Is it wiser to wait.....house buying in this unpredicatable world

[scrumbrum12]

Hi
We have been wanting to buy since just before Brexit. We are reliant on the part help of my parents (who we will reimburse, long story). They pulled out of helping when Brexit happened as they thought there would be a crash, then covid... In November they said they could help again thankfully (rental is awful and draining us financially and mentally but nothing else available ). We have been searching in a tricky market and finally found somewhere so wanted to make an offer. My parents have told us we have to wait though due to the state of affairs in Ukraine. My dad talks as if WW3 is imminent , also that if we buy now it is likely the prices will drop significantly. I reminded him that things didn't go the way predicted with Brexit and covid but he thinks this is different. Is he being sensible or highly anxious? Is it better to wait? I always think you can only go on what you know now but equally don't want to be stupid with our money. We are tied to this area due to work and specialist school place for son. Thanks

if you'd purchased a house before Brexit you would have seen an increase of £54000 on a house worth £209000 which was the average house price

Now you'd have also paid 6 years of a 25 year mortgage leave just 19 years to pay and you'd have paid off £32000 with just £174000 left to pay

thats paying £1000 per month repayments at 3.5%

so your dads advice has cost you around £86000

Id stop listening to your parents, they give dubious advice

@ivykaty44

if you'd purchased a house before Brexit you would have seen an increase of £54000 on a house worth £209000 which was the average house price

Now you'd have also paid 6 years of a 25 year mortgage leave just 19 years to pay and you'd have paid off £32000 with just £174000 left to pay

thats paying £1000 per month repayments at 3.5%

so your dads advice has cost you around £86000

Id stop listening to your parents, they give dubious advice

Not sure that will make the OP feel any better, as she's not 'listening' to her parents; she's reliant on a loan from them which they keep offering and then withdrawing.

FWIW I think a dip is inevitable at some point, but nobody can say when and how much by. Sounds like a shitty situation to be in, OP, fingers crossed you can come to an agreement with them.

The type of house I want to buy has risen by almost £200k since June 2016 when the Brexit vote occurred. I'm not sure where you are, but if in England, you'd have seen at least a 20% rise since 2016 if you had bought then.

If you can scrape together enough to at least buy a starter home now, I'd do that. The lack of supply and high demand coupled with low interest rates is keeping prices extremely high. Upgrade when the promised cash arrives (probably never), or when you've managed to save some more.

I bought my house in 2019 for just under 250k, next door which is smaller and less modern has just sold. I’m not sure what it went for but it was listed at offers over 280k and sold in a week.

Do you have any deposit yourself OP or is it all coming from your parents? If you don’t have a lifetime ISA it is worth getting one, although you have to have it for a year before buying. In fact if you don’t have one maybe you could persuade your parents to give you the money to put in there for the government top up, and that way you get control of it.

[quote scrumbrum12]@GregBrawlsInDogJail we have an AIP for the mortgage we can get. They have money from property they sold in their account they were going to lend us.[/quote]
As a matter of interest, what are they doing with the money meanwhile.
Is it increasing in value or is it losing its purchasing-power? Can you ask them that.

Assuming you are planning to stay somewhere for a good while, I would absolutely buy now. We had offer accepted in October and completed last month. Paid significantly over guide price, but truly don't care. It's a lovely home and we plan to stay here 20-30 years until we retire and need to downsize. I don't think housing prices are going to tank anytime soon.

That said, I'd be cautious about the loan. My understanding is that lenders are quite anxious about 'family loans'. A gift with no expectation of repayment is much less tenuous. But I would want that money in my account now. We had a family gift of money and we had to show a lot of documentation about where it came from, and that it was definitely in our account, etc.

I think they are being very unfair to you - you need a house now not when the world runs out of problems (never). I told my daughter a few months ago that I would give her a big chunk of money to buy a flat and nothing would make me go back on my word to her

I'd be equally wary of relying on money from your MILs estate. If she's still alive then any asset she has could disappear if she needs care.

Buy what you can afford and make do? Millions of people have to do that.

@Nemorth

I'd be equally wary of relying on money from your MILs estate. If she's still alive then any asset she has could disappear if she needs care.

Buy what you can afford and make do? Millions of people have to do that.

Agreed.

Buy a flat instead of a house, without your parent money.

I'd be equally wary of relying on money from your MILs estate. If she's still alive then any asset she has could disappear if she needs care.

This!
What’s the situation with your MIL op? Is there a possibility that she might need to sell the house at some point to pay for care?
Our friend’s DM has been in a carehome for six years now. All the money she received from the sale of her house has now been spent. I think people under estimate the cost of this.

The loan and relying on your MiL’s inheritance is concerning. As PP’s say, buy what you can afford on your own. I’d buy as soon as you can.

Well you say a five hour commute but quite frankly there’s never been a better time to get a new job look at moving to the Midlands or the north west you can buy a very nice house on the outskirts of Liverpool near the countryside for less than 300,000

Thank you everyone. We are going to spend the next couple of weeks looking at shared ownership as an alternative and then have a very frank discussion before we decide what we do.