ader

I could be wrong but I think you'll find the majority of BTL mortgages are interest only anyway so no capital repayment element ever existed. The tenant was never going to pay the mortgage off; the hope was/still is for capital appreciation and mewing to get the landlords 25% back and then more profit mewing from further capital appreciation with no thought for eventual sale and possible capital gains tax.

Usually. I kind of think if I'm going to buy it needs to be suitable long-term (20 years +). A smaller place wouldn't be. Am actually thinking of jacking my full-time perm job in. So if I'm going to buy I probably need to buy before I jack the job in as I likely would find it hard to get a mortgage when self employed. Also would get no benefits if I need them if my cash is not tied up in an illiquid depreciating asset Maybe better to spend a bit of my savings to live on and hope houses fall in value in my area faster than I spend the savings. That would need maybe a 6% per annum fall. Feeling like I've turned this thread into mumsnet or mse now aaarrrggghhh! Also if I'm gping to work from home it needs to be a decent size. Btw I'd keep enough savings to cover essentials and mortgage for quite a while.

Awesome Post of the decade. I'm trying to decide at the moment if my family should stay in an expensive and very nice rental or to buy somewhere half the size and quality mortgage free or buy somewhere as nice as the rental with a 50% mortgage.

This is true. People on average incomes have historically been FTBs not buyers of average hiuses.

+1 ! I've had to work with a few academically gifted programmers that couldn't actually create anything. One didn't know what an integer was and another couldn't do in 6 weeks what I did in 2 days with a sams learn perl in 24 hours book. I now ignore qualifications and look for people who can do the job. Btw, I used to part time lecture at a uni 15 years ago and could see even then that the graduates were useless so I don't think it's anything new it's just on a bigger scale recently.

Where I am mortgage free probate properties come on the market at stupid prices and just stay there. Inheritees not prepared to reduce asking to sensible levels for places that need gutting. They'll probably get their asking price in 10 years time. As for FTBs I know a couple getting married next year, they're looking to rent now as they can't get a mortgage without a big deposit (both got good jobs but obviously not saved enough yet). When people get hitched they don't want to stay with parents so they'll rent (same as it was back in my day/80s).

Reason I asked was that I recalled reading over and over about lender vsluations falling short of agreed selling price and wondered if it could be made use of

Out of interest, does anyone know which lenders are valuing lowest at the moment? If one is going to buy a house, a low valuation from a lender could help price negotiations?

A friend of ours limits each of their kids (5 of them) to £250 of presents. and no, not on credit cards. Some people like me spend throighout the year, others save it up for santa.

They're just liars hoping for a handout

It was where I lived and bought in 1990. Further, the average salary is more like 25k than 38k I agree that joint incomes is the problem, especially as most of the second income is spent on childcare but used to increase apparent mortgage affordability? And yes a couple, both working on average salaries and no childcare costs should currently have no affordability problems with current low rates and high prices.

Asking prices in North/East Yorks still at "peak" or above in good areas. Bottom end of market is moving when a nice property in a nice location comes on the market. Saw a 2 bed come on the market and sell within a week as it was nicely decorated. No-one is buying the bigger probate wrecks that need gutting as they're priced as though they were already done up, lol.

When I said "sure I have" I meant I'm sure I've glossed over lots. I was a freelancer years ago, stopped only because I moved to a new area of the country for a good perm position. I still have my online business as a side dish supplementing my perm income and it's that which I could ramp up if I had more time. I guess no-one here firmly thinks we'll have a 5% boe base rate before the decade is out, so a 2.49% boe term tracker sounds like a good deal (term to avoid recurring fees) especially if I pay it down faster than lender hopes.

I think the larger the deposit you have the more sense it makes to buy, assuming you're not prepared to invest that house deposit outside of cash (£). I think this crash will continue to play out with good houses in good areas not falling and naff flats in yukky areas dropping 66% (and some in between). Out of interest (boom,boom) who on here thinks the base rate will rise back to 5% in the next 10 years?

lol, I know what you mean I was just implying that we don't know what will happen really and reducing my outgoings might be a good idea. I know, that's why I said base rate not mortgage rate, and why I mentioned a term base rate tracker. I'm sure I have. I'm not a youngster, been doing what I do for 2 decades, we've had some contractors in where I work on massive daily rate taking longer to do stuff than me and frankly not as bright or experienced as me imho. Bosses are finding it hard to find both contractors or perms. In terms of my own business it'd mean no customer focused work : more akin to manufacturing in that way (I'm not and don't want to be, a salesman). I've been waiting 10 years for house prices to fall like I originally thought and now think it won't happen in nominsl terms. btw, I am in north/east yorks area and the houses I'd consider are still at peak asking price. I'm also sick of wasting so much time and energy on the subject trying to decide what to do to be honest. Maybe I should just buy a small 2 bed terrace and be mortgage free but miserable lol.