House builders change their programmes and build for the middle markets which can afford to move leaving the first time buyer market place in the doldrums.

The beauty of this state of the housing market is that there is plenty of good investment to be made if you have plenty of cash to invest.

There is no question that the risk is low the rewards are high. Buying property in 2011 is one of the only ways where your cash is safe in bricks and mortar, there is an immediate income from the rental market and the price of the property can only go up as the housing markets recover. House prices in the UK are still proving to be slow to recover but the short term predictions are they will start fully recovering towards 2012 so risk is low for investment.
Compared with some of the interest offered by the banks and savings accounts there shouldn’t be any question which is the better return long term.

Are you an investor looking for property with realistic returns?

The UK property market system is for and against you.  Legislation that protects you also requires you to spend a lot of money is system that in all truthfulness only favours the UK tax system.

Putting estate agents and solicitors to one side the house buying process is painful, from assessing how much capital you can borrow to how much the house you like is worth to agreeing the price and then giving the go head to buy.  Giving the go ahead to buy the house for the price you agree is the legal part that mistakenly for most buyers believe makes them the owner of the property.

Wrong, you are not the owner of the property you are the proud owner of debt.  The deeds of the house remain in the safe hands of the lender and until the debt has been paid off you do not get your hands on the deeds of the property.  You have played monopoly yes?

The game where you buy and sell houses will or should enlighten you to the process of creating happiness and tears all within a few hours.

So here is the tip.  Unless you have pots of cash to buy a house outright or have a big enough deposit to make buying a house the same as renting a cheap home do not buy a house in the current market.

Buying a house during 2010, 2011 and the early part of 2012 is for those who have lots of cash and can afford to loose money, property prices during the next 2 years will plummet another 15% at least so do you want to give away 15% of your hard earned cash?

Estate agents are encouraging house sellers to reduce the price of property on the market to make their life easy, after all an estate agent not selling is an estate agent making no money!

DO NOT LISTEN TO ESTATE AGENTS they are there to take instructions from you if you are a seller and not desperate to sell do not sell.

Despite the economic optimism the UK is in a serious mess and the housing market is going through a double dip crash.  Seriously, there is no doubts or questions.

Estate agents are as keen to make a living and their 1% margin from your sale makes no difference at the end of the day.  estate agents as always are showing their true colours and advising home owners selling to lower their prices.  Why?  Well, they will tell you that the market forces are at work and that you need to bite the bullet in order to get a buyer interested.  When in fact what they should be saying is hold on to your property and ride through the storm, after 18 months all will be alot calmer and prices should stabalise.

There is no point hiding from the fact that the banks are not releasing cash for first time buyers and this is the main reason why the growth has faltered.  It really is market demands taking house prices to an all time low but you must bear up because the next stage is going to get worse!

Interest rates will rise repayments will increase and the negative equity will seem like a noose around the neck that cannot be carried on any longer.  So, do you bail out now and just write it off?  This is a good question as the driving force behind any repayment plan should be based on individual assets growing and NOT based on paying off the debt the banks caused.  This last point is all the more important when you consider why your house is falling in value and the price is going down and not up.

The banks ran up the clock and no one knew what time it was, now it is 1 o’clock the banks have run down and this is not hickery dickery.  You like paying off the bankers debt and not having a penny to show for it?

During the early 90′s people were in the same situation and they simply threw their keys away and left the property.  Is it going to be any different this time around?  House prices are going to fall by another 20% over the next 18 months can you really sustain this amount of loss and afford to keep up repayments on your mortgage?

Here is an example.  A house previously valued at £150k is now worth £130 it will go down as far as £110 within the next 18 months, that is a loss in value of £40k whilst the repayments remain the same you are paying for house in real terms that will take 50 years to pay back.  And here is the crunch, no one can say for sure that house prices are ever going to go back up or at least not at the same rate as they did during the Blair government from 1997 things in the UK housing market really did change.

Buying a first house (home) is never an easy decision to make unless you have a pot of cash (you do not have to get a mortgage).  Chances are you wont be reading this!

The main information providers on mortgages and house prices generally shy away of explaining how to get and secure your mortgage they are more interested in selling their products and explaining how the repayments work.

Default on the repayments and you’ll be at square one on the property ladder.  The two critical factors when buying your first home is

a) affordable (do not borrow more than you can repay) This is a tricky one because common sense doesn’t always kick in and the markets can mean common sense was thrown out of the widow.

b) don’t let the estate agent sell you the house, you sell it to yourself and ask the all important question – would i buy this house if I was selling it in 2 years time.

You have to be able to sell the house at some point in the future.

It’s a disgrace that after 15 years of house price rises driven by greedy estate agents yet denied by them for the cause of price rises that they are now asking for their jobs to be made easier.

Is biting the bullet on house prices to be encourage? NO

I recall during the last 15 years house prices going up and up and that it was the estate agents who were responsible for this, so don’t you think house prices should be sold in the same way as any other product, after all nothing gets cheaper and selling £10 notes for £5 anyone can do right?

Just becuase the market is tough is not the reason to take the easy choice after all this is an easy choice for the estate agent not the seller? Biting the Bullet for estate agents is not an option.

Their job is to market and sell your house so tell them to stop moaning and sell your house.

Dropping the price of your house will ensure one thing and one thing only – a market crash like no other crash seen before.  These are tough times and the market fragile.

The reasons for not enough buyers in the market isn’t because your house is over priced it is because the greedy banks wont release money.

Greed – greedy estate agents want commission and greedy banks want interest from the money earned, so you as a home owner need to stay where you are if you are being asked to drop the price below market value.

Also strong demand for land from a range of buyers with prices rising significantly in the last quarter.

The Southern region of the UK which has seen a 66% rise year on year.

Following  the 2010 election more certainty in the UK economic encouraged vendors and buyers alike.

That said, as always, there is still a lack of best in class properties available across the board.

The Home Counties there is a lack of stock with more being available privately.  ‘The most active buyers are those making necessity purchases as they need to move.  For this reason alone demand remains strong across all prime areas in our region.

In Henley, Beaconsfield, Virginia Water, Weybridge, Esher, Guildford, Petworth and the Midhurst triangle, the upper end of the property market is achieving over and above guide prices.

An example is a house near Guildford which recently attracted competitive bidding in excess of the £2.85 million guide price.  This was before it even reached market formally.

However, in Somerset, Wiltshire, West Berkshire, Hampshire, and Dorset there is a shortage of supply. But this is expected to change and we’ll know more after the summer of 2010.

Stepping back and looking at the housing market in this way should be the first thing anyone does when considering buying a house.  It makes you realise how volatile the housing market can be, especially when there is a factor out of everyone’s control roaming loose!  The factor roaming loose, an unknown economic outcome following a recession.

Are we about to enter a double dip?

A double dip recession isn’t as bad as people would have you believe it is.  The economy keeps going regardless of a downturn, the people affected the most are low earners and people trying to buy their first home and people desperate to move to a larger property and maybe those wanting to downsize and retire.  OK so there are a lot of people affected by the downturn, but not in the same way that there is a shortage of water and food, right?

We are talking about getting on to the property ladder and how first time buyers are struggling to a) get the right amount of deposit together and b) knowing that the time is right to buy.

The latter is the big question and there is no short answer unless you take the view that there is never a right or wrong time to buy a house.  This is the answer today.  If the house you are looing at buying feels right for all the right reasons then you must surely go for it.

what are the right reasons?

In no certain order

a) you have the capital for despoit which is secure and not a burden for repayment

b) your mortage offer and repayment schedule is affordable

c) the house is in the exact location to work and schools

d) you feel right in the house and will be happy

An Independent financial advisor will generally try to secure as much as is physically possible for you to borrow simply because they work on commission and the higher you borrow the better it is for them.

The rule of thumb is always borrow what you can afford to pay back and allow for all events.

Buying a house as your home is important and not to be undertaken lightly.

Estate Agents have been known to be ruthlessly self interested.  Estate Agents with a good portfolio of properties to sell indicate a good practice.

As a house hunter looking for the house of your dreams you want the facts and want the best price for the house of your dreams or the honest market value for your house about to go on the market.

Be sure to research your Estate Agent thoroughly.

Housing experts and estate agents believe the average cost of a house will rise by as much as 25% in the next 5 years to 2016