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Property purchase - should I pull out?
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Fig Lee
Posted: 24 September 2020 14:26:39(UTC)
#1

Joined: 23/12/2019(UTC)
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Hi all,

Following on from another epic property thread when I was searching for a house to buy, I would appreciate your thoughts yet again. I am pants when it comes to property.

A price has been agreed and the conveyance is with solicitors.

I am paying in cash and getting only a small discount but that is London for you. I am buying at the top of the market and judging from today's mini budget we are in for a hell of a ride from here.

Should I pull out of purchase now and just wait...
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SimonHughes
Posted: 24 September 2020 14:33:13(UTC)
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Fig Lee;130444 wrote:

Hi all,

Following on from another epic property thread when I was searching for a house to buy, I would appreciate your thoughts yet again. I am pants when it comes to property.

A price has been agreed and the conveyance is with solicitors.

I am paying in cash and getting only a small discount but that is London for you. I am buying at the top of the market and judging from today's mini budget we are in for a hell of a ride from here.

Should I pull out of purchase now and just wait...


Remember the old adage "if in doubt, pull out".
There is ALWAYS another house that you will want to buy. Always. I would not recommend making such a huge investment if you feel uncertain
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TheWurzel
Posted: 24 September 2020 15:20:32(UTC)
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SimonHughes;130446 wrote:

Remember the old adage "if in doubt, pull out".


Certainly an adage that's kept me free of children.

I can't imagine there's a much worse feeling than having to live in a very expensive mistake that you had doubts about in the first place.
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Tony Peterson
Posted: 24 September 2020 16:03:17(UTC)
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Fig

It would help if you explained what type of property (flat, house), how much you like it, how convenient it is for you, and whether it is leasehold or freehold. Watch for properties where you are trapped in leasehold - like flats over shops.

If you are a cash buyer, why on earth are you employing conveyancers? Get the Which guide on buying and selling - it is an extremely simple task to convey a property if you are a cash buyer. I have purchased 7 and sold 6 properties altogether over the last 50 years, and only once employed a solicitor and never a conveyancer ( and that was with a legally complicated situation).

If you are simply worried about the value of a place going down after you have purchased it, you have to remember that a fall in the value of your own home will make the next move up that bloody property ladder far more affordable for you. All the places on your next move up will have become proportionately cheaper. Falling house prices are a blessing for a first time buyer, not a curse.
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Fig Lee
Posted: 24 September 2020 16:33:49(UTC)
#6

Joined: 23/12/2019(UTC)
Posts: 1,477
Thank you all. It really does help to share a concern such as this.

Hi Tony,

I am always obliged for your insight into these things.

The property is a house (freehold) and I was not aware that I didn't need conveyancers. Incidentally, I had gone with one of those no sale no fee lawyers and gave them the sack a little earlier in the day.

They basically failed to respond to any correspondence and so I cancelled. And in doing so I started to reconsider things and have some doubts given the economic picture.

Also its a nice property but with no rear access (as with many terraces) and work in the back/garden would require scaffolding or tools going through front door.

I will certainly look into doing my own conveyancing work for whatever property I end up with. Thank you for the mention!
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Tony Peterson
Posted: 24 September 2020 16:48:18(UTC)
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Fig

Get the Which book on buying and selling. I'd give you mine as I have no further need for it but a more recent version will include any recent law changes.

Conveyancers ask standard questions on standard forms. And give standard replies. If you do your own conveyancing you can think up non-standard questions which often produce answers which let you agree a lower price. You can ask anything you like. It is amazing what obvious (to me) questions are not included in standard forms.

I think I have the record for conveying an easy purchase - buying in a mortgaged lease where I held the freehold outright. From agreement to purchase to redemption of the mortgage and signed transfer forms in something between 15 and 30 minutes, in the offices of the mortgage holders. Unless you can find a quicker one....

Good luck, anyway. Your own freehold home owned outright is the first and greatest security you will own.
Best wishes.
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King Lodos
Posted: 24 September 2020 16:58:54(UTC)
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I would say, as an investment, London's not the first place I'd be looking.

House prices *should* only rise with inflation, long-term (if they didn't, over several centuries, houses would simply become unaffordable for anyone) – houses prices and the gold price have been highly correlated over very long periods.

So what's happened with properties since the war is to do with the expansion of debt, and London's increased at a much faster rate .. The reason so many properties are left empty in London is because prices have so outpaced rental yields, they're not really productive assets anymore .. Personally, I'd be thinking about cheaper areas that are going to benefit from increased connectivity with London .. Where will the new work-from-home crowd choose to settle?
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andy mac
Posted: 24 September 2020 18:11:01(UTC)
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Hi Fig

I dont think you have said purpose of house and length of ownership
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Fig Lee on 24/09/2020(UTC)
ANDREW FOSTER
Posted: 24 September 2020 18:39:52(UTC)
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Even if the value falls, every month you own it is a month of rent saved.

I wouldnt worry too much about the absolute price, in the long term property is a winner.
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Fig Lee on 24/09/2020(UTC), Lucy O on 28/09/2020(UTC)
DIY Investing
Posted: 24 September 2020 19:42:58(UTC)
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Buy a property a couple of hours north of London, pay half the price for a property 2-3 times as big, invest the money you saved, work remotely, and spend the weekend in London every now and then and stay in the Hilton in Canary Wharf for knock down prices once all the pin stripes have buggered off home.
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