Have we made a big mistake

[weaverhomes]

Hi All,

Recently just bought our first property in West London - in the borough of Hounslow to be exact. However I have been reading lots of things about downturn in the market and the housing market slump. We knew about this before but we were very desperate to get onto the housing ladder having paid and wasted endless money in rent! So we have our very first property a lovely one bed with garden.

I am very worried that we have bought at the wrong time - should we have held on or will we just ride through it?

Opinions please.

[brian]

If you bought as a home, for the long-term, then don't worry about it.

The only time property prices falling is going to cause any real problems under normal circumstances is if you find yourself unable to cope with mortgage payments but the value of the property becomes less than the size of the mortgage (ie, ie, negative equity).

However, presuming you're able to keep up with the mortgage, don't worry about the state of the property market - you're in this for the long-term, and as such any minor near term losses are unlikely to impact you.

IMO any property purchase in the London area has great investment potential over the long-term anyway.