Wanting to buy - not knowing what to do

wobbles-grogan

Hi folks,

We're wanting to buy a house soon, however I'm a little lost as to whether it's a good idea right now or not.

Are prices heavily inflated now and we'll pay over the odds?
Is there serious risks you see in the near future (Brexit, Italy, Trumpy etc) that would significantly alter a house price?
Obviously I'm not wanting to overpay too much (I don't mind a little as I want a place to live!)

Now that house building is finally starting to pick up, do you envision house prices stabilising or reducing in the near term (<3 years)?

Thanks for any thoughts/advice in advance!

Michael D Not Higgins

Prices are shooting up in counties outside of Dublin, up to double figure percentage points. In Dublin they're still curtailed somewhat by the Central Bank rules but the figures from this years transaction prices is showing an upwards trend.

The current house building will only stabilise the price rises, rather than stabilise the price itself. There's still far too few available properties and far too few being built.

Paddytheman

I've been trying to purchase for a few months now Wobbles and would hope to get a deal through sooner rather than later. The new initiatives imho will simply add to the present problem and drive prices up further, yes if there was a better supply available surely they will make owning a property more accessible but as someone who has been bidding with 20% in hand I see a deluge of new competitors on the horizon.
Speaking to a Broker recently he expects that with the changes it will be March/April before we see the majority of new applicants as they are currently getting their "houses in order" if you'll excuse the pun...

Idbatterim

a number of factors come into it, ok first of all you mention its a house, thats good. It takes out one of the big risks of the boom that many are still stuck with, end up in massive negative equity in an apartment, that you dont want to be in or cant start a family in etc. What is ball park price of houses you are looking at and where are you looking at? Are you currently being done on rent or what is your situation?

wobbles-grogan

Idbatterim wrote: »

a number of factors come into it, ok first of all you mention its a house, thats good. It takes out one of the big risks of the boom that many are still stuck with, end up in massive negative equity in an apartment, that you dont want to be in or cant start a family in etc. What is ball park price of houses you are looking at and where are you looking at? Are you currently being done on rent or what is your situation?

Yeah, we'd much prefer a house.
A proper sized apartment in Dublin city center might be a runner, but it'd have to be quite a lot better standard than the usual quality out there.

We're actually pretty lucky atm, and our rent is below market rent. It's still a good chunk of money of course, but not as bad as I've heard others paying. Looking at houses around 350. Very very max 400 but that's a push - and basically anywhere within 40 mins or so journey on a rail link to the city center.

Things are pretty limited at that price point with those stipulations though

Idbatterim

At your budget not a chance I'd be buying an apartment. You'll also have management fees, no Control over neighbours, Airbnb leggings etc. No doubt ****e build quality and if if / when the **** hits the fan again, I wouldn't like the risk of being stuck in an apartment. Where are you currently living? Ease of access to work is a big one here, given the joke that passes for public transport here..

have you got mortgage approval?

SarahMollie

These questions are popping up time and time again. Why do you want to try to game the market when you're buying a roof over your head. The right time to buy is when its right for you and your circumstances, and any rise or fall only becomes real if you need to sell. If you can afford the repayments, and you find a place you're happy to live long term, I wouldnt waste time sitting on the fence. I'd personally think that in trying to sit and wait for a better deal, you're at more risk of things passing you by, as there is a lot of pent up demand out there.

Think of all those back in 2011-ish who were holding back thinking things would drop further and then missed the bottom of the market, because they couldnt take a deal that was good enough, they wanted to pay less, but couldnt see that prices weren't going to fall forever.