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Original poster

I regret buying our house because of how much it cost

54 replies

Regretitnow · 06/08/2023 09:56

The amount we paid is frankly mind boggling and I still can't get my head around it. It's a lovely house, but omg, I feel sick thinking about it.

We aren't in trouble with the size of the mortgage, that's manageble, but I know we'll never sell it for what we paid due to the bubble we've bought in.

I feel like everyone thinks we are idiots for paying this much too 😞

OP posts:
Karmatime · 06/08/2023 14:44

We have just bought, offered in April. Similar properties are now being reduced but nothing has come up that suits us as well as this one and we do love it and plan to stay a long time. I keep telling myself that we would have missed out on this one if we’d waited and may not have found anything quite as good even if it was relatively cheaper. We were cash buyers which in some ways is harder to come to terms with as increased interest rates just mean that if we’d had any money left over it would have been making a little more interest.
I’m trying to get on with settling in and stop looking at Rightmove!

BunchofStars · 06/08/2023 14:58

Same here OP - last summer, we paid just over 110% of the asking price to secure this house. Even our solicitor queried it but the mortgage went through okay. It's our first house and we're in our 40s! Time was running out for us and we were placing offers on so many properties but not getting them. Someone actually bid more than us on this house but they were in a messy chain so the vendors chose us. Sometimes I am horrified and sick at the thought of how much we overpaid and how long it will take for the true value of the house to catch up to what we paid, but at the time there was simply no other option. We needed to stop throwing away so much money on rent. And we didn't have any more time to wait.

Original poster
Regretitnow · 06/08/2023 15:10

@BunchofStars wow, it must have been underpriced to start with though if you and one other buyer were prepared to pay 110% over the asking price?

There was someone who offered more than as well on our house but the vendors went with us as we were borrowing less.

Like you @Karmatime we couldn't wait for this much anticipated crash to come, and had to buy when we did.

OP posts:
BunchofStars · 06/08/2023 15:20

No I really don’t think it was underpriced, the asking price was very much in line with similar properties in the town! 😅 It was such a bubble as you say though, everything was going to best and final. Houses on at 350 were going for 385 and so on.

Greenwitchhorse · 06/08/2023 15:24

What is the alternative though?

Renting is extortionate and insecure.

At least you have your own place and are not an hostage to a landlord's whims.

You can always downsize to a smaller/cheaper property if needed.

OnaHotTinRoofNow · 06/08/2023 15:36

We will only move if we end up with awful neighbours otherwise this will be the house DS inherits unless it’s sold for care home fees or we have some sort of disaster financially.

Eloweeese · 06/08/2023 15:57

It's fine. Like another poster said, I've been buying and selling houses since the 80s. Sometimes they have shot up in value, sometimes they haven't, sometimes the value goes down for a bit and then goes up. Property ownership is a long game. Enjoy your new home.

onefinemess · 06/08/2023 16:37

How much did you pay and what is it worth now?

Beachwaves127 · 06/08/2023 18:59

Don’t forget you may have “overpaid” but because of when you bought it you may have got a better mortgage deal so your monthly payments at least short term are much lower than they may have been had you bought the house a year later for cheaper but got a worse mortgage deal.

CheeseyOnionPie · 06/08/2023 19:08

OP don’t worry, if you like the house itself then you did the right thing. There is something to be said about having a home you love living in. I would rather be in a home I love but overpaid for than a bargain that makes me feel meh

Sittingonasale · 06/08/2023 19:16

During Covid, my mum decided to move and put in an offer on a very standard 3 bed semi. Nothing particularly nice about it. In fact she's spent loads of money changing it and doing stuff to it.
She put in an offer 25K over asking because she couldn't find anywhere else and the EA told her that people had put higher offers in. My mum is very gullible and I told her to wait (she wasn't 'needing' to move, it was a rushed decision I think probably because she fell out with all her friends in previous place).

I feel like she's just thrown away 25 - 80 K (with all the improvements) because she wouldn't wait until the year after. Her older house was much nicer.

Original poster
Regretitnow · 07/08/2023 02:57

@BunchofStars ah you 'only' overpaid by 10%, not 110% as I had read your comment. That's not too bad.

We offered under the guide price so didn't overpay in that sense, only that there's a huge bubble in our area so a house that should be 600k is going for 700k. It's so expensive that the buyer pool is really limited when we do try to sell.

OP posts:
ParisP · 07/08/2023 03:31

There are lots of people in this position. At least it’s your home and you can paint it any colour you want, hammer nails into walls, keep pets if you desire, rent out a room without seeking permission. You paying it off over many years and eventually being mortgage free is better then renting once pension age.

also we don’t yet know the size of the blip/bubble and how long it will take to realign. Could be a small or large blip in house value.

oiltrader · 07/08/2023 06:55

It is a shame really. Imagine if you had bought cheaper and used the money you over spent on experiences for the family x

MoltenLasagne · 07/08/2023 07:06

We extended just after lockdown and the increased labour and materials costs means we ended up spending more than the increase in value of our house. Bit of a bummer, but we love the end result and I could live in this house forever very happily (DH is not 100% convinced on that yet...)

Original poster
Regretitnow · 07/08/2023 08:53

oiltrader · 07/08/2023 06:55

It is a shame really. Imagine if you had bought cheaper and used the money you over spent on experiences for the family x

This post feels condescending. I never said we'd have to go without, in fact I said the mortgage was very manageable. It's knowing we bought at the top I regret.

My family will still have 'experiences'.

OP posts:
BunchofStars · 07/08/2023 09:17

oiltrader · 07/08/2023 06:55

It is a shame really. Imagine if you had bought cheaper and used the money you over spent on experiences for the family x

Ah, maybe you haven’t read the thread? Certainly in my case, it simply wasn’t possible to buy the house we needed ‘cheaper.’ That’s kind of the point that OP and others are making. There was a pandemic house bubble where the vast majority of people had to overpay to secure a house. And with that comes some regret or worry (again, the point of this thread), but it’s tempered by plus points including having our own house, having security and so on. I really recommend you read the thread @oiltrader 😁

crossstitchingnana · 07/08/2023 09:30

We bought in 2006 and it was years before it started to increase in value. Don't care, I love it.

oiltrader · 07/08/2023 09:46

BunchofStars · 07/08/2023 09:17

Ah, maybe you haven’t read the thread? Certainly in my case, it simply wasn’t possible to buy the house we needed ‘cheaper.’ That’s kind of the point that OP and others are making. There was a pandemic house bubble where the vast majority of people had to overpay to secure a house. And with that comes some regret or worry (again, the point of this thread), but it’s tempered by plus points including having our own house, having security and so on. I really recommend you read the thread @oiltrader 😁

Show quote history

People did not have to move in the pandemic. I think it was greed with the stamp duty reduction x

BunchofStars · 07/08/2023 09:49

Absolutely the stamp duty reduction fuelled most of the madness.

Absolutely many people did indeed have to move during 2020-22.

Ohmylovejune · 07/08/2023 10:04

We live in Cornwall and have 7 neighbours. 5 moved during COVID at peak prices and they, probably, would not get those prices if resold now. Some homes down the road have come back on the market and are at least 10 percent lower.

However, the houses are all unique in their own way. So, if they wanted them, that was the price they had to pay or someone else would have won the bid and they wouldnt be able to get another the same. All 5 are retiring here either already or sometime in the next few years. If you love where you live that gives a quality of life worth paying for (the OP says they can afford it).

InTheCludgie · 07/08/2023 10:17

We didn't get the stamp duty holiday here in Scotland and it was still crazy here, the crappiest of houses were going to sealed bids and for tens of thousands over asking.

ResponsibleWalrus · 07/08/2023 10:24

My cousin bought her 2 bed flat about 3 months before the 2007 crash for 100k. She was in negative equity for years. Then she got a job in London and had to rent it out while renting a room for herself in London because it wasn't worth selling. When she was ready to settle down and sold it 12 years later it was worth 190k and she'd paid down quite a bit of the mortgage on top. It didn't feel like it at the time but she said buying the flat when she did turned out to be a stroke of luck. She'd never have been able to afford the house she has now if it wasn't for her flat.

ActDottie · 07/08/2023 10:25

We bought last year probably for too much… but we plan on being here minimum 10 years in which time it’ll probably appreciate. We also plan to extend etc. and most importantly it’s our home :)

rainingsnoring · 07/08/2023 10:31

BunchofStars · 07/08/2023 09:49

Absolutely the stamp duty reduction fuelled most of the madness.

Absolutely many people did indeed have to move during 2020-22.

Definitely a mixture of things.

Some people needed to move because of personal circumstance (as always)

Some people decided to move because credit was so cheap (BOE and other central banks dropped interest rates to zero). Stamp duty holiday fuelled the craziness even more.
Another significant factor was all the money being thrown at the general public in the form of furlough when there was little to spend on and lots of fraudulent loan claiming some of which has gone into the housing market.
Lot of people jumped on in 2022 as interest rates started to rise (but houses were still v expensive) too.

Some people didn't have much to do because they were on furlough and started to consider their surroundings more.
Some people were WFH and decided to leave London, etc

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