To Be Completely Fed Up of this market - solidarity please!

[VimtoQueen90]

Just a bit of a moan really!

My husband and I bought a 3 bed property in South Wales in 2016 for 240k. It's in a lovely area and a 6 minute walk to the train station which was one of the main reasons why we chose it as we have 1 car and mainly use the train to get to the town centre for work.

When we originally bought, we planned to hopefully have a family and move to a 4 bed in 5-8 years hopefully if we saved enough and got better paying jobs. At the time the price of a 4 bed was about 380k but we didn't really expect it to exceed about 450k in this timeframe. Anyway, long story short, we believe our house is now possibly worth 330k but the price of a 4 bed is now around 550-575k! We've been saving to eventually make the move since we first bought our house and have saved quite a lot but just can't save at the pace prices are increasing. The stamp duty holiday and lockdown increased prices in the area like crazy and it seems a lot of people relocated here as it was cheaper with a good standard of living. We now have 2 kids and managed to get new jobs but in order to stay in the area (our first child starts school locally in September), it's looking like we might have to jump and buy a house around the 525k mark as we can't see prices coming down anytime soon but our mortgage may be around 1500pcm (currently paying £800). We're both quite hesitant to pay this as we're wary about having too large a mortgage and interest rates and also the increase in bills/council tax/life.

I just can't get my head around how much prices have jumped! Everything on Rightmove seems to be getting reduced which indicates to me that everyone feels the same about prices but I just can't see them coming down?! Is it better to just jump and buy before we get priced out completely? We've looked at moving to other areas but love it here and it's not hugely cheaper elsewhere for a 4 bed!

OP what you have in my humble opinion is ‘wants’ - not needs- you have a home and in an area you like. Paved yards can be great for paddling pools and sandpits etc- and kids can be put in bunks in the 2nd bedroom if the small 3rd bothers you till they are about 8 easily.you can then use 3rd for an office or storeage etc

I realise you don’t like a small kitchen but it’s not the end of the world- it’s very easy to think a bigger house solves all issues but unless you are buying outright or not having to up mortgage- it brings new issues- much bigger payments , pressures if anyone is out of work for even short periods etc - less ability to take good holidays etc- it’s swings and roundabouts

problem is too much time on Rightmove makes your lifestyle seem inferior in some way which it isn’t and often it’s pressure from partners too - many people seem to have an idea of the house reflecting how well they are doing.

i would honestly look sideways if you genuinely would struggle at those levels- look at other 3 bedders that have bigger kitchens or room for an extension or loft conversions AND have a decent garden - there will be some and it’s far less of a jump - thing is if you do that is to go for something with scope that can be done over a period of time - but may only be a £50k to £70k jump.

Following on from that - here’s an example of what I was talking about- already big- 3 good bedrooms with possibility of garage conversion too - lovely garden, big kitchens and in Cowbridge- which is very nice !

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159704954#/?channel=RES_BUY

it's not quite a surprise about FTBs, somebody needs to close the chain, otherwise people who's deposit is locked in the equity can't move without moving to rental etc. etc.

@Crikeyalmighty You're right, it's definitely a want, we do think we could stay here a bit longer and it wouldn't be the end of the world as we do have everything we need in the vicinity and DH is also worried about the increased cost of a bigger mortgage, council tax etc. We wouldn't really want to pay the stamp duty on a bigger 3 bed as we still need an office for a proper desk set up so DH can do his data work, but we can definitely make it work a bit longer. The other option is a cheaper 4 bed further out but then we need to think about changing children's schools etc and they're not much cheaper. Lots to think about. Our biggest concern is 'will prices go up if we don't move soon' as we can't save at the rate that prices are increasing. Happy to stay a few years more but definitely not forever. I guess a lot of people are in the same boat, just a bit frustrating after 9 years of saving and working towards 'the forever home'!

@Lulubellamozarella Hope the price reductions brings around more interest for you!

Well the cost of your house has gone up nearly 38% in 9 years but you are also complaining the asking price of the more sort after houses you want to move too have gone up roughly 45% in the same. That is not a wild difference given a 10% leeway in prices.

You say you expected them to not go up more than 18% in a decade despite the fact your property (which you are relying on to pay for it) has gone up over double that. It just wouldn't/couldn't work like that.

@VimtoQueen90 out of interest- the house I posted in cowbridge - why wouldn’t something like that work ? as it’s well below the prices you are looking at and if wanted could do a garage conversion for around £30k. ( no actual building required) plus it’s got a lot of room downstairs too

@Crikeyalmighty Cowbridge is quite far from us and the traffic/transport to commute into work wouldn't work for us really, beautiful house though. It's listed at 120k more than what our current house is listed at which would make stamp duty 14k on top of the larger mortgage. A garage conversion on top for £30k (minimum, probably more these days!) is just quite a lot of money and faff for essentially the same number of bedrooms. We also need a garage for storage so wouldn't ideally want to convert it and lose it.

@VimtoQueen90 ah I get you - roughly which side are you at the moment?

@VimtoQueen90 I love finding houses for people - I’m actually suprised it’s that expensive in Cardiff to be honest ( and I like Cardiff as an easy trip for us from Bath) - it’s actually more money than many areas near to us- we’ve got relatives who live in Whitchurch - that’s nice too

@Crikeyalmighty we're not far from Whitchurch at all! The prices have gone up so much! To be fair, Whitchurch is beautiful and has always been expensive. I think lockdown just escalated prices in Cardiff a lot too!

I thought this was nice - right area ( ish) I would have thought. Really roomy too -

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/151682663#/?channel=RES_BUY

@Crikeyalmighty Good find!! I've actually seen this and loved it! It's the next town over to where we live so we'd need to get a second car and drive to the train station for work instead of walking like we do currently, but the house is beautiful and has the extra downstairs space and 4th bedroom we'd love. My husband isn't keen on leaving our current area as he wants the option we currently have to get to all the amenities/school/train station by foot, but I feel like this is the compromise!

@VimtoQueen90 it was also a little under what you say others were as I had £500k setas my limits- but to me was a very good looking modern home with lots of room- as well as4 beds it has that extra room too downstairs which could be a very good sized office and then use 1 bed upstairs as a storeroom maybe or to be honest has enough room in garden for a big store shed and keep the 4 beds

Sorry I’ve just noticed it already has a large garden room as well that you could use for storeage- I think it’s a great buy to be honest

@VimtoQueen90 thing is as well if the good sized 4 bedders in your area are a bit out of budget he’s limiting it somewhat if he only really wants in budget and on doorstep of where you are- that might never come up at all or the ones that are within budget then need £40k minimum spend- which you probably won’t have with a bigger mortgage.