Desperate to move house

[critterjitter]

Would I be really stupid to buy at the moment?

I'm in rented accommodation with lump sum from the sale of my house (sold last summer at the top of the market). Only thing is that I hate the place we are in (and so does DD) - near a very busy main road, noisy neighbours, miles away from DD's school, don't know anyone round here etc.

I've thought about moving into other rental accommodation, but appreciate that I am just throwing chunks of money at landlords by renting. Have had tentative looks at houses to buy but am scared of buying something next week, only to slide into a property crash.

Any house I buy would need a major mortgage, so would probably need to rent a room out to sustain mortgage payments. Have seen a house I like the look of (ironically backs onto my old house), and its been on the market for about 3 months now, in which time they've already dropped 20k. Should I try and reduce the price further in anticipation of a housing crash?

I tried putting in an offer on another property at 10% below asking price and they point blank refused, so just don't know what the market is doing at the moment and how confident vendors are of getting the price they want.

What to do??????????

Can't answer your question, but you say they've already dropped 20K and you also tried to reduce the price by another 10% - not surprised that they refused.

Don't wait to move. No one knows for sure what will happen and as long as you buy somewhere you can afford and want to live if for a good few years you can ride out any troughs in the housing market.

Says she who is due to complete in a couple of weeks!

Thanks for your replies.

Joash. I was talking about 2 different properties - the first one I made an offer on that was 10% less (on advice of estate agents!) and they point blank refused. Second one has dropped 20k already (it keeps being readvertised at lower prices) and the (different) agents mumbled that they may go down further. Also said that he felt it had been overpriced initially.

GrinningSoul - the worry is that I could buy the same thing at 50k less in 6 months or so because the market had crashed.

I think that if you intend to buy again - you should probably go ahead. If you wait, there is always the chance that you might not be able to afford it in a few months, plus you might eat into your deposit - thus needing n even bigger mortgage.

if you are desperate to move, find a place you want to stay in for a number of years, and don't pay more than you can afford, it doesn't matter what it's worth in 6 months time.

Thanks again for your replies.

I'm not so much worried about what it would be worth in 6 months time, more what I'd be able to buy it for in 6 months time if I waited. Saving myself a big chunk of money woud really help, and mean that I wouldn't have to rent out a room and borrow so much. I'm also worried that if things get worse in the markets, I may not be able to remortgage at the end of the mortgage term, because they are already turning people away.

Will prices drop to such an extent that it will be worth waiting a few months and paying rent in the meantime?

I would wait a bit....... and if you can't stand your current pad, then look around for somewhere else to rent for the time being. I really can't see prices going up any time soon, so in theory, you'll be no worse off than you are now, and very probably better off.

It will be worth less in 6 months It will defintely not be worth more unless you buy a complete wreck at rock bottom price renovate and are very lucky and even then unlikely.Wait if you can i am in horrible rented too and ds hates it but we are waiting at least a few more montsh and then will offer 15% off til I get somewhere.The days of a rising market are over

No One knows. There is no such thing as "the Market"

Just a series of micro markets.

Or so I read in the Telegraph today!

Thanks everyone for your replies. I went to see the house today - massively overpriced for what it was. I get the impression that EAs are now inflating prices in anticipation of buyers knocking down prices significantly because of market conditions.

My mum reckons I should adopt a wait and see approach to whether the new owners of my old house will choose (or need) to move in these uncertain times, in an attempt to get rid of the house they bought last summer at top whack.

Of course it matters if it is worth less in 6 months, it means you would have had a smaller mortgage for 25 years.

Unless you are in a position where you don't have much of a deposit and so may struggle to get a mortgage in a few months' time then you should wait. People who say that the market will rise in the long term and so it doesn't matter are not thinking things through and are deluding themslves. Clearly, as has been pointed out, if you buy now and have to have for example a 100k mortgage because the prices are high but could have a 50k mortgage on the same sort of house in a years time then you are better off waiting.

I am trying so hard to stop looking at houses and instead look to find a rental property. But it does make sense to wait. OK so there may well not be the massive price drops some people seem to be talking about - but there's nothing to lose in sitting it out for a while to see what happens.

I think it depends very much on where you are. up here in Scotland the market is still pretty healthy, and prices are still rising. Both me (2-bed flat) and a friend (large townhouse) have sold our places within a week in the last month.

Thanks for your replies. Am trying hard now not to panic into buying somewhere. The estate agent rang me today about the house I viewed and seemed quite desperate, kept suggesting that I put in an offer, any offer. Told him that the price was higher now than similar properties had sold for at the top of the market next year. Just kept, almost pleading, to "just put in an offer" and kept asking me what I thought the house was worth.

Times have certainly changed!