Wowzaroony the property market atm in South East (commutable distance to London is i-n-s-a-n-e).
This is more of a ramble to see if anyone else can relate - what are your experiences? - versus a request for advice, but if you guys have any then please do impart your wisdom!
We are FTBs with a healthy 15% deposit and have already missed out on one property that ended up going for 10% over asking which we just couldn't match (it was a total doerupper).
We are looking at some new properties on Sunday which are near the top end of our budget, and I already feel like I've lost out tbh.
We have the option of reducing our deposit to 10% if we need to increase an offer on a property, but then we're concerned about the increase in our monthly mortgage payments - we could afford it, but would rather have the disposable income for cosmetic work, etc (wouldn't we all...)
Fundamentally, we want to stay in the property we purchase for at least 7-10 years ideally so are looking at properties we can grow into. We are in our early 30s and so envisage this being our family home, and so we are trying to swallow the fact that property prices are sky high at the moment with the reasoning that we don't plan a quick turnaround sale anyway so any immediate dips in the market wouldn't really effect us (we hope). We're renting atm, and also have thought that if we stopped looking now in the hope that prices would go down, in the next year or so, the amount we would be spending annually in rent (nearly £18k a year) may negate any property price dip...
We're also aware that renovation work at the moment is more expensive than normal - in the South East, does anyone have any idea for how more pricey in % terms things are than previous years?
Stories welcome....
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