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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is buying a first home now a terrible idea?

65 replies

Edinburghwaverley · 05/05/2022 18:39

I am 37, in stable employment, and in the process of buying my first home. The house is 7 years old and hopefully energy efficient. I have a 10% deposit and the mortgage should be affordable (as things stand now…..) costing about 27% of my Net monthly income, with a fix for 5 years.

But listening to the news about the economy generally in trouble, I can’t help thinking maybe I’m making a huge mistake. Surely this is the worst possible time to be buying? I’m in a really cheap rented flat. Maybe I should stay put?
AIBU to continue with the purchase?

OP posts:
tttigress · 05/05/2022 18:47

What percentage of income do you pay in rent?

If you are in genuinely stable employment it might be ok.

Also maybe it is a now or never situation, if you wait 5 years for things to sort themselves out you be that much older.

LaWench · 05/05/2022 18:50

I'd still buy, in 5yrs time you'd have reduced the mortgage but rent wouldn't have benefitted you at all.

LightningAndRainbows · 05/05/2022 18:53

It will only get harder as you get older as the max term will decrease.

D0lphine · 05/05/2022 18:59

Really tricky question OP.

I think what it comes down to is how long you'd like to stay in that house.

If you want to stay for 20 years, any house price drop will likely have recovered by then, and the market will be different.

If you only want to stay there 3 years, I'd say no personally. The housing market may be due a correction and you could lose out.

earsup · 05/05/2022 19:04

Money is still very cheap to borrow since the days of 14 and 17% so you have fixed for 5 years so that is good....we have a huge shortage of housing in uk so prices will never crash totally...may level off a little....

emerald226 · 05/05/2022 19:05

I think you should buy the house as house prices either keep rising or stay the same

girlmom21 · 05/05/2022 19:06

I'd buy now if I was you. If you wait 5 years you'll be 42 and your mortgage will have to be shorted and you'll have no choice but to work longer if you can't over-pay.

LeeMucklowesCurtains · 05/05/2022 19:12

I’d buy now.

We bought last December, but we had just been chucking money away on rent for the past 20 years. In early 40s, we had a 25k inheritance and had just moved to a part of the country that was affordable to buy so it was a no brainer.

Like a PP said, if it’s a place you are happy to stay in for years to ride out any fluctuations then do it.

LeeMucklowesCurtains · 05/05/2022 19:14

The amount of money we’ve spent on rent over 20 years when we lived in London, we could have paid the mortgage that we have now 4 times over, it makes me sick to think about it!

TheHatinaCat · 05/05/2022 19:16

I'd buy now.

AvonCallingBarksdale · 05/05/2022 19:18

Don’t rent a moment longer than you have to! You’re just lining someone else’s pockets. If you can buy, buy, don’t wait until your mortgage is significantly shortened.

QuickQuestionAus · 05/05/2022 19:26

emerald226 · 05/05/2022 19:05

I think you should buy the house as house prices either keep rising or stay the same

Did you miss the early 90s?

edwinbear · 05/05/2022 19:27

If you’re looking for a home, to live in, as opposed to an investment, I’d still go ahead. You need somewhere to live, a roof over your head. It might just as well be one you own yourself, as opposed to one somebody else owns. Property values rise and fall, interest rates rise and fall, it’s virtually impossible to choose exactly the right economic conditions to buy. As long as you’re happy with your fixed rate and given some thought as to what would happen if rates are substantially higher when your fix ends, then is still go ahead.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 05/05/2022 19:28

QuickQuestionAus · 05/05/2022 19:26

Did you miss the early 90s?

Show quote history

And 2008 Grin

Original poster
Edinburghwaverley · 05/05/2022 19:32

Okay, thanks everyone. To be honest I had hoped to be moving from this house in 5 years, as it’s quite a small new build and I would love a period property. BUT, I if I need to stay there for longer it won’t be the end of the world… better than stying in the flat, as I have spent all Covid here and am sick of these 4 walls and no garden. Have been trying to buy for the past 2 years and am so happy to have found somewhere at last, but the news just makes me so nervous that I am going to get myself into trouble taking on debt at this time.

OP posts:
gomble12 · 05/05/2022 19:34

I'd buy just wouldn't expect to make a ton of profit.

Original poster
Edinburghwaverley · 05/05/2022 19:34

I should be able to overpay the mortgage by a hundred a month (depending on living costs of course) so hopefully that will help cushion me a bit when the fixed term ends?

OP posts:
filo443 · 05/05/2022 19:35

I moved in 2008, much bigger mortgage, still rode it out no problem, interest rates actually plummeted so it was still a good decision, plus nothing really came on the market and mortgages were much harder to secure.
I overpaid and reduced my borrowing significantly. I've doubled my money by todays housing costs.
Not sure it's a good example.

gomble12 · 05/05/2022 19:35

yes that will help

gomble12 · 05/05/2022 19:36

I've doubled my money by todays housing costs.

personally i don't see this happening, think we are in for a long period of stagnation but better to pay off than pay rent.

filo443 · 05/05/2022 19:38

Buy Op, you will be safe, secure and paying your own mortgage, a future not owing your own home will be a lot less fun. I bought and sold a few properties, now I'm mortgage free, a good place to be. Overpay as much as you can!

TheYearOfSmallThings · 05/05/2022 19:39

If you can afford it I would go ahead and buy.

Over the last 20 years there have been so many times where people have been hesitant to buy, but everyone I know is glad they bought. Even the ones who bought before the crash in Ireland are ahead now. Over the same period I have seen people put it off and put it off...and now they are renting for life, unless they inherit a house.

filo443 · 05/05/2022 19:42

@gomble12

But you would have said the same in 2008...my 400K house is now worth over 800K..

in 2008 people just stopped selling, the market stagnated utill prices recovered. Ten years of paying a mortgage and overpaying left me mortgage free.

AlmostThereMaybe · 05/05/2022 19:47

I would buy. I bought my first home when the housing market was crazy hot and I took out a 5 year fixed mortgage as everyone was telling me that interest rates were going to rise - I ended up on what looked like an expensive deal but it gave me peace of mind and it wasn’t long before my mortgage was less than rent, which had gone up quite a bit locally…as had the value of my house!

VestaTilley · 05/05/2022 19:50

Buy it now. If you can comfortably afford it and won’t need to sell within 5 years or so then get on the property ladder.