According to one of the UK’s key mortgage lenders, Home prices in the Uk have just shown the first signs that the market is starting to stabilise, and find a balance between Home Buyers, Home Sellers And Mortgage Fund Providers.
This truly is welcome and encouraging news for the Home market particularly and the general economy as a whole. Nonetheless, if we’re planning on getting back into the Home market seriously, and certainly before We buy Houses at all, we still should employ the kind of caution which has been non-existant amongst Home Buyers over the past few years.
It seemed for a while that all anyone had to do was put up a sign saying “Buy my House”, and any numbers of potential buyers were beating a path to their door with cries of “We buy Homes! Sell to us!”
Nowadays it’s absolutely different. Just because somebody invites you to “Buy my House” doesn’t mean you have to respond and dive in quickly. Remember, Home prices are still tumbling, albeit slower than before. That means, when We buy Houses, time is our friend, because the longer a Home is for sale, the lower its price falls.
Of course, as we’ve just remarked, the latest news issued by the UKs leading Mutual Society in the mortgage market, shows us that Home values are presently falling much slower than they’ve done for many months. So it might well be that we are approaching the bottom of the present Home Price dip.
Therefore it seems that now may not be such a bad time to buy Homes in the UK. However, you should always apply sound principles & make a clear assessment of the whole situation before you commit yourself.
Firstly, do all the due diligence & pay the extra for an in-depth survey to include a report on the Home’s condition, any title complications, flood & future development risks, problem neighbours etc.
Secondly, make sure you’ll have enough equity in the home in case Home prices tumble another 20%, because they’ve not finished tumbling yet.
Next be sure you can manage the repayments now, and with a good safety margin for when interest rates rise as the economy picks up.
Finally, be sure you have enough liquid funds to live and pay your mortgage for at least three months, because if you’re unlucky enough to lose your job, that’s how long you’ll have to hold on before you get any state help. You just don’t want to be dragged into a distress sale to one of those “We buy Homes” companies.