Property guru Sarah Beeny shares her views on whether now’s the right time to buy, mortgage lenders, HIPs and first-time buyers.
By Sarah Jagger
Sarah says: ‘Yes, definitely. If you’re looking to move house and if it’s the right time in your life to move on, you should go for it. If you need a bigger home or need to downsize, move now.’
‘Life just isn’t long enough to be hanging around five or 10 years waiting for the property market to recover. Although, of course, you must make sure you can afford the mortgage repayments.’
Sarah says: ‘In my opinion, lenders have been lending irresponsibly to first-time buyers for some time now. The concept that you were able to buy a home even if you had no deposit or equity from an existing property is completely bonkers! You have to question a market where lenders were quite happy to dish out 120 per cent mortgages. The government should never have allowed lenders to do this.’
‘To me, there’s no alternative but to save up money so you can afford to buy a home. This is what people had to do when I was buying my first place some years ago. You lived in a squalid studio flat whilst putting cash aside like mad for your deposit.’
‘Nowadays luxuries are a way of life and first-timers expect to be able to afford to live in a two-bed gorgeous flat near to a lovely high street with a Starbucks and Pizza Express for their first home, which just isn’t right.’
Sarah says: ‘There isn’t a particular type you should buy. Just because everyone’s into Victorian properties doesn’t mean you should now buy Edwardian.’
‘You should buy a property that meets the needs of your everyday life. If you need a five bedroom house for an expanding family but can only afford a five bed on a busy main road, then go for it. You have to be able to compromise.’
Sarah says: ‘You’re asking too much. It’s a mistake when you’re selling to chase the market down.’
‘This is when a seller puts a property on the market for the asking price of £230k, then reduces it to £228k when they can’t sell, and then they drop further to £225k some time down the line when they still can’t sell.’
‘You have to face it and realise the property is only worth £180k now. You have to go below the market if you want to sell.’
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