Getting on the property ladder

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Shoulda bought your house just before the prices went crazy....

That's a nice idea but some of us are too young/never in the right financial situation at the time...

[reds4ever]

Guess I was lucky

Is this how Conservatives feel all the time.....?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Dauphin
The problem is these days you can't even sell your body for medical experiments to raise the deposit without turning into the elephant man.

It can be done. I managed to save $25k and that would have been enough for a down if I had gotten creative financing and sign up for a second. Luckily I didn't have to because my father gave me a very generous amount of money but the fact remains it can be done without help. You'll just have to accept room mates until you get married and have a wife who you can split the bills with.

[DanS]

As I understand it, in the UK, a high down payment is required. Not 5% like in the US.

[Dinner]

Ahh, if the rules are different then all bets are off. In the US you can get a HUD first time buyer loan with just 1% down or at least you used to be able to back when Clinton was President. I have no clue if Bush and the Republican Congress have killed this Clinton era program but they typically hate anything Clinton did so this might not be available any more.

[reds4ever]

Nah, you can put down 5% in the UK. A couple of years ago they were doing mortgages with no down payment. The more you do put down though, the better interest rates you tend to be offered.

[DanS]

Ah OK. Similar to the US. Often, we do 80/15/5 or similar loans to lower the interest rates even when you don't put much down.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
The interesting thing is, look at the total number of sales a year - just over 32k - in a city of 7m?! Looking at that, I would suspect that most of those people can only afford to buy somewhere is because they already own somewhere to sell...so it looks like we are collectively buggered in our agegroup. Let's hope the supply situation gets sorted out relatively soon...but I doubt it...

Oh stop whining.

£250k is roughly HK$3.5m, which is low for a flat. The going rate for new, mid-range flats is $5000 per square foot (don't ask...), but the problem is the area of a flat is "architectural," which means you get stuffed with a share of all public areas. So you are looking at about 70-80% of that as the actual area for your flat. Then you get to pay the monthly management fee, which does not include any utility at all. The management fee can be as high as several dollars per square feet depending on where you live.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by reds4ever
Nah, you can put down 5% in the UK. A couple of years ago they were doing mortgages with no down payment. The more you do put down though, the better interest rates you tend to be offered.

5%? No down payment? What's the longest mortgage repayment period?

[reds4ever]

Generally 25 years. I've heard of longer but they are far (to say the least!) from commonplace.

The vast majority of first time buyers (25 to 35 year olds) mortgage for 25 years.

[Urban Ranger]

25 years is decent.

Here we need to pay a down payment of 30% (!!), adjusted downwards from 90% a few years back, when speculation was borking the market big time.

You can get a second mortgage of up to 25%, so you actually need to put down 5%, but then they restrict your repayment to 50% max of your income.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
25 years is decent.

Here we need to pay a down payment of 30% (!!), adjusted downwards from 90% a few years back, when speculation was borking the market big time.

You can get a second mortgage of up to 25%, so you actually need to put down 5%, but then they restrict your repayment to 50% max of your income.

so who buys houses in HK?

Oh I geddit you all earn at least £100k a year (or live in 30sq feet houses underground where rates are a bit less) ... I wander which one is it

[Sir Og]

You should all follow the trend and move to Bulgaria. £15k can buy you a very nice place.
There are also job opportunities in Bulgaria. The company I work for is a subcontractor for four big British companies.

[MikeH]

Re: Getting on the property ladder

Originally posted by Whaleboy
How is this possible in the UK? I'm 21 and earning £20K but as I see it at the moment, the only way I can possibly think of getting a mortgage is by going in with someone else.

You've got no chance. Don't worry about it, everyone's in the same boat.

I'm 30, earn a lot more than you, have a working girlfriend with a well paid job and we're just about getting to the stage where we can buy.

[Kidlicious]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Getting on the property ladder

Originally posted by Flubber


There's a lesson there for others. There is almost NEVER a need for joint floating credit. Get a mortgage for a fixed amount, fine. But get separate credit cards and if your "partner" uses yours without pernmission . . . report them as you would any other unauthorized use.

It may sound hardh but if they're to the point of stealing your creditcard, do you really think you have a relationship to salvage

Report her to who? About the only thing you can do is take her to court for reimbursement if you are going threw the divorce. In my case my ex is a drug addict, and I'll never get a dime. She used my identity during the divorce proceedings to obtain credit, and the creditors don't care. Maybe they won't be able to collect from me, but they won't stop trying, and they won't take it off my credit.

She's also used my identity since the divorce, and I can take that off, but it's an on going problem.