I shouldn't be buying and I keep telling my OH that we absolutely shouldn't buy now, but, I guess you need context. Originally, we were looking at houses in the 400-475k bracket. We had a 465k house fall through, which, frankly, is a relief, because were were going in at 95% LTV as FTBs, and, even though one of the primary reasons for buying it is the EXTREME and constant house price rises in that area over the last 15 years, I no longer think that's going to be the case in the future.
If they sell it in this market for more than 440k, I think they'll be lucky.
However, despite agreeing with the OH that we'll save up a 10% deposit plus at least a 10k slush fund over the next 18-22 months to protect from this scenario (whilst waiting for prices to fall and interest rates to stabilise), I can't keep my damn twitchy finger off Rightmove. HOWEVER.
We will no longer buy a house that's borderline reckless when it comes to outgoings and negative equity (well, it never was reckless persay, we would've had 2.1k disposable, but it was a very old house which could require expensive maintenance and needed a new kitchen, bathroom, carpets and a downstairs loo putting in).
I am mostly looking in the 300-375k bracket now, so if we really find something that will work for us, we can afford to overpay and thus avoid getting stuck on an horrific SVR in the future.
It is mostly half hearted, but we do live in a rental that I don't want to live in (mainly because it's in the centre of a farm, can be seen into from all four sides, constantly smells of shit and is impossible to keep clean). But, we have a very good LL, so nobody's forcing us to move. We're just of an age where we're sick of putting up with other people's shit: not enough plug points, floors which are impossible to keep clean, doors that have to be brutally yanked open and closed, no privacy glass in the bathrooms and dressing rooms, windows that are really hard to open and let flies in when closed. Stuff that just grind you down on a daily basis that you would just fix if you owned a home.
So part of my half hearted searches on Rightmove atm include the following keywords:
Realistic (realistically priced to sell - interestingly when I searched this word today, very few with that key word had been on longer than 2 months)
Motivated (motivated seller, will get their arse in gear/consider any offers)
Chain (chain free, no onward chain)
Annexe (a 3 bed with an annexe would work just as well as a 4 bed)
Vacant (obvious, but that also brings up vacant possession which means nothing)
All offers considered (some are cropping up with this, usually by houses done up by flippers, one even says 'any and all offers considered')
Extended (again, a smaller house with an extension may work on our budget better than a massive house)
What would really motivate me to view a property at the moment is: exceptionally realistically priced, and in good order throughout including half decent bathrooms and kitchens. Without a chain is by far my preference, not because we couldn't afford a 6.5 or even 7.5% mortgage rate, but mostly just because I can in no way be bothered with the menance of extremely volatile chains right now.
Have your tenants left? You need to sell the property vacant unless it's in a high demand area.