ElDuderino

P.s Excuse my ignorance but what does DCB stand for?

Haha! The dude was indeed a renter, tho he wasn't too hot on payin the rent on time Thanks to all for the advice. Regarding location, I'm in the southwest (cornwall to be precise) so a long way from London but in an area overly distorted by second-home buyers during the boom. Job wise I am pretty secure but that said, local job opportunities are ltd and i wouldn't want to feel trapped in my current position indefinitely in order to finance a mortgage. Guess I'm figuring I could rent it out/move in with fam if circumstances change. Prices locally are sadly out of the reach of most first timers, and there's not much movement further up the ladder right now, so my feeling is we're in a pretty strong position to negotiate - particularly with this property which needs work, since there are few developers out there with cash these days and, I'm guessing, few second time family types with the desire/time to completely renovate their next home. Regarding possible interest rises, I could withstand a real (i.e. bank, not base) rate of 6% or so but anything over that will soon put the squeeze on (once it hits 7 there'd be no spare for holidays etc). Lotta threads goin on in old duder's head here!

Hi guys, long time lurker, first time poster. Any advice much appreciated! Been saving hard for 7 years or so, looking on from the sidelines during my 20s while the world went mad, home shows took over my TV and prices went through the roof. Thought to myself "a crash must be round the corner, and if it ain't well I'm screwed thanks to being born 10 years too late". Kept plugging away tho, getting married 3 years ago set the funds back a bit but now in my early 30s and enough in the pot for a 10% deposit plus all the necessary tax/fees. Have spent past year or so scanning the usual sites, keeping an eye on the local market and viewing several properties. Trend, as reported on here, is generally one of overpriced houses sitting there for months on end. The words 'delusion' and 'greed' springs to mind. Anyhoo, the wife and I finally decided to move on one we liked. On market for 6 months, not a single offer yet - guide price recently lowered by a paltry 5k. Deceased former owner (mortgage long since paid off) needs a lot of modernising throughout. Frankly, it's well overpriced in current climate. Hints from agent and vendors however that after "trying their luck" they are now very keen to sell and will accept lower offer. Go in at 60k under asking, unsurprisingly rejected. Go back in at 10k higher (still 50k under asking), listing why I think it's a fair offer. Point to fact that it needs a lot of work, that market currently at 2005 levels, and last similar house on row went for 65k less than their current asking price in 2003. EA (who actually seems like a decent guy) tells me I'm "spot on" with my analysis and that it is in his opinion a "reasonable" offer. My family however (who bought before or during boom) think I'm nuts going in so low, haha. Anyway second offer is duly rejected, and EA suggests the vendors will need at least another 10k to even entertain my offer - which is the maximum figure I had in mind anyway. I really like the house but absolutely will not get sucked into approaching the asking price. 10k more (i.e. 40k under asking) is my bottom line. If I do go in at that price, it's still quite possible my offer will be rejected - in which case fine, I'll move on. But in the meantime I've been reading up some more on here - checking the graphs, hearing opinions of bears and just yesterday seeing that DM article about 50% crash on the horizon. Starting to get, if not cold feet, then a few doubts. If I'm planning to live in the house for the forseeable future, is it still a good time to buy? Or should I let all the delusional local vendors sweat it out for a few more months as they drop their prices painfully slowly? Where do people think we are on the "DNA of a bubble" graph? Being debt-free and having waited this long, do I hang about to see if the REAL crash arrives before saddling myself with a mortgage? Or, given I'm chucking away 8 grand a year on rent, should I just get on with it? My instinct at the moment is to continue trying to buy, but only if/when I agree a considerable discount (like, 15% plus) off the asking price in order to cushion possible falls down the line. Thoughts?