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Ashley

What Have You Bought?

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Experian for me too. Mine isn't that bad, need to check it again since last time I checked the period from me putting in a direct debit for paying off engagement ring hadn't elapsed.

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Experian yeah. Also used one of the ad/marketing funded ones but found it far less accurate.

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I'm sure if all of us N-Europeans pooled our monies together, we could buy a lovely 3 bedroom mansion down here in the South of England for an inflated sum of money.

 

*cries as he eats the shitty bits at the bottom of his cornflakes box*

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Am I the only one who has given up on the idea of ever owning property?

 

Also sod looking into my credit score as I can't remember all the addresses I've been at in the last six years (and which of those I bothered registering on the electoral roll for) :heh:

Edited by Ashley

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You really shouldn't. Rent is just throwing money away. Plus my mortgage repayments will actually be less than my rent.

 

But my main reason for buying is to get a garage, and renting places with garages is too expensive for one person.

 

Just got back from viewing the house.... I really liked it, may need to make an all-too grown up decision soon...!

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You really shouldn't. Rent is just throwing money away. Plus my mortgage repayments will actually be less than my rent.

 

Oh I know all that and I agree, but it's the deposit.

 

Let's say I wanted to stay in the area I'm in (not that I necessarily do, but rather than play hypothetically); apparently the average price of a one bedroom is £386,000 and moving up to £506,000 for 2 bed.

 

So that's £19,300 just for a deposit on a one bed. And let's face it, the cheaper end of the scale are going to be ex-council so it's a mixed bag in terms of the quality of the property, neihgbours etc and to what? Live in a small space to say its mine?

 

I could afford that deposit right now, but it just feels so fruitless at the moment. I'm not sure if I want to live in London for the rest of my life, but I know I want to be here now.

 

I made the conscious decision a while ago to put my money into setting up a business over owning property and that's where I'm going. It might happen down the line but I'm about to start eating into my savings so I'm going to be getting close to my 40s before I begin to think about it.

 

Saying that I also realised a while ago I could afford a healthy deposit in the south of Italy so maybe bugger this, I'll go drink wine for the rest of my life :heh:

 

Good luck with the house hunt though!

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need-for-speed-box-art.jpg452f5a89-b6e1-4cc1-966b-f8873b041bc7.jpgDS_US_Cover_T_front.jpg

 

Traided some stuff in. Never played a Disgaea game before, heard good things though.

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Oh I know all that and I agree, but it's the deposit.

 

Let's say I wanted to stay in the area I'm in (not that I necessarily do, but rather than play hypothetically); apparently the average price of a one bedroom is £386,000 and moving up to £506,000 for 2 bed.

 

So that's £19,300 just for a deposit on a one bed. And let's face it, the cheaper end of the scale are going to be ex-council so it's a mixed bag in terms of the quality of the property, neihgbours etc and to what? Live in a small space to say its mine?

 

I could afford that deposit right now, but it just feels so fruitless at the moment. I'm not sure if I want to live in London for the rest of my life, but I know I want to be here now.

 

I made the conscious decision a while ago to put my money into setting up a business over owning property and that's where I'm going. It might happen down the line but I'm about to start eating into my savings so I'm going to be getting close to my 40s before I begin to think about it.

 

Saying that I also realised a while ago I could afford a healthy deposit in the south of Italy so maybe bugger this, I'll go drink wine for the rest of my life :heh:

 

Good luck with the house hunt though!

 

That's the problem with London, you have to be super rich to own anything property wise. Most people own outside of the area and commute... not an option?

 

My parentals got a 100% mortgage but that was for 47k, and when banks were giving out mortgages to anyone that would ask for one. I had the option of going with a 5% deposit but I didn't purely because it would have costed me a whole lot more in interest.

 

Halifax has started a good ISA savings account specifically for buying, with 4% interest which is pretty damn good. My Save To Buy ISA is only on 2% with nationwide.

 

House prices are very low in Northern Ireland, but cost of living is slightly higher, and jobs are not as well payed or easy to come by. My job at 19.5k is considered quite good (and i didn't need a degree for it)

 

You can get a medium sized 3bed semi detached with drive for about 100k here. 200k and there's very little you couldn't afford. But then again you've got most employees on min wage or a good job with massive commuting costs.... so there's that

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I'm seeeeeriously considering this house :D 2 beds semi, nice road, garage, garden, they've done lots of work and done it well, virgin media available (:p) The vendor also admitted to me that they haven't had any offers yet.

 

Possibly the only drawback I can see is that the current owners don't even have a place in mind, so who knows how long the process could take....

 

@Raining_again did you offer the asking price or barter a bit?

 

@Ashley seems to me you haven't really given up on "ever" owning property, which is what I picked up on, just got your priorities and need to figure out where and when makes sense! Fair enough for sure. That said, mortgage rates will probably not be as low as they are right now for a long time.

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My initial bid was 63. Apparently 10% lower than the asking price is as far as you should push it.

 

Then I heard nothing for ages n rang up and offered 65 to see if the owner would take the bait, they didn't. Then someone offered 68. Then I went to 69. They went 69.5. The owner still said no, and my 69 at the time was my maximum. By this point a month or so had gone by and I'd managed to get a bit more saved, so I then offered 70k on the basis that it was taken off the market for further bids, and they accepted.

 

Low price houses (<80k) in reasonable nick are often fought over here. Had another one that got into a bidding war too. I really don't know if i'd ever offer the asking price unless i knew for certain i could afford it (like if it was well under budget) or i really liked it. You also have to be cautious that (especially with a low deposit) that the house is actually WORTH the money they're asking for it. If I had offered 70k and the banks survey said it was only worth 65k, i would have had to come up with the 5k on top of whatever deposit was needed. So don't get baited into a bidding war that takes you over the asking price.

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@Ashley seems to me you haven't really given up on "ever" owning property, which is what I picked up on, just got your priorities and need to figure out where and when makes sense! Fair enough for sure. That said, mortgage rates will probably not be as low as they are right now for a long time.

 

I've given up on the notion that I ever will, but we'll see what happens in the future. If that makes sense...

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We've got the deposit together for a house or flat, but until my wife gets a job there's not much point looking for a mortgage as we'll get a much better one with two incomes. So we're just chilling in our tiny flat until then.

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House stuffs

 

Cambridge is the new London. Trololol.

 

In more seriousness I'm facing the same thing. Cambridge prices are skyrocketing and to be honest there's not enough to go around. A one bed is going to cost me a fortune here.

 

That also being said nobody seems to understand online (mostly Facebook) that my 24k income is not enough to buy a house. Because even if I did get the money, I couldn't afford the mortgage for most of it..

 

Yay! :(

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How much deposit do they ask for at the moment? I`ve been thinking I need to look into buying something that I can rent out while I`m living abroad just so I at least have something of value to my name.

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You can get a 5% deposit with a good credit rating at the moment. On a property up to £600k the government will offer lenders a guarantee as if it were a 20% mortgage (doesn't affect what you'll repay). [Edit: That's for first time buyers who will live in the property though]

Edited by Shorty

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You can get a 5% deposit with a good credit rating at the moment. On a property up to £600k the government will offer lenders a guarantee as if it were a 20% mortgage (doesn't affect what you'll repay).

 

Don't think you can get the Help to Buy Mortgage if you are intending to let it out though (in Will's case). And you can't borrow more than 4.5 times your income.

 

https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/mortgage-guarantee/eligibility/

 

I don't know too much about the scheme, but I think our agency person told us that it doesn't apply to all houses? She said that the houses have to be signed up to that scheme or something. Or maybe she was talking about something else, I don't know.

 

Also, are interest rates still alright on a 95% mortgage or are they really high?

 

 

For anyone looking to buy in the future (if you are a first time buyer), I would give you the advice to set up a Help To Buy ISA, to help you save up for it and get free money from the government! You can set one up per person as well, so extra cash if you're a couple! Whoo!

 

https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/help-to-buy-isa/how-does-it-work/

Edited by Eenuh

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Rates were okay for me. Obviously you're better off at 10% but the jump isn't as big as I thought. Plus you can offset most of it by going from 25 up to 30 or even 35 years. That said, I'm easily please by mortgage rates at the moment since the repayments will be lower than my current rent no matter what.

 

Are you guys looking at the Help to Buy ISA? If property buying is a little way off, that 25% is no joke. For me it didn't seem worth it as I want to buy right now.

 

Right, Help to Buy is a First Time Buyer scheme isn't it, completely forgot that :)

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Rates were okay for me. Obviously you're better off at 10% but the jump isn't as big as I thought. Plus you can offset most of it by going from 25 up to 30 or even 35 years.

 

Are you guys looking at the Help to Buy ISA? If property buying is a little way off, that 25% is no joke. For me it didn't seem worth it as I want to buy right now.

 

Right, Help to Buy is a First Time Buyer scheme isn't it, completely forgot that :)

 

Just edited my post before you posted yours haha. Yeah I have set up to Help To Buy ISAs for us. Even if we only save for a few months, it's extra money. Next month we will have saved £1600 each, which grants us £400 per account. Any little extra is welcome right now!

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220px-Sword_of_Destiny_UK.jpg

 

Been starting on the series, i'm just over 1/2 way through the Last Wish. Did some research, even though this one is the 4th in line, chronologically it follows the Last Wish.

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Thanks for the tips! I reckon if this was 5 years ago my credit rating would have no problem with the 5% rating. Having been away for so long though I'm guessing it won't be so hot now.

 

That Help To Buy ISA looks great - hand't heard of it before. Unfortunately you also can't use it to buy a property you intend to rent out which sucks as I'd definitely have done it if I was eligible. Given that you can only put in 200 per month I might just do one anyway and then if timing works out it's a good bonus to have.

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Thanks for the tips! I reckon if this was 5 years ago my credit rating would have no problem with the 5% rating. Having been away for so long though I'm guessing it won't be so hot now.

 

That Help To Buy ISA looks great - hand't heard of it before. Unfortunately you also can't use it to buy a property you intend to rent out which sucks as I'd definitely have done it if I was eligible. Given that you can only put in 200 per month I might just do one anyway and then if timing works out it's a good bonus to have.

 

I would read up on the ISA if I were you, there are limitations (house can only be worth a certain amount, I know it is £250 000 outside of London, not sure about in London). And you will only get the bonus once you actually buy a house and get a solicitor to close your account for you or something.

 

Not sure if you need to live in the UK to open one as well actually. But yeah check the link I posted for more info, that should answer most of your questions.

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We've put down a 15% deposit on our house. The wonders of parents prove their wonderness. Wonderful.

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ps2_slim__33445_zoom.jpgKlonoa2.jpg

 

Slim Shady and an absolute CLASSIC. I haven't played it since I was like 10, it's a whole lot more Japanese than I remember. The characters and themes scream anime, I didn't know what that was back then though so it's no wonder I was in love with it. Playing it now I can't believe it's a Namco game as it feels like a mix of Monkey Ball (theme and music-wise) but plays so much like a Sonic Team/Kirby hybrid.

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