About to buy my first flat and need reassurance

[phoria]

Articles like this are really not helping: www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/15/house-prices-in-england-and-wales-fall-by-3600

But I've decided to go ahead because:

1. I managed to get a small discount post EU vote
   
2. I'm getting an 85% mortgage 5x my salary and worry about how easy it would be to get the same terms a few months down the line if there's a crash
   
3. As far as I can tell from Rightmove the only reductions are in crappy areas I don't want to live in or for wildly overpriced properties. Plus nothing decent is coming on the market.
   
4. I'm in a house share and so ready to live on my own
   
   Am I doing the right thing? If I passed on this hoping prices would fall - and then they didn't - I would be gutted. Anyone bought before a crash and got through it?

[YelloDraw]

In your situation I would go ahead - its so hard to know what will happen in the future and it sounds like you will be happier in your flat and out of your house share.

[phoria]

Yes! My flatmates are driving me crazy. I did think about pulling out and waiting but that means I might be staying here for another 6 months to a year.

[ImperialBlether]

I'd go ahead, definitely. Is it in an area you really like? Could it accommodate a partner if your situation changes? Could it accommodate guests or a lodger?

[ApocalypseSlough]

I think prices will fall, but you have a good deal there with the discount and mortgage. What are the repayments like? Prices could fall and interest rates rise- in which case you'd still have be better off buying now.

[phoria]

ImperialBlether - I'll be moving to a new area but I have a few friends who just moved there. It would fit a partner - just! Too small for a lodger.

ApocalypseSlough - I also think prices will fall but it'll take a while. From RM the kind of FTB properties I'm looking at are still being snapped up quickly for the same prices as before. My repayments are very reasonable and I could manage an interest rate rise of a few %.

[OneEpisode]

Interest rates probably won't change all that much. They could go up 10%. If that happens, there would be an impact on tenants and owners. Life would go on for most of us. Will you sleep better with your own flat than without?

[aginghippy]

I would do it primarily because you want to live there and your mortgage is affordable.

I agree with you that prices will probably fall in the short-medium term. Once you move the price of your flat will be purely academic. You will be living there (happily, I hope) and not trying to sell it.

[Flippertygib]

I've got a different point of view as I watch my brother try to sell his house (has lost his job). He was confident (cocky) that that would never happen - but it has and he can't find another one with anywhere near the same salary.

He's now reduced the price by about 20% and still can't sell. He will be in negative equity soon.

Personally I wouldn't take on an 85% mortgage or 5 x my salary - but that's my opinion. I remember when rates were 14%. I managed because I had a small mortgage.

House prices are coming down all over the UK just now. I'd wait.

[YelloDraw]

I've got a different point of view as I watch my brother try to sell his house (has lost his job). He was confident (cocky) that that would never happen - but it has and he can't find another one with anywhere near the same salary.

DOOM AND GLOOM
Most people would be fucked if they lost their job. You have to have an alternative plan and build your savings back up. In a worst case scenario OP could rent out the flat, move into some cheap and nasty accommodation and try and get back on her feet in case of job loss.

Personally I wouldn't take on an 85% mortgage or 5 x my salary - but that's my opinion. I remember when rates were 14%. I managed because I had a small mortgage.

Then you probably wouldn't ever be able to buy in the SE on your own without a partner.

Interest rates are not going to go up to 14% for the foreseeable future.

[JigglypuffsCaptor]

We as a family had this thought, but we're about to complete next week on our first family home. We adore the house also so we don't want to loose it.

It also means we have a asset so in a worse case scenario we can sellnif desperate in the future.

We decided securing ourselves before a crash in a fixed rate mortgage was the best option.

[phoria]

Always good to get different points of view. Thanks Flippertygib. I am terrified now though. :)

If I didn't have an 85% mortgage 5x my salary I just wouldn't be able to buy in London.

The good thing about the discount is that it means I'll have more savings as a buffer in case interest rates rise. I might also over pay a few grand at the beginning.

[kirinm]

We are about to complete. FTB in London with an 85% mortgage. We rationalised it by saying that if we wait for 6 months to see how the market pans out, we'll still be paying massive amounts of rent. What if, after that 6 month wait, it takes us the same amount of time it took us to get an offer accepted and the sale to go through (1 year). That's the best part of £30k in rent. And what if there isn't actually a massive crash and actually our wait means we are priced out or we don't get such a good deal?

We can't wait to be out of rented for the first time. (We get the keys on Friday). Our mortgage payments are £500 less per month than our rent so we are going to overpay for a while.

[sellotape12]

Go for it, OP. Just go for it