Buying a house...mortgage confusion...

[col]

Very interesting thread. Not knowing much about mortgages the only advice I can give is check and check and check again the area you intend to buy in. Even so far as stagging on at certain times of day and night, also holiday periods too, just to see what the night life and kids holidays are like, as well as neighbours noise habits. This might sound like over the top, but if you buy a place then find the neighbours kids play footy against your house wall, or the neighbours sit on the front chatting and laughing till late on summer nights or weekends, or unbeknown to you there is a druggy living nearby and punters are knocking on the door all hours and the odd argument happening too, well its a very expensive mistake to make. Even knocking on doors and asking people what its like as you might be buying nearby. Get in touch with the police and ask them if its a busy area or not for complaints. Its a big decision, do as much looking and listening as you can, at least you will have a better chance of a decent area.

 

[Morrisette]

Reading this with interest as we are looking to get out of rented houses soon as well. I have heard the arguements before about why Brits are obsessed with owning a house - in my case I can see the pros and cons gaving rented for several years - the main reasons I want to buy are:

I can decorate it how I want and don't have to give house room to my landlord's crappy taste in red paintwork and piles of tat (I rent from a man who included the door number on his inventory so tossing said tat in the bin isn't an option - we'd have to pay for it!)

House inspections. I am 30 years old and every 3 months have some random come into my home and check my cleaning standards. Surely my mother is the only one entitled to do that??

But mainly:

We can be kicked out with one month's notice. We have no security. Our home can be taken away on someone else's whim. I know you can lose a house you are buying - of course you can, and of course it can happen quickly. But not with no warning at all. And I've heard horror stories from the recession about dodgy landlords defaulting on their mortgages and tenants being given an hour to get their stuff together.

 

[HelenD123]

But mainly:

We can be kicked out with one month's notice. We have no security. Our home can be taken away on someone else's whim. I know you can lose a house you are buying - of course you can, and of course it can happen quickly. But not with no warning at all. And I've heard horror stories from the recession about dodgy landlords defaulting on their mortgages and tenants being given an hour to get their stuff together.

That was one of my main motivations for buying a house, although I'm assuming this isn't a worry for Punky if she's with a Housing Association. It happened to me twice and it's really unsettling and a major pain in the backside. I guess the opposite can happen with a house though if you need to sell in a hurry and can't.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Just a quick note - in a 'normal' market (i.e. one where house prices don't fall...) if you have inflation, and also your salary rises, as a % of your incomes/outgoings your mortgage should decrease as time goes along. (If you have a floating rate mortgage, of course it depends on what happens to interest rates as well).

Also, so long as house prices don't fall, you will be repaying your mortgage as you go along (so you'll owe less and less to the bank). The problem is the first few repayments end up being mostly interest, rather than repayments so it takes a few years for you to make a dent. But, once you do, if the repayments do get too high re-mortgaging could reduce your monthly payments (but as always you'll probably be charged lots of fees which might cancel out the gain).

 

[Crankarm]

That was one of my main motivations for buying a house, although I'm assuming this isn't a worry for Punky if she's with a Housing Association. It happened to me twice and it's really unsettling and a major pain in the backside. I guess the opposite can happen with a house though if you need to sell in a hurry and can't.

I and my immediate neighbours used to think we lived in a reasonable area until a nearby house was bought by a Housing Association . It's like having a toxic waste dump next to your house. All the different tenants that have been in this property and there have been a few, bar one elderly couple, have been serious scum, bad news if you own your property, real ba...d news.

Do a lot of research and ask of the seller if there have been any disturbance issues or disruptive neighbours. If it transpires there are which the seller has not disclosed then sue the seller.

If you can afford to buy a house now and can still make mortgage repayments with interest rates rising to 5.5% then I would say go for it. If you really have difficulty making repayments then you can switch to interest only for a short period if your lender will allow.