To try to buy a house right now?

[Hinterlander]

I’m moving to a new area with my husband and child. We are looking to buy a home, but everything I read about falling prices and rising costs is spooking me, and I’m looking for some advice on what the best approach might be.

We are currently renting. We feel a bit burned from buying just before the Brexit vote and selling last year, and losing money on a flat. We don’t want to repeat our mistakes.

We have a mortgage in principle in place on a 5.something % deal fixed for five years. I don’t think we will be able to borrow as much if we wait until this time next year as my salary will reduce and childcare costs will increase. We will still be able to relatively comfortably afford repayments on the offer we currently have, so don’t think the bigger mortgage is totally overstepping things, however are conscious that house prices and interests rates may fall and mean that we could afford a similar property for less in the future.

Rental costs in the new area are cheaper than our mortgage repayments would be, so we could consider continuing to rent. In the short term, this would allow us to save more, but we obviously won’t be paying into our own property. I worry that property prices will actually stabilise or rise and then we will have “wasted” money renting and may be in a worse position to secure a mortgage.

We don’t know what to do. We are looking for a turnkey home to avoid the added costs and, mainly, stress of a renovation right now. I don’t want to be caught out by paying over the odds for a beautiful home. I want to make a decision with my head as well as my heart, but emotions keep coming into it when I think of making a nest for my family!

Can anyone help? To add, I know we are very fortunate to be in this position at all in the current climate. Please don’t attack me, I’m genuinely unsure of what to do to be sensible and as savvy as possible.

YANBU - crack on and buy a house
YABU - don’t even consider buying now

I think if you need a house, find a house that works for you and your family and you can afford it, and as long as you aren't looking to flip it in a couple of years for profit, buy the house.

Property is seldom a bad investment if it's a long-term and carefully planned investment. The problem comes when you buy it in the expectation of generating short term profit. These are the people who are going to get caught out in the current market. Not people buying a home that they need, want and can afford.

With the cost of living still going up your mortgage offer will go down. Also your salary will go down with an extra dependant so bank could offer less next time. Depends though if your going to be staying in your house for years though.

If you’re in it for the long term that absolutely buy. I would never rent, I refuse to make someone else richer and have nothing to show for it!

You are considering all the right things , don’t get carried away in bidding etc and you’ll be fine

I would buy, gives you security and you pay your mortgage rather than someone else's.

We recently gave up trying to sell - you're more likely to get somewhere with a lower than asking offer at the moment sp it might be a good time

I’d look for a house, there’s honestly never a right time to buy so you’ll constantly be waiting for that time. It sounds like you need a house is just go for it.

Also if you plan to live there for 10+ years it’s so much more than just a house it’ll be a home and so much more than about how much you paid for it.

If it's long term commitment it doesn't matter about house value. With rentals so expensive it's a no brainier to buy if you can

There’s never a bad time to buy, there’s only bad times to sell.

As long as you aren’t buying to flip (as that market is dicey at the moment) and will stay for a few years minimum you are always better off buying than renting.

We have rented on occasion where we knew we weren’t staying somewhere long, but we have bought and sold a lot too. I prefer to buy.

If it is a long term move then short term
house market fluctuations level out. It’s only on mumsnet that people are convinced there will suddenly be a crash when all the evil landlords are stopped and they will be able
to buy a 4 bed in London for £150k.

We are in a similar predicament and have decided to rent.
I disagree that you're always better off buying. We've certainly been worse off through buying in the past and I am certain we would be worse off buying now as well.

Like you, rents here are so much lower than equivalent mortgage would be.

How much cheaper are rental prices near you? And have you taken into account how much income you could get if you put your deposit into a high interest account?

same for us

The uncertainty of renting would drive me insane - never knowing when the landlord would require his property back etc.

If you are buying to make a quick buck then don't, if you are buying so you have your own home then do.

I am fairly certain that our landlord won't want the house back in any rush, but if she does then we can look to buy then. We will still have our deposit growing nicely in the bank so we can buy at any time we want to.

Even though OP might not be able to borrow quite so much, if house prices have dropped a bit and they've managed to save extra deposit, they won't be in a bad position to buy, especially as they would be chain free.

Keep in mind that when interest rates fall, house prices will rise, as people can borrow more.