François

With UK house prices set to lower. I guess this is a good year to snap up a British bargain.

dunroving

Don't count your chickens. They are currently so overpriced that even if they drop 20% they'll still be too expensive for many people.

eurotramp

Exactly what I think...we will wait just a little bit longer

Tracy in Texas

Yep, I would wait longer too - the prices are extortionate, so they'd have to come down a lot to make me buy there if I was moving back now. If only we hadn't sold before we left Old Blighty !! Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20.
( Makes you sick though !) I would love to move back, but simply can't afford it, and I'd never get a house as large as the one I have in Texas - in the UK I could probably only afford a 2 bed terraced and I can't go back to that !!

eurotramp

Same here,

we live in Belgium and paid for a 3 bed detached a bit over 100.000 £ and I'm not willing to pay 2-3 times as much for a smaller semi.

Luckily we can wait until the price is right...if that ever happens

dunroving

Hey, there are advantages to terraced - I stayed in mine when I was home at Christmas. Heating broke down and was without heat for 3 days - but the house was warm! The neighbours were heating my house!

Tracy in Texas

Yeah, no offence but when I lived in a terraced house, I had noisy neighbours on both sides and at all times of the day and night (well actually it was mailnly all their kids that were noisy) - never again ! But I agree - the heat thing is good though !

SANDRAPAUL

I suggest you might all want to think again. The so called experts are now predicting a price reduction during late 2006 that will make any major effect. It may well stagnate or go up or down by 2-3% in the next 12 months. But don't count your chickens as these so called experts predicted a price crash that should already be here. So much for experts.

Don't forget most 'experts' make money out of extolling crap in the press.

bridiej

I'm sure the latest figures announced last week said the prices had risen, only about 2% or something but a rise nonetheless.

dunroving

True - I now know my neighbours have two noisy dogs (who like going up and down the stairs!) Maybe it was because it was Christmas, but it didn't bother me too much to hear noises. I'm sure if it was 3 a.m. in the middle of a work week, I'd feel different!

That's why apartments have never appealed to me. Too many immediate neighbours. Some places you have one up, one down, one each side and one behind. Law of averages says someone will be making noise at any give time of day/night.

jackpetj

If it's any consolation we are in a similar position.
I left UK for a work assignment in Norway in 1995.
House prices were falling, and the rent we managed to get was no where near the cost of the mortgage. Remember interest rates were around 15%.
We sold our house in Norwich for 150k in 1996 just to get rid of it.
No sooner had we sold it, when prices started to stabilise and increase again.
Last Christmas we heard that it was back on the market for 3 times our sale value. So going expat cost me almost $400k !
We moved to the US (Houston Texas) in 1997 and have jsut returned to the UK (Aberdeen) - mainly to ensure lederly parents were taken care of, and to put eldest daughter through university in the UK.

We rent an oldish bungalow just west of Aberdeen and are seriously wondering what the hell we have done. Although Houston was no bed of roses, in terms of trafffic, heat and humidity - Aberdeen must be one of the worst cities in the UK.

Our house is cold, and being a typical British house nothing quite works. I mean, the central heating doesn't quite heat the house - it takes 8 minutes for the hot water to reach the shower - the newish sealed unit windows all have cold air coming in the seals - the garage is not quite big enough to put your car in and still open the door to get out. Aberdeen must also be a drought area in terms of good house design. All the local architects should be lined up and shot! The same could probably be said for most of the UK in fact.

Apologies for this turning into a moan session, but the UK has seriously declined in the last 10 years. Our two girls also go to private school in Aberdeen, and despite being fairly nice schools, the standard of education compared to Houston is extremely poor. I feel I must qualify that statement for those who have not lived in the US. Generally the standard of schooling is related to the value of your house, and the local taxes that you pay. Hence good schools are close to well to do neighbourhoods. Our eldest daughter (17) had formal assessments at a military school in England, and the school she finally went to in Aberdeen. It may be surpising to learn that she is between 1-2 years ahead of the UK curriculum (except in history, but she is an expert in Texas history!).

We are seriously considering returning to the US. Britain is in real decline. I guess the people living there don't see it. You have to leave and go back to see everything in reality. (It's like the anecdote of boiling a frog - a frog will quite happily sit in cold water that is gradually heated to a point where it dies!)

Anyone considering returning to the UK out of choice - think very carefully.
If you are desperate, don't burn your return ticket. If possible take a sebatical from work or whatever - rent a house for 6 months and be prepared for a reality check!

Apologies for going off track! We started on housing didn't we.
I still think there is something fundamentally wrong with the house market. You cannot sustain house prices of 8 times the average national salary. Interest rates do cycle and as soon as they hit 8% just wait for the real crash to start. The cost of the war in Iraq still has to be covered remember, there is a looming pensions crisis and the wonderful benefit free for all is still ongoing.
Rgds
PJ

Tracy in Texas

Great post - It really is eye opening to Ex Pats like me still over here in the US moaning about not 'being back at home'. Thank you for being so honest.
I have seriously considered moving home - the only reason I haven't is because I can't afford to buy a house there anymore. (so maybe that's a blessing in disguise)

You sound really fed up and I'm sorry you are, but consider . . .

1. I notice you're renting, well at least you didn't use all your savings to buy a small place that you don't even like, in a city you don't even like for a huge sum that it's not even worth.
(that's one positive you can look at)

2. You said you're considering moving back to the US? Well, I live near Austin TX - yeah the traffic's not great and the humidity is bad but I think it's a LOT nicer than Houston (where you were) in a lot of ways. Maybe think about a different area in the US - I've heard Oregon or some of the 'middle' states are nice (weather, cost of living etc)
If you can come back to the US visa/citizenship -wise, that may be the answer.

3. I know you said your kids are at college etc, but they would do just as well over here, if not better. The sooner you make a decision the better, as stress from thinking about all these issues will not just go away and you'll constantly keep thinking about it every day.
We can all look back and say "if only" about a lot of things (eg. selling our houses right before the prices sky rocketed etc !)

So, sit down with your family, have a good chat about the options, pros/cons and feelings linked to each one and make a decision and go for it!!!!

Sorry I'm churning out advice, but it seems to me,the longer you put off making big changes in your life, the harder it is to do anything about it as it gets way too complicated the further into something you are.
And then you get that feeling that your life is passing you by while you're passively waiting for it to get better. Years can be wasted like that.

I love this saying (from the Grumpy Old Men movie ) . . . "Your only regrets in life are the chances you never took."

- Ok, off my soapbox now !!!
Hope this helps
-Tracy

Kayser Soze

I have been plotting UK house prices for several months now ready to move back in April and can assure you the only movement has been DOWN.

With 93% of towns too expensive for 1st time buyers how they they go any way but DOWN.
Hang on to your hats!!!! :scared: :scared:

K.S.

jackpetj

Thank you for your words of encouragement.
I think we are more disillusioned with the UK rather than fed-up (well maybe a little of each).
I've worked for the same company for many years and I actually enjoy my job, which is a real blessing! I am therefore restricted to Houston or Aberdeen right now. I think I could endure hot summers in preference to freezing winters.
We've held green cards for four years now and one solution to our dillema would be for me to return to Houston and apply for US citizenship in one year. My daughters could then have the choice of living in the UK or the US in the future.
By the way, I came across a link which makes for interesting reading and may not be as far fetched as one may imagine. The US may be even more appealing! http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=591&id=56762005

dugongs

all you expats make me laugh. i know how it is as i was in your shoes once as well but now happily moved back to uk. UK is pretty good if you live in a good area and have a nice house and some people here are biased because they do not have those as they left the country in search of their fortunes and all those poor sods you left behind are now sitting pretty on massive piles of housing assets - good on them for braving it out. i think it is great that all those smug expats now have the smile wiped off their faces and thank goodness we went to Oz and not US/Canada where house prices have fallen behind.

house prices here in leafy surrey have actually been marked up 10% since the start of the year and sold signs are everywhere. i am sure the prices achieved will not be asking price but there is no shortage of buyers around here sorry to report. the general opinion is that interest rates are pretty much at the peak now and a lot of comment around that rates could be slashed to 3.5% by year end. there is also huge interest in the new personal pension fund rule changes which could send house prices even further into orbit. mortgage deals are becoming tempting again as well. in fact far from doom and gloom here in surrey.