Is Now The Time to Buy or Sell ??

"the saying....more is lost with indecsion than wrong decision rings very true?!"

John.

Any idea what this means or have I missed something !!!!!

Harry

 Harry -

Personally I wouldnt either"decide" to buy now, nor "decide" to wait.  As you know from our chats elsewhere, i was in a not dissimilar position in May.  I went househunting.  If I hadn't seen the perfect home, I didn't need to buy on that trip.  I would happily have waited and made several more househunting trips, seeing different agents and different properties until the right one turned up.

By fluke, it was the second house I saw.  i viewed three more that day but my heart had already moved in!  Since then I've viewed others, both rental and for sale, on behalf of a friend, and nothing has come close to mine.  It was exactly right for me.  It's not huge, it doesn't have a pool, it certainly wouldn't be right for many (it's a village house), but for me it is perfection.  

Come out, have a look around, narrow down your town / village list, look at a few houses.  It'll help clarify in your mind whether you want coastal, inland, big town, village, campo, or urbanisation.  Stay in a hotel for a few nights.  Walk around your chosen patch late at night, and early in the morning (listen out for early tractors, cocks crowing, etc).  But when you walk into the house that is meant to be your home, you'll know.  So you can't say "I will look, but I won't buy until the market or the euro goes up or down".  Buy the house you love.  It's going to look cheap compared to UK prices, so what does it matter if you buy when the euro is 80p rather than 79?  What does unemployment matter in terms of buying a home?  Yes, it affects the community into which you are moving, but be aware of that, be sympathetic, but don't NOT buy your own future home because of it.

I think it's a "Nike moment" Harry.

Just do it.

Good luck.

 John,

Both my next door neighbour are ex coppers and they worked that exact beat that the two unfortunate ladies perished on.

Unfortunately the New Britain is a terrible place to be.

As for retirment age i am sure there is plenty of paperwork that can be done and i am sure you dont have to be too agile to be a desk clerk so we will agree to disagree on that.

I have always been against civil servants retirment ages,the private sector have to slog on why not the public sector.

Harry more is lost by indecision (not being able to make any decision) than wrong decision (wrong decision)

It's a very common saying.

Tamaressex is spot on,i moved to Spain in my early 30's...should have done in my early 20's......indecision again..

seize the day....

If you are looking for a home, not an investment, when you find the house that resonates to you and that you beleive the price is fare, buy it and enjoy it for many years to come!!! in your eyes it will apreciate everytime that you enjoy living in it to the fullest, thank your lucky stars that you found it and that you have the ability to purchase it and don't look back, just enjoy and be gratefull of this opportunity that many don't have.

I was not a PC,  but even at that rank the same might apply, but of course possibly a lower rank woud not be able to do  the clerical jobs to the standard required.

 I agree entirely with Tamaraessex, if it is the house / apartment that feels like the right choice and the price is one that you can afford, then that has got to be the property to buy.

Waiting for prices to fall further could mean someone else makes the move and snatches it from under your nose or, prices rise against all the logic and you end up paying more.

We have just made an offer on a property on the CDS and the vendor accepted €20k less than the asking price and I believe that the property is about €100k cheaper than it would have been before the crash.  I have not taken into account the changes in exchange rates between then and now.

As Georgia says properties have to be priced right to sell.

So if it feels right - go for it.

Now for a rant - I too will have to work until I am 66 and I agree that the Police, fire fighters, teachers etc. are pensioned off far too early, there's got to be something that you can be employed to do, driving a desk, school crossing patrol, education visits, crime prevention the list is endless.  However I do not agree that local government pensions are too generous but that private pensions are too low and unpredictable.  I feel sorry for the young 'uns coming into employment on the minimum wage, this government and previous ones want to keep wages and pension committments as low as possible while they benefit from high slaries, gold plated pensions and generous expenses.  Politicians are all in it for themselves and I will not be convinced otherwise.

Kelju

Your post arrived as I was typing mine,  but the comment about uniformed opinion is the same here.

To get value for money often takes expertise to achieve.

 Hi Johnzx,

I didn't mean to imply that you were idly siting down watching the world go by, I just think that 48 - 50 is too early to be retired from any service where a role other than front line could be undertaken.

I work for a heating company installing central heating, the engineers whose backs and knees have gone, usually around the 50 to 60 mark, are not pensioned off but moved into a less physical role e.g. service work and helping to man the technical helpdesk.

Kelju

 Never seems to bother them on 'New Tricks"   

Tamara's comments below make much sense ie remain flexible/openminded !

I think our approach will be to rent for 6 months possibly with break clause & if the perfect opportunity arises in that timeframe we will buy. Clearly, the market is currently in more of a downward than upward trend.

Some one else suggested below that  if it feels right as a home  go for it regardless of market conditions etc.. I suppose the counter argument might be  that if someone bought in 2007 on that basis it might  not " feel quite  right" now. I am just being the "devils advovocate" here !!! Incidentally, we almost bought early last year & the real estate agent also used the highly misguided argument about "production value". Since then that property has dropped 32% (ie price decline + currency).

Rightly or wrongly,  a good  friend recently suggested that we are all  just "walking dollars signs" to most  real estate agents who will push for commissions whatever the market or circumstances. Who knows - certainly prudent to cautiously assess on case by case basis !! Easy to identify those who lack substance & tend to be in ones face.

Regards,

Harry

This message was last edited by Harry07 on 21/09/2012.

Unfortunately there is an ugly side to all of this if you take the viewpoint of the seller, and many people come into this category.  I would ask for some sensitivity on the part of buyers, when they are trying to knock someone down to the last euro and make all kinds of demands that the furniture be included, that the seller pays for x,y,z before the sale is completed and so on. The buyer should also try and be reasonable and look at it from the seller's point of view, rather than behaving like a vulture going in for the kill and benefiting from someone else's misery.  If you bought a piece of land for 50,000 euros, spent 70,000 euros building a house and pool, for example, have all the buying and selling costs to take into consideration and someone is battling to try and get you to sell for maybe 90,000 euros in your desperation, it's not pretty.  The buyer may congratulate themselves on their negotiating skills and on getting such a bargain, but spare a thought for the seller who might have been ruined by all of this.

"Regardless, I feel terribly sorry for anyone having to sell at this time plus all the unfortunate unemployed. Spain is an awesome country with some wonderful people & deserves better !!"

 surely if you feel that sorry Harry,you won't want to push the owners down anymore and would he happy to pay present price.

Most of our buyers are nice people but eggcup is spot on.....there are a lot of vultures circling at the moment,unforunately they keep me fed also,the circle of life.

Everybody knows the market better than us,always have done,always will do......we are working 12 hour days and weekends at the moment so i guess if Karma works i will able to retire in my mid 40's.

With 15% more people buying this quarter than last year then i guess that more believe its a buyers market this year than they did last,i guess that makes 85,000 people who should have taken better advice?

  Great sentiment but what you are in fact saying is pay the seller more than you need to.

This is only true if you belive you could buy it for less next year.

If i go shopping for eggs today i wont walk out empty handed because i think they will be less next week or haggle with the checkout girl accordingly.

I recently bought a new car,it was what i wanted and i was happy with the price,i could have walked for a year i suppose hoping to get a better deal next summer.

The truth is nobody knows what is going to happen,i know as many people over the years who have said to me at some point..."i wish i had of bought last year before the prices went up" or "i wish i would have waited".....depending on the subsequent rise or fall in the market,they all seem to enjoy their property regardless.

If you are buying for the long term property prices will rise eventually,how do you put a value on your happiness?

I bought a property in the boom and lost money,i have also bought a property in recent years for a great price that will increase,i have enjoyed every single minute of my time in those family homes,that is worth far more than spending years dithering and asking other people what to do.

Remember whether you choose to belive it or not,Agents get their information first hand from self generated stats....everybody else asks everybody else what they think based on what they think or have read.

Bloke down the pub said time again.

I could say it is a fact that the police spend far too much time chasing  motorists instead of burglars,John could probably produce stats to prove otherwise,i would be wrong but my perception would lead many people to believe my side.

I could say it is a fact that the police spend far too much time chasing  motorists instead of burglars,John could probably produce stats to prove otherwise,i would be wrong but my perception would lead many people to believe my side.

When people are inappropriately trivial & lack substance there is a tendancy to lose respect !

Harry

 you guys are welcome to this thread now,you will still be arguing about buying in 10 years time.

The point i was trying to make was ask an expert,if only this site provided crayola it would be so much easier to make the point understood.

John is selling so in essence offer him half price Harry and you will all be happy.

i remember in the mid 2000's when this site was fun and informative now it like a meeting of the Victor Meldrew fan Club.

Didn't they used to have Derby and Joan clubs for this??

Harry talks about respect when he asks when is the best time to screw someone for as much as i can

Have a nice life...