is being propped up by them spending their massive increase in equity they've built up. Surely at some point there won't be enough people around with such money to buy these properties.

A few rich people will buy all of them and rent them out.

[clinical]

A few rich people will buy all of them and rent them out.

I think Banks will start doing just this you know.

I think it's already started in America.

[RainbowFlick]

I think Banks will start doing just this you know.

I think it's already started in America.

yeah, Blackrock I'm pretty sure have been doing that in the US. plenty serial landlords, often in the 'boomer' age-range who can effectively ladder off their other properties to gain buy-to-let mortgages too.

Ultimately homeownership is a distant dream for a lot of millenials and younger now unless they're born into wealth or are paid hansomely. I do not think there'll be the crash people have been holding out for for so long, unless we suddenly start expelling foreign home-owners and serial landlords. These peoples' greeds see no bounds and we need government intervention. Housing should not just be deemed an asset for the privileged.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

It's an issue in a number of countries,  not just the UK.  You often hear affordable / government subsidised housing touted as an answer but no government in a free market can take on a significant chunk of the burden.  Ultimately,  the government will have to intervene directly in the pricing mechanisms of the housing markets imo.

Housing should never have been classed and treated as an 'asset',  as people in a number of countries (specifically younger first time homebuyers)  are discovering now. Disposed of most of mine over the past few years,  last transaction was in December of last year.  Where things stand now, for a lot of places,  it's a dirty,  shitty way of making money.  Far cleaner methods are available.  Not the case for someone in say the 1960s, cleaner conscience.

[rob1966]

When the baby boomer generation start to die off (horrible way of putting it I know, sorry) who's going to be able to afford these > £600k homes. Housing crash is inevitable, surely?

The housing market is being propped up by them spending their massive increase in equity they've built up. Surely at some point there won't be enough people around with such money to buy these properties.

I bought house Jan 2021 and according to zoopla it's gone up £50k. Sounds great but most likely the house we'd want next has gone up £80k or so in the same period.

I tried to explain that to a lad I worked with 20 years ago, he was made up his house had jumped from £75k to £250k, but as I pointed out, unless he was selling and going to live in a caravan, he'd just have to fork out another £60k or more as his next house would be over £300k.

Missus has managed to put £30k each away for the kids for deposits, but as they are 11 and 13, fuck knows how that will help when they are ready to buy.

[Elmo!]

I think Banks will start doing just this you know.

I think it's already started in America.

It's already started here - Lloyds have started investing in domestic properties though I think it is mostly new builds for now.

[Elmo!]

I tried to explain that to a lad I worked with 20 years ago, he was made up his house had jumped from £75k to £250k, but as I pointed out, unless he was selling and going to live in a caravan, he'd just have to fork out another £60k or more as his next house would be over £300k.

Missus has managed to put £30k each away for the kids for deposits, but as they are 11 and 13, fuck knows how that will help when they are ready to buy.

Get that £30k invested in a S&S ISA (or a junior ISA though that would mean the money would become legally there's as soon as they turn 18 which might not be the best idea...). Over that sort of time frame you should get decent returns to beat inflation and regular savings accounts.

[Jake]

The solicitors are doing my head in now and I proper kicked off today.

It's not ours as such, although they're fucking useless at chasing things up and/or keeping us up to date. 

The vendors solicitor has been a total waste of space though.  Not doing what they say they've done or will do, sending stuff to the wrong place or not sending it at all.

It's been 3mths now, for a cash purchase, on an empty property with no chain and we're still waiting 🙄

Oh shir is that the fella I recommend to you?   

[gazzam1963]

Going from a local view here in Liverpool , I can’t really speak for the south but I don’t find a first time buyers predicament is much different from when I was a first time buyer 30 years ago in 1991 .

My first home , a new build semi detached three bed was £52k in 1991 which we put down a saved up 5% deposit . my first mortgage which was an interest only was just under £500 a month at a rate of about 12.5% and a 25 year endowment of around £50 per month .

That same property is according to Rightmove is about £130k which with 10% deposit would work out at around £530 a month or around £700 if stuck to the variable , think at the time we had a combined income of
£25k whereas today that would be nearer £45k .

[rob1966]

Get that £30k invested in a S&S ISA (or a junior ISA though that would mean the money would become legally there's as soon as they turn 18 which might not be the best idea...). Over that sort of time frame you should get decent returns to beat inflation and regular savings accounts.

Its all in premium bonds at the minute, win about £500 each a year at the minute. It's all money that came from her Dad, so I have zero say on where its held.

[Mark Walters]

When the baby boomer generation start to die off (horrible way of putting it I know, sorry) who's going to be able to afford these > £600k homes. Housing crash is inevitable, surely?

The housing market is being propped up by them spending their massive increase in equity they've built up. Surely at some point there won't be enough people around with such money to buy these properties.

I bought house Jan 2021 and according to zoopla it's gone up £50k. Sounds great but most likely the house we'd want next has gone up £80k or so in the same period.

The boomer's kids will inherit the asset (minus the inheritance tax of course). Remember that most boomers' kids already have their own properties so the money will ultimately be handed down to the boomers' grandkids - the millennials.

[rob1966]

The boomer's kids will inherit the asset (minus the inheritance tax of course). Remember that most boomers' kids already have their own properties so the money will ultimately be handed down to the boomers' grandkids - the millennials.

I'm 55, does that make me a boomer? Kids are young, so they must be millenials? Anyway, they're getting our house eventually.

[reddebs]

Oh shir is that the fella I recommend to you?   

Your old place is fine Jake thanks they did our sale without any issues so we've used them again for this purchase.

It's the vendors solicitors that are holding everything up but it seems we're on the last stretch now.

[Jake]

Your old place is fine Jake thanks they did our sale without any issues so we've used them again for this purchase.

It's the vendors solicitors that are holding everything up but it seems we're on the last stretch now.

I was panicking then I'd sent you to someone that had ballsed up.

[west_london_red]

The entire economy is built on the back of ever increasing house prices, Labour didn’t do anything to stop house price inflation and the Tories under Cameron and Osborne actively encouraged it with schemes like Help to Buy, and the current lot with their stamp duty cut during the pandemic. And you know the market is fucked when it had ‘one of its best years ever’ during a global pandemic. No government will tackle the issue, because the short term economic pain will be political suicide and too many people too greedy to realise that some kind of correction is needed for the sake of our children. My kids are pretty young so who knows what will happen in the future but I have said to my Mrs that if the kids go to Uni they are going somewhere up north or the midlands so they can build some roots there and buy a house because unless they are earning close to £100k a year I have no idea how they are going to afford a house down here.

[reddebs]

I was panicking then I'd sent you to someone that had ballsed up.

Not at all mate.

[buttersstotch]

The entire economy is built on the back of ever increasing house prices, Labour didn’t do anything to stop house price inflation and the Tories under Cameron and Osborne actively encouraged it with schemes like Help to Buy, and the current lot with their stamp duty cut during the pandemic. And you know the market is fucked when it had ‘one of its best years ever’ during a global pandemic. No government will tackle the issue, because the short term economic pain will be political suicide and too many people too greedy to realise that some kind of correction is needed for the sake of our children. My kids are pretty young so who knows what will happen in the future but I have said to my Mrs that if the kids go to Uni they are going somewhere up north or the midlands so they can build some roots there and buy a house because unless they are earning close to £100k a year I have no idea how they are going to afford a house down here.

I agree, but too many people stand to lose than stand to gain. I am 31 and just bought my first apartment by myself in York. The place I had bought had gone up 30% vs when the seller bought it in 2014 and the only work they've done is a new bathroom. People forget the current housing market is built for 2x salaries put together, which pushes prices up even further. I was always of the opinion that house prices would fall, but just not sure that is true. Too many people stand to lose out, so the Government will always prop it up. Then you've got people like me who have worked, sacraficed and saved so much to get on the property ladder that I'd resent a fall in prices unless it trickled through the whole market.

[The G in Gerrard]

We've stopped looking at properties for a bit. Just mentally exhausting and finding something that has good transport links to central London is difficult. Prices are frustrating.

[clinical]

The boomer's kids will inherit the asset (minus the inheritance tax of course). Remember that most boomers' kids already have their own properties so the money will ultimately be handed down to the boomers' grandkids - the millennials.

The money gets diluted each generation whilst house prices keep going up.

[Slippers]

I'm 55, does that make me a boomer? Kids are young, so they must be millenials? Anyway, they're getting our house eventually.

The plan was always for our two to get our place eventually,but what I'd really like to do is downsize and buy a flat for our son with whatever we gain from the sale.

[BarryCrocker]

The trend of people inheriting property from their parents is a relatively new thing thats happened in the past 1-2 generations. Both sets of my grandparents lived in council/rental housing and left either nothing or debt which would have been typical for families in Ireland in the 70-80's.

Fast forward a generation and a lot of people in Ireland (Dublin mainly) would inherit a property worth roughly €300-400k which split between 3-4 kids is €75-140k each. Obviously, no one is waiting for this financial bump when their parents pass away. What it does do is give them deeper pockets that push prices up even further. This is exacerbated by the lack of new housing stock hitting the market which would naturally have a higher base price because of these deeper pockets.

One of the problems I see with this is that there are good people, with great jobs and no inheritance that will probably never get to own a property because they never get a financial bump. They end up being renters who in turn never leave a property to their kids. Which means the cycle continues.

We don't have a death tax in Australia like they do in Ireland/UK. Both the major political parties know they'd have no chance of getting it up and running. But when you consider the average Sydney house is worth €1m you can see how this can make things impossible for a lot of people entering the market.

I won't go into the impact of our ridiculous policy of encouraging people to create their own investment property portfolios (the new landed gentry) by giving tax offsets or the ramifications of the Bank Of Mum & Dad which is estimated to have bankrolled about $35b in loans to their kids.

[rob1966]

The plan was always for our two to get our place eventually,but what I'd really like to do is downsize and buy a flat for our son with whatever we gain from the sale.

Ours is a decent sized two bed semi, so when the kids leave it will be about right for us two and where we live we don't really have the option of downsizing, as that means moving to a terrace with no front garden and a yard, which we have no desire to do.

[The G in Gerrard]

Saw a lovely 4 bed emailed to me. Can't justify the £7,800 yearly train ticket to central & the underground though.

[filopastry]

Saw a lovely 4 bed emailed to me. Can't justify the £7,800 yearly train ticket to central & the underground though.

I take it you need to still commute in every day? Hybrid working could make things further out a lot more affordable, although I know it is difficult to predict that will be in place long term or not