Buying your home, especially if it is the first home you have ever bought, is a fantastic investment for the long-term future of yourself and your family. In this day and age, when first time property buyers are desperate to get onto the the first rungs of the property ladder, if you get the chance to purchase a house that you like, then do it.
Indeed there are still not enough first time buyers out there and why should this be the case? A cocktail of poisonous recession, shortage of homes, and banks that are not lending to anyone, let alone first time buyers who want a mortgage, has all but halted home buying in the short term. Until this recession is over, then there will be more and more people – especially young people – who will be left high and dry, desperate to buy their dream homes, but not being lent the money to be able to do so.
Banks have simply stopped lending, especially in the UK, where in fact, the banks where recently ordered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to become more flexible in giving financial loans to those that need the the money. To purchase your first home is a wonderful achievement… but it comes with a downside.
Home repossessions have hit an all-time high as interest rates shot up forcing people out of their properties. With the banks demanding their money, and people not being able to meet the mortgage repayments, the banks simply walked in and took the keys back. Many mortgages were not fixed, which meant that in some cases what you paid never remained the same. The monthly repayments on a mortgage would either go up or down, depending on how volatile the housing market was/is.
And this still remains the case now. In fact, in the year 2009, home repossessions in the UK reached a record 14 year high when 46.000 homes were repossessed. This was the highest figure so far since the year 1995. At least 2.5 percent of mortgages went into arrears, a shocking figure which was a 3 percent rise on 1998.
So anyone out there who has designs on buying their home must think very carefully before they decide to go ahead. But, as has been mentioned above, that is whether or not you even manage to get the loan you need from the bank. There are thousands of people who have been made homeless because they have fell behind with the repayments on their houses.
Shelter, the housing charity in the UK, called the amount of repossessions by the banks ‘totally unacceptable’. Is buyng your own home still a good or bad investment? Without a shadow of doubt it will, in the long-term, always be a good investment, this is simply because there is always money to be made in property – especially in the housing market.
However, after having said all that, purchasing a place you can call your own is still the dream of many people. It is the natural progression, the way to go, and when you have finally made that last payment, and the keys become yours for good, then the world really is your oyster. Your house is yours, bought and paid for, and doesn’t that make you feel good? Of course, if you are rich enough you could simply purchase your home outright without the worry of repayments every month.
But there are many of us who are not so fortunate were we can do that, and so we rely on the banks to help us out in our hopes to buy the house or flat we want. If people do their research thoroughly, without rushing into anything, and really look at what help is out there for first time buyers – and also what to do if you where to hit financial trouble – then you are crossing hurdles before you meet them for real.
No matter the obstacles, owning your own home, is a wonderful thing. It is a long-term investment for you and your family. It is a place that can be passed down to your children and then onto their children. And, of course it is a place that will not only go up in price, as the years pass by, but a place too that will be filled with, hopefully, happy memories.
Yes, owning your own home is what we should all strive to do and all strive for. The housing property market should not be exclusive to the rich only, but should be open for everyone in society who wants to own their own place. But until the financial institutions open their purse strings again, and begin lending money at a reasonable rate of repayment, then owning our own homes will remain just that…a pipe dream.