A Conversation for Talking Point: House Prices and Interest Rate rises
scary house prices
mummit Started conversation Jul 4, 2007
I bought a flat with my boyfriend a couple of years ago, and it was lovely being able to have and in our own flat after years or renting. We were only able to buy somewhere thanks to my kind parents and grandparents lending us the money for a deposit. I would have loved to have been able to buy back in 2000, when I started work and property was cheaper, instead of renting, but that wasn't possible at the time. It is scary because we had to borrow such a lot to buy our flat and interest rates are rising, but at least we have our own little pad now.
scary house prices
mummit Posted Jul 4, 2007
One thing which i meant to say in my previous post - at least we are paying off our own mortgage now, and not somebody else's!
scary house prices
Opticalillusion- media mynx life would be boring without hiccups Posted Jul 4, 2007
You are really lucky to be living with your bf and have your parents help out like this. I'm in a position where I want to live with my bf but my parents wont help us out and I just don't see what I want turning into reality. Hence we'll always be living sepearately with our parents!! My bf thinks that buying a pad rather than renting one is cheaper. What do you think?
scary house prices
Beatrice Posted Jul 4, 2007
Rent vs mortgage can be pretty similar in terms of monthly outgoings - it's the getting the deposit for a house, and persuading a mortgage company to lend you the rest that's the tricky bit!
For years, houses in Norn Irn were way cheaper than the rest of the UK - let's face it, who wanted to live in a place like that. Now, one of the effects of "the peace" has been a super-rapid rise in house prices to a par with the rest of the UK. Fine if you have a house to sell - but then, anywhere you buy will have shot up in price too, so you're not really making any money.
It's not really fair to compare houses with cars: the latter are only expected to last 10 years, and will deterioriate over that lifespan.
scary house prices
Vip Posted Jul 9, 2007
Do remember that if you buy you will also be responsible for any repairs and such that crop up. If your roof leaks, or your chimney stack collapses, or drains back up... it's their responsibility.
A landlord can only raise rent prices 5% each year, but my parents were telling me that they only just made it through the 15% interest rates back in the eighties. We are at a historically low period of interest rates so they are probably only going to go up. Keep this in mind if you buy- if they were to hit fifteen percent again could you hope to pay that on your current wages?
The other thing to remember is that you and your bf do't live together at the moment, so it might be a plan to rent together for a year or so before embarking on the gigantic stress-athon which (I gather) is part and parcel fo buying a house.
My partner and I have given up. We dream of a smallholding, but it's never going to happen.
scary house prices
mummit Posted Jul 9, 2007
Remember when interest rates were 15%, house prices were much cheaper. The vast majority of properties were well under £100k. 15% interest rates on today's house prices.... *has to go off and lie down in a dark room with a cold flannel presssed on her head*
scary house prices
Orcus Posted Jul 9, 2007
You *are* making money.
I bought my first house in 2000 and recently sold it for more than double the price I paid. I now have savings of in excess of £60000 because of this.
No way could I have remotely expected to save that sort of money in the meantime in any other way.
Of course you are right, I'm buying again now and my new mortgage will be much more than my old one, but I will own around 1/3 of the house already when I buy it.
You only lose out if you buy and sell too often, a house for most people is to live in, not a money making investment.
However, when you retire and have paid all the mortgage off you have one whopping assett with which to fund your retirement, cruise around the world or give to your darling children as an inheritance.
Houses are a much better financial investment than just about anythign else.
They can't possibly put interest rates anywhere near 15% now, it would destroy the economy especially with so much unsecured debt around too.
What I wonder is what could be the costs to the economy of having such a restricition on interest rates.
One caveat, I would have in excess of £90,000 profit had I not had to pay for my house to be underpinned during my ownership. They can be expensive little beasties to maintain.
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