House purchase, why didn't I!!!!
Discussion
Not so much a "Why didn't I", more of a "Thank god I didn't".
In 2007 I was looking for my first house, this was just before the credit crunch and just before the house price crash. I viewed a nice little flat in a local town that was up for offers over £89'000 (Yes this is scotland). Went to the mortgage and got an Agreement in principal for £117'000. At the time this was more than 5x my salary and would have used up more than half my monthly pay pack on mortgage payments alone. I wasn't planning on going to 100% of my AIP anyway so it didn't concern me. The advisor in the bank casually mentioned that the flat belonged to a friend of hers.
The next day after I registered my interest in the flat I got a call from the estate agent saying that the lowest the person would accept is... surprise surprise, £117'000. I made the connection very quickly and withdrew my interest.
the flat was on an unadopted road and I viewed a similar flat in the same street 4 years later. The carpark had suffered very badly and was full of potholes and because it was unadopted and there was no factoring company in place it would never be repaired (I only found this out when My own soliciter advised against buying anything on that street).
10 years later and the flats that I have viewed have not risen in value by a single £. I am so glad I never purchased either. Probably the only area in the NE of scotland that has not risen in price.
In 2007 I was looking for my first house, this was just before the credit crunch and just before the house price crash. I viewed a nice little flat in a local town that was up for offers over £89'000 (Yes this is scotland). Went to the mortgage and got an Agreement in principal for £117'000. At the time this was more than 5x my salary and would have used up more than half my monthly pay pack on mortgage payments alone. I wasn't planning on going to 100% of my AIP anyway so it didn't concern me. The advisor in the bank casually mentioned that the flat belonged to a friend of hers.
The next day after I registered my interest in the flat I got a call from the estate agent saying that the lowest the person would accept is... surprise surprise, £117'000. I made the connection very quickly and withdrew my interest.
the flat was on an unadopted road and I viewed a similar flat in the same street 4 years later. The carpark had suffered very badly and was full of potholes and because it was unadopted and there was no factoring company in place it would never be repaired (I only found this out when My own soliciter advised against buying anything on that street).
10 years later and the flats that I have viewed have not risen in value by a single £. I am so glad I never purchased either. Probably the only area in the NE of scotland that has not risen in price.
Back home, while considering our first house purchase, I looked at a new build on a small development in my home town.
For background, it's a mining area, with associated problems, but this specific development was on the site of a plant nursery, in an area which belonged to the mine owner and had never been mined. Right near 'the big man's' own house and the park and hospital he gifted to the community.
It was also a much nicer area than the bulk of the town.
An ex of mine was manning the sales office, and she showed me around the show-house. Turned out it was the only one unsold.
Price? £79,950. Which was a LOT for a house in that area generally. I thought buying it at that price would have been plain daft, and that it'd never be worth anywhere near the purchase price if we came to sell. Well. How wrong can you possibly be?? Almost exactly three years later I drove past and saw a 'For Sale' board outside it. The asking price? £160,000. Double your money in three years sir? Not me, no sir. I went and bought a house for £180,000 in a place I've since come to realise I don't even like that much. And it's STILL not near doubling it's money, with a bigger mortgage too. I think back to that show house sometimes and imagine living mortgage free, which would easily have been achievable if I'd put the same money as I do for this house into paying the mortgage on that one.
Still kicking myself over that one...
(...although I just looked it up on Streetview, and the development doesn't look as nice after a few years as it did back when I was looking at it, which sugars a bitter pill to a point.)
For background, it's a mining area, with associated problems, but this specific development was on the site of a plant nursery, in an area which belonged to the mine owner and had never been mined. Right near 'the big man's' own house and the park and hospital he gifted to the community.
It was also a much nicer area than the bulk of the town.
An ex of mine was manning the sales office, and she showed me around the show-house. Turned out it was the only one unsold.
Price? £79,950. Which was a LOT for a house in that area generally. I thought buying it at that price would have been plain daft, and that it'd never be worth anywhere near the purchase price if we came to sell. Well. How wrong can you possibly be?? Almost exactly three years later I drove past and saw a 'For Sale' board outside it. The asking price? £160,000. Double your money in three years sir? Not me, no sir. I went and bought a house for £180,000 in a place I've since come to realise I don't even like that much. And it's STILL not near doubling it's money, with a bigger mortgage too. I think back to that show house sometimes and imagine living mortgage free, which would easily have been achievable if I'd put the same money as I do for this house into paying the mortgage on that one.
Still kicking myself over that one...
(...although I just looked it up on Streetview, and the development doesn't look as nice after a few years as it did back when I was looking at it, which sugars a bitter pill to a point.)
djt100 said:
not missed as such, but when i purchased my first property my main thought was it was only me so i didnt need a big house, ( i was 21), so bought a flat for £49k, At the time the EA said to me there's another flat in the same block did i want to buy that one as well , ( i was earning ok at the time and could have got a mortgage for £130k
Those flats now rent at £1400 a month and would have rented at £500+ a month at the time, mortgage was £239 for the flat i bought
More to the point the EA obviously kept sending me properties that were for sale for by max budget, but I was not interested. whats did i know!
Those same properties are now £800-900K and I would have been mortgage free. I'm now after separation from the ex, struggling to buy a dump for £400k.
I f*cked up being a stupid ignorant 21 yr old, who know nothing about property other than how far it was to walk to the pub!
On the flip side, at least you didn't lose a load of BtL properties in the separation! Every cloud and that!Those flats now rent at £1400 a month and would have rented at £500+ a month at the time, mortgage was £239 for the flat i bought
More to the point the EA obviously kept sending me properties that were for sale for by max budget, but I was not interested. whats did i know!
Those same properties are now £800-900K and I would have been mortgage free. I'm now after separation from the ex, struggling to buy a dump for £400k.
I f*cked up being a stupid ignorant 21 yr old, who know nothing about property other than how far it was to walk to the pub!
Zoon said:
boyse7en said:
Nearly bought this place for £150k in 2001. 2 bedroom ex-governesses cottage, came with a river and a railway in the garden, plus a 17 acre field.
Decided it was a bit too far to commute every day (about 40 mins) so bought a place in 5 mins from work in town. Then changed jobs and had a 30 min commute anyway...
Interestingly, it was at the time owned by the Keyboard player from The Cure. The spare room was full of keyboards, mixing desks and guitars, and lots of gold and silver discs etc on the walls.
Huntsman said:
There's a little place in the village here, was owned by the Kray twins in the 1960's, always had a lime green 911 Carrera parked out front, in 1998 at £100k it was just too much of a stretch. Fab little house.
I have a horrid feeling the lime green 911 would have been the better buy crankedup said:
motco said:
Subject to planning you could even live in it!
Hoover Building apartments
Now that is simply sensational!!!! Wonder about the purchase price of a two bedder, lots I would imagine. But what a building and that interior entrance is just breath taking. I'm in love.Hoover Building apartments
That's the old canteen/ballroom building (building 7 IIRC). The top floor was a beautiful art deco ballroom where I had many a canteen lunch, and attended many a Social Club dinner/dance and saw a few G&S operas as a child. The first floor was the rest room and snooker room, and the ground floor the apprentice training school and company library. Oh how the mighty (Hoover) are fallen! This was all long before the coup-de-grace of the free flights fiasco too.
Edited by motco on Wednesday 15th February 17:20
crankedup said:
The 'Hoover' building, is there a more attractive art deco facade?
There once was a comparable one on the Great West Road. The Firestone Building was demolished on a Sunday by a developer who who had had a tip off that it would be listed on the following Monday... Not as spectacular as Hoover's, but not far off.
and Gillettes farther along the A4
Still standing I believe...
Firestone story
Edited by motco on Wednesday 15th February 20:00
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