If you have just bought property

[GorgeousLadyofWrestling]

How do you feel right now?

Me and DH first time buyers. Both nearly 40, three kids. Good jobs and have been desperate to buy since the last crash. It’s taken this long to accomplish it. We live in London - just bought a two bed flat in south London and completed in Feb. The asking price was already 25k-35k below the other flats in the area (it’s a massive purpose built estate of identical maisonettes) as an elderly couple had lived here for years and it had not been updated. Our offer of 25k less than the asking price was accepted. We didn’t have a great deposit but have nearly 100k income. (High rent meant saving was difficult.). Generally I feel like we got in by the skin of our teeth - two months later and I think lending would have tightened up, and we might have missed out.

Yes, lower LTV is best but we live far from an ideal world. Our mortgage outgoing is the same as our rent, only now we own so I feel grateful rather than worried about the house market crashing. We have to pay for our housing one way or another so it’s better it’s mortgage than rent.

But I read on here comments from some posters that if you’ve just bought, you should be very worried. If you’ve just completed, how do you feel?

We bought in November and every day I feel more confident it was the right thing to do.

Love the house, it has made lock down much more pleasant than it would have been in our last place, and we are safe work wise and location wise for the next five years. Like you though we have a decent income, out a largeish deposit down and have quite a lot of wriggle room each month.

@GorgeousLadyofWrestling I think the key thing for you is how long do you intend to stay in your place? If the plan was to sell up in the next 2-3 years, I think you'd need to accept that you probably won't have made much on it. But if your plan is longer term than that, personally, I wouldn't be too worried. I completed in February having spent the best part of 10 years saving for a deposit. People warned me not to purchase just yet, saying I should wait until brexit is finalised, but honestly, I didn't see the point in continuing to pay expensive London rent, whilst my deposit was sat in a low interest account. For me, I knew it was a better option to put my money into property, knowing that I'd be staying put in my first home for a while. Interest rates were stupidly low, so I took a 5 year fixed deal at 1.74%. I know what my outgoings will look like for the next 5 years, and I know this is cheaper than the London rent I was paying. I feel very happy with my decision. Like you, I got it under asking price too as seller was keen to sell, so I definitely feel I got a good deal.

I think...you know...the reality of our situation is with 3 kids in one room, they WILL need their space within five years. So would hope things are better by then. But if need be, not to screw our selves, DH and I have discussed us using the front room for a couple of years and giving up our bedroom. We chose to have three children, we’ve only just managed to buy, this is the reality of our life and it’s not a huge sacrifice to do that for what we see as a huge long term gain. Granted it’s not the MN ideal of every child having their own room but we don’t have that ability. Gain in terms of security and having a place that’s a home, not just a rental.

We also went for a five year fixed deal, not too dissimilar to your rate. Very happy with that and gives us an idea of how much we need to save when thinking ahead in five years time.

Property prices will inevitably go down but interest rates will inevitably go up- you win in one respect and lose with another. First and foremost a property is a home so you have that!

We've been in our house for a year. OP the way you refer to getting in 'by the skin of your teeth' resonates with our experience too. Top of our budget, was the last of 7 properties we offered on, we nearly lost the sale of our flat in the process. But we got it. Total renovation and still loads to do , but.... its home.... and will be for some time, I hope

I completed in Feb.

Very happy. Any issues - I'll ride it out.

It's meant I have a lot more security now to make it through the next difficult phase. I'm about to lose my job!