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Property/DIY

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Original poster

If you had 240k in cash what house price would you look up to?

22 replies

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 00:12

Hi there

We are thinking of selling up to become mortage free (we both keep getting made redundant and the stess and is getting to much) and will hopefully have approx 240k in cash after we pay off the mortgage and moving costs. I think we will end up in something rather small but the trade off is no more sleepless nights.

What house price would you look up to if you had 240k cash? Is 260k realistic?

TIA :)

OP posts:

Tortington · 10/07/2012 00:16

isnt there aminimum you have to borrow over a certain term or something?

i'd go for outright if poss. wjere in the country do you live (ish)

Tortington · 10/07/2012 00:17

crikey - just realised got wrong end of stick - you want to borrow 260 against 240

right.

i wouldn't risk 240 grand in this climate tbh - it is REAL money after all

Ponders · 10/07/2012 00:27

as a cash buyer I reckon you could look at up to 280K - if not higher

depending on market conditions where you are, of course (some places are still sellers' market ) but if you find something you like, esp if it's been on for a month or 2, they should bite your hand off!

Original poster

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 00:35

Opps, maybe I wasnt clear.

We don't want to borrow any money at all, we want to be free of mortgage so we need to sell.

I mean we can afford to pay 240k maximum for the next home, but my question was what price of house should we look up to that is been advertised?

As an example is looking at house that is on the market at 270k realistic or wasting time if we can only offer 30k less?

I have seen a really lovely family home for 280k but I dont want to view it and fall in love if Im being totally unrealistic.

OP posts:

Ponders · 10/07/2012 00:38

yes, I got it

def worth having a look at £280K - providing it hasn't just come on the market

& providing you have your own sold (which you haven't? you def need to sell yours first & move into rented while you look)

Original poster

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 00:53

Thanks Ponders :)

It has been on since February, the one that looks good though I have seen a few others too.

We havent even got ours on the market! I have just been looking at what is realistically affordable to help us make our mind up once a for all.

OP posts:

bellabelly · 10/07/2012 01:08

I would be looking at asking prices up to 300k. Some of those might laugh at an offer of 240, some would be seriously interested - all depends on the sellers' circumstances.

RCheshire · 10/07/2012 01:20

I'd also look up to 300. Yes, 20% off asking is a long shot, but better not to miss trying for something. More realisitically you're probably looking at houses around 270, knocking 30 off.

Just to check though, if you both keep being made redundant, I'm assuming you're not talking about putting every penny into a house? The old rule of thumb was to keep back a budget that would cover outgoings for 3 months if you had no income. I'm quite conservative I guess and go far beyond that.

Original poster

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 02:10

Wow 300k.... well I suppose if find a few houses we like, we wont be putting our eggs in one basket so worth a shot if they say no.

I just know what I get like with houses- I see one and fall in love and get a bit upset if it doesnt work out! Strangely enough there is little at 300k mark in the areas I have been looking. Its all about 250k ish then leaps to 350k!

RChesire yes we hope to keep a bit back as savings, though it depends on the cost of the new hourse as to what we will save.

Im not sniffing at 240k but it is quite the task finding a nice-not-too-much-of-a-shoe box house in nice village (we are not really town people at all), with good schools and a walkable train station that gets to London Bridge reasonably!

OP posts:

crazyhead · 10/07/2012 07:37

I wouldn't worry about borrowing a little bit, personally. I'd get the house I actually wanted and would suit my family for a while in your situation, if paying nearer to 300 is what gets it.

30-50 grand is a tiny mortgage compared to anyone I know, and you'll get amazing rates on a long term fix if you want it. As long as you've got some sort of Plan B, you'll be fine. If you both lost your jobs, could you take in a lodger for a while? Temp work in Tesco until you've found something else? Overpay while you do both have jobs?

I hope this doesn't sound flippant, but I've had to borrow much more heavily in the past to get something decent, and when I did, it was because a) it felt riskier NOT to buy b) I had a 'nightmare scenario' plan so I felt ok with it.

This is all aside from the usual housing market caveats - which I daresay depend on where you are buying.

R Cheshire's perspective may be more sensible, though. :)

EugenesAxe · 10/07/2012 07:56

I normally think 10% off offer price is reasonable so yes I guess £260/270k. Is your £240k net of both selling and buying costs? If not latter then you might have to scale back a bit I guess.

Original poster

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 13:40

Hi, yes 240k is after selling/ buying costs and assumming we get the offer we need. The thought of selling again is so stressful, but must be better than the stress of worrying about losing our home... Again :(

The problem is crazyhead we have both already lost our jobs :( we are both in volatile industries. This is dh 2nd time and my 3rd in space of 5 years :( we are doing all we can, applying for anything and Im trying to set a small business up whilst dh also is selling stuff on ebay to pay for professional exams to have a better cv etc

All this with a high needs 8 month old baby in the mix! The stress is making me unwell. I thought if we went mortgage free it would reduce the stress and free options up- i.e if one of us decided to retrain from scratch etc.

OP posts:

vivandtom · 10/07/2012 14:27

Can you actually spend the entire £240k on a house?

Do you need to subtract stamp duty, solicitors, removals, estate agents (try Housenetwork - v good & cheap too) and so on? - Say £5000 approx

What about allowing a lump sum for at least a year's living expenses as you're both looking for work? Say £20k ish

Would that mean you actually have £225K, in which case maybe looking at houses up to £250K would be your top range?

vivandtom · 10/07/2012 14:29

My maths is rubbish! £240k - minus £25K is £215K house buying budget so really you might be best looking at stuff up to £240 ish

Original poster

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 15:35

240k is after allowing for moving costs etc

OP posts:

lightrain · 10/07/2012 15:38

Wish this was my question, sounds like you are in a great financial situation! I'd look £300k and under.

SecretPlansAndCleverTricks · 10/07/2012 15:44

I think we will end up in something rather small

oh, poor you.

vivandtom · 10/07/2012 15:51

240k is after allowing for moving costs etc

Sorry - you said that at the beginning too.

Slightly off your topic, but are you possibly planning a whole you know, 'life change' too? With re-training or self-employment potentially - just basing this on your name as TheArtist and having an interest in that kind of thing.

TimeWasting · 10/07/2012 15:57

I'd spend as little of it as possible on the minimum space we needed and get the rest into safe savings/investment.

greenfieldgirl · 10/07/2012 16:14

£250k is where stamp duty increases so you find there aren't a lot of houses just above that value - lots marketed just under to attract more interest or they jump up to £300k cos they are worth paying the extra for. If you have £240k to spend, you might get a bargain as sellers are realistic about dropping to under £250k stamp duty threshold.

kalidasa · 10/07/2012 17:40

We were cash buyers but didn't get anything off for it in the end as we were buying in crazy London and apparently up to about half of buyers have cash in some bits of London. London is still a fairly "sellers' market" as well. Sounds like situation is probably different where you are though.

We didn't in the end use up all our budget - kept about 10% of it over, partly because we knew we would have to buy a lot of furniture (had been renting before) and partly because we hoped to start a family fairly soon after moving and wanted some cash set aside for that. (In the event we pre-empted matters a little and it turned out I was already pregnant on the day we moved in and spent it sitting around nauseously convinced I was going to chuck in front of a full Pickfords team. . . )

Original poster

TheArtist · 10/07/2012 23:36

Hi everyone

Thanks for advice. Right, we are going to make this real and get the house on the market.... Dh is especially spurred on now his favourite house has dropped to 230k :)

We will intially Look up to houses of 250k hoping to spend max of 230k as I think everyone is right and we should try and keep some money back. People on here are very sensible :)

Very daunted but excited....

Cheers again :)

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