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How to buy a big house?


marzman

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Looking at the pictures of this guys property in the Porsche thread... http://www.350z-uk.com/topic/85721-the-991-is-back-with-a-new-engine/

 

How do you get to a position where you own a home like that? You cant do it whilst being an 'employee'. You need to be a business owner and have other people earning that money for you, i'm sure. Or have family money/inheritance...

 

At 30, im not a homeowner yet... simply because my idea of an acceptable place to live far outweighs my buying power! I spend a lot of time looking on Right Move, and all the houses I want are £3-400k, but with little deposit (only stated saving at Christmas) and no equity from a current house or help from family, how can i do it?

 

Career-wise, i've got a very good job but im probably at the ceiling salary-wise for my job title. I've started to look round at other jobs which would be a step up in job title, paying £55-70k but even then i cant see how that'll make a huge difference to my buying power.

 

What do people feel is an acceptable percentage of their net income to be paying towards a mortgage? I dont really want to be paying more than 50% really at the very most... but thats going to limit me to a sub £250k house with a 10-15% deposit.

 

How do you guys do it?

Edited by marzman
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In the old days we started small and moved up gradually ... I made a big move when I built my own house for £14,000 and sold it four years later for £40,000 (then bought a nice house for £30,000 and spent the balance on a BM)

 

It's a lot more difficult for your generation I'm afraid.

 

ETA I had to sell the E-Type for £2,000 to help pay for my self build though

Edited by ATTAK Z
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We're planning on moving soon. A 400k house is still out of my reach. I consider my wages to be an adequate amount, but being the only earner in my family means that we can't set our sights too high. We are in our first house still at the moment. I think realistically you have to ride the housing market. 2 or 3 more moves, and a few years later, who knows we could be in a half million pound house, but it's a big aim for a first time buyer.

People's circumstances are different though. We have 3 kids, so my wife stays home and takes care of them and the house. Another couple might not have kids, and therefore they could both be bringing in a wage, which in turn doubles their buying power.

As for percentage of wages for mortgage. I try to stick with what I was told years ago. 1 weeks pay or a quarter of your monthly salary on monthly mortgage payments. Personally I wouldn't want to be tying up 50% of my salary on a mortgage, especially as interest rates are still very low, and are set to start rising next year. A 1% rise will make a huge difference to your monthly payments.

Just keep your sensible head on when signing up to anything.

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My Advice would be to move to a land far, far away . . . did you know you can buy a big house with mountain view's for quite a lot less than your limit of £250k :stir:

 

:teeth:

 

Seriously, im not joking we have discussed moving to Canada. I even mentioned you when raising it with the wife!

 

My Dad lives in the states and my wife has family in both Vancouver and Toronto so its a realistic-ish prospect for us. If i had a job that offered those kinds of prospects i'd be up for it, and with me considering a job move it's not outside the realms of possibility.

 

We have no kids and will not be having any either, which helps.

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It's all about luck.

 

I'm lucky my old man did the hard work before I came along, so I could tag along. Sure, I work damn hard myself, but it's only on top of his work.

 

Or you could be in the right place at the right time, like my Dad was, and do it on your own. All luck.

Edited by Ekona
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We're planning on moving soon. A 400k house is still out of my reach. I consider my wages to be an adequate amount, but being the only earner in my family means that we can't set our sights too high. We are in our first house still at the moment. I think realistically you have to ride the housing market. 2 or 3 more moves, and a few years later, who knows we could be in a half million pound house, but it's a big aim for a first time buyer.

People's circumstances are different though. We have 3 kids, so my wife stays home and takes care of them and the house. Another couple might not have kids, and therefore they could both be bringing in a wage, which in turn doubles their buying power.

As for percentage of wages for mortgage. I try to stick with what I was told years ago. 1 weeks pay or a quarter of your monthly salary on monthly mortgage payments. Personally I wouldn't want to be tying up 50% of my salary on a mortgage, especially as interest rates are still very low, and are set to start rising next year. A 1% rise will make a huge difference to your monthly payments.

Just keep your sensible head on when signing up to anything.

 

1 week of your net...? Wow, i'll be living in a shoebox then. :blush:

 

Having 3 kids must be tough, plus your other half not working. My wife doesnt earn much more than minimum wage but it still helps. When she's not working i struggle to save much.

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Keep saving for that deposit mate I put a humongous one down on my flat at 25 (am 31 now) but I have a tiny mortgage and own around 70% of my flat and only left on repayment as interest is paid off now, ive been fixed rate the whole time. Sometimes its paid off sometimes it hasn't but its been constant every month and that's how I like it ...no surprises!!

Basically have upped my payments to the max before penalty to speed up the whole process (and own more equity) then will remortgage for a house put an even bigger deposit down and roughly pay double what im paying now for a house which isn't to tragic....... and so forth till I end up in a 800k house or keel over :lol:

But none of it would of been possible without that deposit...you can either have a small deposit and the extra money will go to sir Halifax through interest/monthly payments or wait and save that money for a couple of years and then you will be in the driving seat and still live comfortably from month to month.

Plus now isnt the best time I don't think as if house prices have gone up wouldn't you have to borrow more money for the same house that was worth 30k less about 4 weeks ago?

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It's all about luck.

 

I'm lucky my old man did the hard work before I came along, so I could tag along. Sure, I work damn hard myself, but it's only on top of his work.

 

Or you could be in the right place at the right time, like my Dad was, and do it on your own. All luck.

 

I think i'm too cautious to be lucky. The other reason i've not bought is i see the housing market as being too volatile. The way house prices are rising right now, i can only see them falling through the floor when the bubble bursts again.

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I bought land and built it myself - but that was 20 years ago and I'm a Building Surveyor - so that all helps I suppose

 

This is what I'm in the process of doing now.

 

Just spent £5k having earth removed.

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Buy a plot of land and build it yourself is the cheapest way of getting a decent property.

 

The experience for me was a hellish nightmare as we ended up (family of 6) living out of 3 static caravans for 8 years!!! (circumstances out of our control)

It was unbelievable one winter when temperatures dropped to -20'C :scare:

 

Just be thankful you have a roof over your head!!

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Buy a plot of land and build it yourself is the cheapest way of getting a decent property.

 

The experience for me was a hellish nightmare as we ended up (family of 6) living out of 3 static caravans for 8 years!!! (circumstances out of our control)

It was unbelievable one winter when temperatures dropped to -20'C :scare:

 

Just be thankful you have a roof over your head!!

ah, don't you just love the planners :lol:

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Self build

 

At the moment tradesmen are cashing in on a labour shortage in the construction industry, so be very careful unless you can do a lot of the work yourself ... also material costs, especially bricks, are on the up

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I'm on 25K. I generally don't care Aslong as I have a roof over my head and a PC to keep me entertained when I'm not out in my zed.

 

That said 400k would get you a daily large house in South Wales. I'm looking at new builds for 120-140!

 

Can I come work for you!

 

Sent from my One using Tapatalk

 

 

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It's all about luck.

 

I'm lucky my old man did the hard work before I came along, so I could tag along. Sure, I work damn hard myself, but it's only on top of his work.

 

Or you could be in the right place at the right time, like my Dad was, and do it on your own. All luck.

 

I think i'm too cautious to be lucky. The other reason i've not bought is i see the housing market as being too volatile. The way house prices are rising right now, i can only see them falling through the floor when the bubble bursts again.

It sounds like you're very similar to me me marzman risk adverse but want something comfortable.

 

I took the plunger a couple of years back and by the sounds of it on a similar salary to you when I bought my house. I stopped looking at the places I really wanted and looked at somewhere more realistic.

My OH had an apartment which wouldn't sell so I scraped together an amount of money which I deemed I'd want to be at least a 10% deposit. That then gave us our price range. We were using my salary alone to base the mortgage on.

 

We lucked out (so far) that we found somewhere that needed a little doing but was at the bottom end of the scale in the street with room to extend etx which most of the other houses of the same type don't.

We invested some more in bringing the house up to scratch which now it's at the upper end of the scale for the this type of house in the street and the apartment has had one tennant since she moved out which just covers that mortgage.

 

The aim for the next few years is to put in as much equity in to the house as possible then look to either move or extend.

The same plan as far as equity goes into the apartment too.

 

The problem most forget about is the ceiling price for the property, there will always be one especially when the value of your property starts knocking on the door of the property around the corner which is the next one up but is also the bottom of that scale if you see where I'm coming from.

 

In essence don't aim too high but what you can afford. Look for a poor house in a good street I guess :)

 

Also you don't know what debt and stress the guy with the huge house is in!

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It's all about luck.

 

I'm lucky my old man did the hard work before I came along, so I could tag along. Sure, I work damn hard myself, but it's only on top of his work.

 

Or you could be in the right place at the right time, like my Dad was, and do it on your own. All luck.

 

I think i'm too cautious to be lucky. The other reason i've not bought is i see the housing market as being too volatile. The way house prices are rising right now, i can only see them falling through the floor when the bubble bursts again.

 

Hi Chris, long time no talk.

We work for a few very rich self made people,and sometimes I have to say I think were am I going wrong. Don't get me wrong, I'm reasonably well off but it's that step to a different league. What I have noticed is that they just get on with it with an unnerving energy and self belief. I'm a bit like you, by the time I've worried about it and thought it through, the opportunity has passed. Case in point is a local company a stone's throw from us both, Magpie. They polish scratches out of old cds dvds etc and then flog them. I was doing this for my son and his mates playstation games with t cut years ago. Magpie guys just took it to another level and ran with it and are now multi milionaires :lol: I have renovated properties for people and made them fortunes. As Dan says, a lot is down to luck.

What I will say about property though, as history shows, in the longterm, it will always go up. My first house in Macclesfield was £8,000, its now £120,000. the problem comes if you have to bail out in a dip. I've said to you before, if your not a risk taker, property in this country, long term is always a good investment. I realised that after blowing fortunes on fancy cars :p

Edited by leonk
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Its always hard when you start off and the rise in prices can boost your ability to move up the ladder if your in a part of the country where houses go up a lot such as greater london.

I know property doesn`t rise as fast as this everywhere else.

I started here and then went to dorset for a few years and then came back (which was hard) and am now looking at going south west again.

One thing for certain is the prices always go up in the end.

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It's all about luck.

 

I'm lucky my old man did the hard work before I came along, so I could tag along. Sure, I work damn hard myself, but it's only on top of his work.

 

Or you could be in the right place at the right time, like my Dad was, and do it on your own. All luck.

 

I think i'm too cautious to be lucky. The other reason i've not bought is i see the housing market as being too volatile. The way house prices are rising right now, i can only see them falling through the floor when the bubble bursts again.

 

Hi Chris, long time no talk.

We work for a few very rich self made people,and sometimes I have to say I think were am I going wrong. Don't get me wrong, I'm reasonably well off but it's that step to a different league. What I have noticed is that they just get on with it with an unnerving energy and self belief. I'm a bit like you, by the time I've worried about it and thought it through, the opportunity has passed. Case in point is a local company a stone's throw from us both, Magpie. They polish scratches out of old cds dvds etc and then flog them. I was doing this for my son and his mates playstation games with t cut years ago. Magpie guys just took it to another level and ran with it and are now multi milionaires :lol: I have renovated properties for people and made them fortunes. As Dan says, a lot is down to luck.

What I will say about property though, as history shows, in the longterm, it will always go up. My first house in Macclesfield was £8,000, its now £120,000. the problem comes if you have to bail out in a dip. I've said to you before, if your not a risk taker, property in this country, long term is always a good investment. I realised that after blowing fortunes on fancy cars :p

 

I think our location is part of the problem. In what sounds similar to what you describe, 8 or 9 years ago whilst i was at Uni, i worked as a plumbers mate over the summers in Prestbury, so i've been in 30-40 of those mega houses and want their life. One of them had 9 bathrooms and an indoor swimming pool, and will forever be my benchmark of success. B)

 

Property is still on the cards for me... i've got enough of a deposit at the moment to buy a sub £100k terraced house to gut and flip, and hopefully look to make £7-10k profit. I think realistically im likely to take this route with 3 or 4 houses over the next 3 years, to accelerate my deposit-saving capacity.

Edited by marzman
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Keep saving for that deposit mate ...you can either have a small deposit and the extra money will go to sir Halifax through interest/monthly payments or wait and save that money for a couple of years and then you will be in the driving seat and still live comfortably from month to month.

 

This...

 

When i do the online mortgage calculators and see the actual amount i'd be repaying when borrowing 90% it's terrifying. I feel like i want to keep saving forever so i can buy a house outright!

 

... but then im renting a house during that time, and the £8000 a year in rent im paying is just money in the bin.

 

...perhaps i should buy a small house now with a mortgage around the same price as my current rent costs, and then at least that £8k a year is going towards my own mortgage rather than our landlords, although doing this will mean i'll have to downsize, which im really reluctant to do.

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No such thing as luck, just conviction.

 

If you want it, you have to step out of your comfort zone to achieve it. Risk adverse people will forever wallow in a world of self doubt calculating all the permutations.

 

I was on £60k+ ten years ago in my early 20's and walked away to set up my own company. Now my company is thriving and my old company went to the wall in 2009 with all the employees being made redundant.

 

My house is worth about £250k but we have been in it for nearly ten years and we bought it as FTB's without any kids etc. In that time the Mrs has been on unpaid maternity leave for circa four years which has been tough and curtailed my car buying wants!! We now have two kids and are rapidly outgrowing the house and will be looking for something that will be a fair step up on our current house eg £700k - £800k.

 

The moral of the (my) story is that if I'd stayed put in my 'safe' salary I'd have ended up redundant and scrapping arounf for crap paid jobs with a load of other people during the credit crunch. I didn't and have an expanding business that hopefully will get us to where we want to be!

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Others might advise differently, but in my view, if you see the property purely as an investment and not the family home, it's all down to monthly payments and you want to buy a renovation project, go for interest only initially so you can afford a better house. As your circumstances improve you could change to repayment if you wanted. Use your spare money to do the house up. I didn't realise you are renting at the moment. That 8k rent you mention, could have gone towards a property like the one you are in now, that has gone up 10% in the last 12 months without even renovating it. So you'd already be 15k better off. (20k appreciation less 5k interest only payments)

What's the worst that can happen, it all goes pear shaped and you go back to renting. No kids, no major commitments, do it while you are young.

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Others might advise differently, but in my view, if you see the property purely as an investment and not the family home, it's all down to monthly payments and you want to buy a renovation project, go for interest only initially so you can afford a better house. As your circumstances improve you could change to repayment if you wanted. Use your spare money to do the house up. I didn't realise you are renting at the moment. That 8k rent you mention, could have gone towards a property like the one you are in now, that has gone up 10% in the last 12 months without even renovating it. So you'd already be 15k better off. (20k appreciation less 5k interest only payments)

What's the worst that can happen, it all goes pear shaped and you go back to renting. No kids, no major commitments, do it while you are young.

Need at least a 25% deposit for Interest Only currently, more like 50% realistically.......
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