I considered buying in the summer of 2007. At that time HSBC were offering a 90% mortgage and the banker there mentioned that I could apply for and get another 10% as a personal loan from another bank. That looked like a pretty good 0% down deal. The mortgage payments were lower than what I was about the pay at Beverly Hills (200k a year).
I put it off since I couldn't live in it and would have to pay rent and a mortgage for about a year. That was about 3 years ago!
When I lived in Beverly Hills I ran into a QA pilot who was sharing an apt. with another QA staff and was paying the mortgage and the rent. Two years later he was still bitching because he couldn't sell it and couldn't break-free of the bank and live in Qatar. Plus he made a down payment.
If anyone is thinking of buying, only do so if
1. you can move in rightaway and
2. mortgage is less than the rent you'd pay and
3. you make no down payment.
I considered buying in the summer of 2007. At that time HSBC were offering a 90% mortgage and the banker there mentioned that I could apply for and get another 10% as a personal loan from another bank. That looked like a pretty good 0% down deal. The mortgage payments were lower than what I was about the pay at Beverly Hills (200k a year).
I put it off since I couldn't live in it and would have to pay rent and a mortgage for about a year. That was about 3 years ago!
When I lived in Beverly Hills I ran into a QA pilot who was sharing an apt. with another QA staff and was paying the mortgage and the rent. Two years later he was still bitching because he couldn't sell it and couldn't break-free of the bank and live in Qatar. Plus he made a down payment.
If anyone is thinking of buying, only do so if
1. you can move in rightaway and
2. mortgage is less than the rent you'd pay and
3. you make no down payment.
That's my 2 cents free.