From: "Chris" 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: House prices .. Buy now or wait?
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 23:15:16 -0000


"Jim Ley"  wrote in message 
news:4194a050.1038703696@news.individual.net...
> On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 11:31:31 -0000, "Chris" 
> wrote:
>
>>We currently live in a housing association house. Rent is £60 a week. To 
>>buy
>>an equivalent sized house in this are would cost in the region of £100,000
>
> Is there something wrong with this house?  you're paying ~3 thousand a
> year, interest only on a 100,000 mortgage will be getting on for
> double that


The only thing wrong with the house is that its an ex council, housing 
association house. My wife feels a lot of shame beacuse we still live in a 
"council" house and my parents are always telling me that rent is dead money 
and urging me to buy.

> I really don't think you'd be sensible to increase your costs
> considerably for little benefit other than owning a house, take the
> thousands of pounds a year you're saving by not paying that mortgage
> and save it up for a deposit.


I try to explain this to my wife, but she wants to be "like everybody else" 
and be a homeowner

> Whilst the future direction of house prices is a contentious issue,
> there's very few people who believe it will go up particularly, and
> there's a strong belief that prices will come down considerably.
>
> Jim.