...more advice please

[Diablos-666]

I seem to be asking for a lot of advice in this section recently.
Anyway, here goes again...


I'm 26 still living at "home" saving up for a deposit on a property. I live in Croydon and have lived here for most of my life.

I was looking to rent my first place about 6 months ago but then noticed a Nationwide scheme called "Save to Buy" - This basically offers you a 95% mortgage in 6 months from opening up the scheme.

I took this out and 6 months later I'm offered a mortgage in principle for £143k on top of my £10k savings.
So I'm now looking for places to live but can't afford anything within my criteria (walking distance to a main train station with links to London, off-street parking, modern property) in the area I'm living right now.

So I've been looking at Canterbury, went there at the weekend to check the area out. The town is very charming, if a bit busy with tourists and quite heavy traffic. The Canterbury station offers a fast train service, 58 mins, straight into C.London and the prices are within my budget. I also get travelling expenses paid for by my company.

I'm a bit apprehensive about buying right now with all this talk of another recession and everything.
Obviously I'll be moving away from my friends, family & gf and have no ties in Canterbury. If the trains are delayed / cancelled then it could cause major ball ache etc... I was prepared for this.

Then I notice a property near where I currently live which is exactly what I've been looking for. Very nice modern apartment, off-street parking, gated entrance etc... There is no way I can afford to buy this apartment but I can afford to rent it.

This option will be less of a culture shock and wouldn't isolate me as opposed to moving miles and miles away.

Which route would the PH massive go down?

p.s as part of the rental agreement could I ask for first option to buy if the landlord decides to sell? Property prices might have come down by then and hopefully I would have saved a bit more.

Sorry for the long post

[surfymark]

Personally I don't think property prices will fall any further. I think they are the cheapest that they will ever be now. You may be able to save more though and the Government may come out with a better scheme (they announced something yesterday but not sure what it entails).

Up to you really but don't bank on being able to buy a property any cheaper than you can now.

HTH
M

[scotal]

I've never seen a first dibs clause in a rental contract, and no landlord I know would offer one.

Bear in mind the Stamp Duty Exemption goes in March, although 1% may be a price you are willing to pay to see what the market does.

[garos]

Prices are low so get a house if you can. The house you would like to buy, are you miles off the price, ie could you put in an offer, sell the car (did I just say that) to generate funds. Who knows as it may be accepted depending on the sellers circumstances. If accepted surely pay dividends in years to come.

[DonkeyApple]

Absolutely everything in the UK currently rests on whether the EU will break up or not.

If I did not have property exposure at this moment in time I would see absolutely no rush to gain any.

There are not yet any indicators that prices will go up at present. We have massive public sector redundencies, wage freezes, stalling and failing businesses, rising unemployment and interest rates which cannot go any lower. Property prices clearly going north is currently akin to pissing into a very gusty wind

Personally, I'd hold fire at least until there is some form of resolution on the Euro because if that fails it certainly isn't going to drive UK house prices upwards

[Seti]

surfymark said:

Personally I don't think property prices will fall any further. I think they are the cheapest that they will ever be now.
M

Quoted for prosperity!