Help me with my housing decision - trying to decide what's best

[bambinobambino]

Bit of background, we sold our house in 2009 and the very bottom of the market . Have been renting ever since. In that time we have offered on numerous houses and been outbid on all of them, gazumped on one and lost out on a sealed bid to a cash buyer (even though amounts were the same).

We are chain free with hefty deposit.

A house has come on the market a few doors away from us. It is very nice but it is not our dream home, is under budget and the garden is smaller than we would like. However it is big enough, fully refurbished and within walking distance of DS's school.

All the other houses we have offered on have been period houses which needed work. None of them total wrecks but 'long term projects' Old lady's homes basically.

DH started a new job at the beginning of the year and I am freelancing part time (2 children under 5).

So our dilemma is this. We could stay renting and wait for the perfect house, but actually the perfect house is probably more than we can afford (hence we are always being outbid) and may never actually come up (there are about 10 in the village that we would consider ideal). The chances are we would have to really stretch ourselves to be able to afford them, even if prices did come down. Also, our deposit is earning virtually nothing in the bank as interest rates are so low.

Or, we could buy this house. If we continued to pay our monthly rental amount, we would have paid our mortgage off in 5 years. Then we could move to a bigger house as DH would be more secure in his job and I could also have a more permanent job by then.
Even if prices continued to slide, they would also slide more on the bigger house that we were buying.

So that's my question really, wait, stretch or settle?

I'd buy the house now.

Depends on whether you think this house will sell easily again? As you say, may not be worth much more in 5 yrs time so is just an alternative to having to pay rent and at least you are not at mercy of a landlord chucking you all out (renting in this country sucks ).

I would probably buy the house if I was you, but I expect others will tell you to hold off and continue renting as there may be further falls!

I think it will. It's on a busy road but the catchment primary is over subscribed and I know people are actually renting out their own houses and renting here to get their kids in.

All the rooms are nicely proportioned. It's just the garden really. It's a nice size but some land at the back was sold off by the previous owners to build a bungalow, with the access down the side of the house - so you are always looking at what you could have won .

Are you me? We are about to buy a less than beautiful house - but, the location is right (also a village where supply is so limited we have no idea how long it could be before something else comes up - could be months, but equally could be years). The house gives us enough space, is financially low-risk because we're not overstretching and we will reassess in 5 years or so as our children get towards the end of primary. I believe that house prices are going to fall considerably - either nominally or as a result of inflation. My strategy is going to be to cover my eyes and ears while singing la-la-la each time a house price report comes out. However, we also think that if our next move is a trade-up the percentage loss on this property will be mitigated by the cheaper price of the next. Just like you, our money is barely keeping up with inflation, while rents in our area are soaring. Mostly, I just want to be nearer to school and to have a sense of being 'settled'. Oh, and I'll be able to stick pictures where I damn well like!

Loving your name, thromdibulator. It comes apart nightly in our house .

In fact, through all our housing and financial woes, that book has always cheered us up!

Yes, in a falling market we figure that a low risk investment is a better bet. In 3 years DS2 will be at school and then catchment won't be a such an issue (although I do like walking to school).

The other upside is that in buying a cheaper house I will finally finally have some money to spend on nice curtains

After a decade in some rented 'shockers' I'm looking forward to having enough Dooklas spare to redecorate as soon as we move in.

go for the house, if another comes up - you can put an offer in and sell up

you dont have to pay off your mortgage before you move

I was going to say hang on for the right house until I got to the bit about you being mortgage free in five years in this place. I think that it's definitely better to go for affordable in those circumstances and concentrate on work and family for a few years with the catchment area being the clincher.

Good luck.

We went to see it again this evening. I actually like it a lot more now.

However the kitchen is much smaller than we have been used to. About a third of the cupboard space. I couldn't work out where they keep all their food!