OverInflated

I seem to hear this constantly on here, from EAs, from most people. They say houses are selling x% over the asking prices, they have risen x% since last year. There is a big shortage, etc. etc.. For this reason there will be no crash because Mr John Doe from the Dependant News Paper said the crash would occur on the 2nd May 2005 at 3:47pm. He was wrong so it won't happen. Before the Dot com Bubble burst, what was happening to Dot Com share prices? They were going up. What was the predicition for their prices? It was that they would go up. Just before other major crashes, what was happening to prices - For example Stock market prices? They were going up. They were also predicited to go up. (okay, this may not have been the same for every crash). When the last House price crash happened I was about 16, my parents had just sold their house in Essex (A 5 bed Detached home in Wickham Bishops) for over £170,000. Within a few months the house re-sold for £120,000. Maybe the market will slow down (I personally think it has), perhaps it will drop slowly to a more reasonable level, perhaps it will stagnate for the next 40 years or we will start to earn lots more money. Or maybe everyone will panic and prices will drop like a stone. Just remember, for every pound that someone has gained on house prices rises, someone else has lost. For every seller, there has to be a buyer. I may be talking absolute rubbish, I may get shot down in flames, this is just my opinion. Perhaps an uneducated one, but an opinion all the same.

You can't postpone a crash, it will happen when it is good and ready. You also can't accurately predict when it will happen or how bad it will be, but as with all Boom/Bust senarios, when it does it will end in tears for lots of people.

I haven't found a single property on it from the area I live.

I got into some serious debt around 7-8 years ago and I looked into IVA, but it worked out that I was paying the IVA company loads of money and if I failed to pay I could lose my house, there was absolutely no flexibility and if I missed even one payment over the next 5 years I was in big trouble. I then looked into a secure loan on my house, but decided against that too. I spoke with all the companies I owed money to (with the help of the CAB), I agreed settlement figures with them. I then sold my house and cleared all my debts and left myself with a decent amount in the bank. By the following year I had managed to save up some more and buy another house. Ive known a couple of people who have taken out an IVA and none of them managed to stick to them. The problem was, the lack of dicipline that caused the problem in the first place still remained. Also they were still able to get credit through catalogues, credit cards, high interest loans, etc.. So while they were paying off their old debts with IVA, they were being targetted by these other companies to take out new debts (which they did). By high interest loans I mean high interest. I worked out my friend was paying over 500% apr on one loan he had and if he got behind they offered him a bigger loan to pay off his arrears and have a little extra for himself.

The surveyor has put an offer in? surely he is supposed to be acting for you. You should send him a letter charging him 10% finders fee. Also you should contact the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and place a complaint about his conduct as it is completely unacceptable. If he is a qualified RICS Member then this will probably breach their code of conduct http://www.rics.org/

Ive noticed they have gone up in some areas because ive been looking to move, but most of the letting agents have told me that because im not a student they will probably reduce the rent anyway.

What is a Chav?

Too true. Although it isn't that life is too short, it is the amount of time you remain dead for.

At the end of the day you have to make your own decision based on what you know. The first house I bought was 8 years ago in Bristol - it was a 3 Bedroom Terrace House costing £60,000 - the mortgage repayments were about £340 a month. I could have rented the property out at that time for around £600-700pcm To buy that property now would cost me £1200 per month in mortgage payments and I could rent it for around £900 -£1000 pcm. I would love to own a house there again, but it doesn't make financial sense. You need to work out the real cost to you of owning this house compared to renting. Don't let your emotion control the situation, you never know how your circumstance might change in 5 years - you may have to sell.

If that was in UK someone would buy it and sell each room out as a 1 bed flat for £400k

Maybe once or twice a week a certain property developer phones up to see if we are ready to buy one of their houses. Today I asked whether they thought property prices would drop (or perish the thought, crash). Their response - they read a newspaper article which said house prices in Scotland are rising by 10% a year and in there areas they are going up by 17% a year, so they think it very unlikely. I then asked how many of the new houses on this development had sold. er Sorry, I can't hear you?? How Many?? 0! Pardon?? 0! So how come none have sold? We are very busy and have lots of people interested. No one buying? Probably no one wants to be the first to buy or they are waiting till we have completed development. So I could buy a house, you would pay my deposit, carpet the house and give me £10,000 cash back and then next year I could make 17% (about £35,000) if I sold? Yes, probably! But if you can't sell them at this price, how am I going to sell it for £35,000 more? The papers said house prices in this area are going up by 17% a year, they will sell very quickly when prices rise a bit more and then you won't get these special offers. Sold, I will take all of them.