jbambridge

Oooh, that's a bit harsh!! Actually, we had to move because of my husbands job, we had to give £25k back my in laws for the deposit they lent us, we paid off various loans and repaying our mortgage early cost us £7k, we walked away with practically nothing. We talked in 2003 about how the economy was slowing down but as we were renting privatly at the time and his parents had offered us a deposit we thought it would be a good time to buy (but not necessarily a house that we could live in forever) as it would take a number of years of HP growth before there was a slowdown, in that respect my husband was spot on and I do believe that apart from the early repayment charge, was absolutley the right time to sell. Even back then we were FTB pushed to the limit and by the time we sold, it was a struggle to keep everything together. We're not greedy people, we are a young couple working hard to support ourselves (without "benefits") who just want to be able to own a home without struggling to make ends meet. The poster who mentioned moving country has hit the nail on the head and we have discussed many times purchasing abroad instead but why should I be forced to move away from a family and country that I love just because the stupid goverment couldn't look after a piggy bank without getting into debt. JB

I have been keeping a careful watch on the Echo of late and am amazed at the number of new and reduced properties... although I haven't noticed too many new houses with lower asking prices, they still seem shockingly expensive given some of the areas. The County Property Auction (JH Walters) was interesting though in February, most houses only just reached their guide price (one in Sincil Bank fetched a bit more, I have no idea why?!!) but plots of land and woodland were fetching well over their guide. Makes for interesing reading and looking forward to seeing how many more houses there are in the next auction. JB x

New to this thread but looking with interest, after 6 years on the Lincolnshire Fens I am craving the Devon countryside again (my spiritual home!) but as we only have £200k, we're waiting a bit hoping the prices come down. Do people in Devon resent newbies coming in or is it just the stinking filthy rich who steal houses from the less well off. As we are in our 20's (well 30's for hubby!) we can contribute to the economy, we don't want to build and we just want a safe home in the countryside for our children to grow up in. I feel like I'm rambling but I'm worried about moving to the south west and feeling like an outsider, please assure me we would be welcomed?!! JB xx (pregnant and hating lincolnshire)

Ha ha ha!! There's the issue!! We have been looking at the Open Market Homebuy (hubby counts as a key worker being in the army) but there's something very uncomfortable about knowing that half your house belongs to a bank and the other half to the government... neither of which I trust with a dog let alone my property. Aaah well, 3- 10 years it is then (I could get less for murder these days). Thanks for all the replies, I feel enlightened. JB xx

I'm new to this board and I certainly don't have the economic expertise of a lot of you but I have been watching the property market for 6 years with avid interest. We bought a house in 2003 for £140k and sold late 2006 for £200k (I was sceptical at the time but now realise that we definatly sold at the right time!!). Now we live in army accommodation whilst we wait for the prices to come back down so we can buy our dream property in devon. My question is .... HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE HAVE TO WAIT??!!! I'm getting so impatient, I have been waiting YEARS for this to bust (hubby has been saying it's going to happen since 2002, smug so and so) and i know we are nearly there but how long?! Which counties will go first? Are we looking at months or years? Hope you don't mind a newbnie asking a dumb question but I can't find an answer anywhere, everyone says it will happen (except Darling of course) but noone says when. Aaggh JB (pregnant and broody for a home of her own)