Buying a house

[ciphergoth]

I've decided to buy a house. Somewhere on the southern end of the Northern line, with two double bedrooms and gas central heating.

Flood me with advice!

For "house", read "living accommodation of some sort", by the way; in Edinburgh I'd write "flat" without thinking.

I was going to rent, so that spikeylady could get out of her Wimbledon place and to make sure we can live together happily before buying. But she is now moving in with ergotia and lilithmagna, so we're in no rush; and the mortgage payments would be something I could afford by myself if need be, so in the unlikely event that we can't live together happily it won't be a disaster. And it seems wisest to get out of paying rent to someone else and start paying it to myself as soon as possible. Plus it means we can choose our own fridge and suchlike - I really enjoyed that flexibility when we lived in Mir.

To forestall some advice:

• Yes, I'll go to a FIMBRA-regulated financial adviser
• Yes, I'll get a capital-and-interest repayment mortgage, not an endowment or interest-only

Comments

[ajva.livejournal.com]

I'm with babysimon on this one, but have not leapt in putting my case (and will not, don't worry) because it's a big debate and if you are committed to buying a house for personal reasons then being advised not to might seem a bit unhelpful. (Besides, I'm sure Simon will make the case very eloquently in any case later on this evening. :o) )

I would agree with lovingboth about doing your own research, though. You're more than capable of that, and it should save you a good bit of cash.

[babysimon]

doing your own research

Thirded. when I bought my flat my IFA was useless - I ended up picking the mortgage myself anyway, and he sent some of the details to a random unconnected conveyancer, meaning I had to sort out a courier at the last minute.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

I'm not committed to it if it'll really cost me a lot. I just don't know whether to have faith that The Great Crash Cometh. I'm certainly up for discussing this with all and sundry, and will hold off buying if it really isn't wise.

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure things'll crash, but the market cannot keep growing like this if 1/4 of it is powered by buy-to-let. Rents seem to be fairly static, so you're pretty soon going to end up with mortgage costs exceeding rental income.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

It would be annoying not to be able to buy now, but if I can get a much better property by holding off then obviously it's the right thing.

*sigh*...

[hythloday.livejournal.com]

If you're not in any great hurry to move you could just insist that the place you rent comes completely unfurnished.

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Re research:
I did that - printed off some sample mortgage figures, took them to the IFA, and essentially said "Can you beat these, and what catches are there, and what are the differences between them?"

As it happened, he could beat them, having access to more choices. We didn't have to pay him anything either - 3/4 of the mortgages he could offer offered him commission, and we went for one of those. If we'd gone for one which didn't offer him commission we'd have had to pay his fee ourselves.

It comes down to a gamble on whether you think interest rates are going to go up or down, and by how much.