Rent or Own?

[Flossy82]

Ladies im just curious to see how many of us either rent or own our own houses at the moment we are rent a new 3 bed house at 550pcm.Which is a good size for us as a family the rooms are of a good size etc and we have a reasonable sized garden but the thing that bugs us is that at the end of the day we are ploughing money into something that will be never ours and as much as we would like to but with the prices in our area its not an option so we will have to stay as we are for a time but eventualy im sure we will buy when the prices our within our means.

 

[Minxy]

im sure we will buy when the prices our within our means.

My advice is if you can do it at all, do it! Houses are never going to get cheaper, so the sooner you can start throwing money at a mortgage rather than in a landlords pocket the better.

We bought the cheapest house in our area, and admittedly it's falling down around our ears. I have friends in gorgeous modern rented houses and occasionally I think 'what if'

But I'm pleased that we're investing in our future. I can't see the house price depreciating and we're already 4 years into a 25 year old mortgage.

Get yourself some advice from an impartial financial advisor to see if it's do-able

 

[glitzyglamgirl]

I couldnt go back to renting but im glad we got on the ladder when we did, its sooooo hard for first time buyers these days, and then of course rent is always going to be more than you'd pay on a mortgage so its a catch 22!

Come to the outskirts of Cardiff, property is still cheapish here but its a booming area

We bought our 3 bed semi, timber framed, with conservatory, 2 bathrooms and a gorgous garden for £120k just over a year ago, you couldnt get a decent flat for that in some areas!

 

[SarahH]

A totally agree... buy as the property is not getting any cheaper!!
Our 2bed apartment with garden and garage was £50K when we bought it 5years ago... we are away to sell and it's been valued at between £150K and £160K.

The house prices in Aberdeen are so stupid!! All because we have the oil they think they can charge (in my husbands words) an arm, leg and a testicle!

 

[Flossy82]

I hate it the house prices round here are silly as we live right on the coast so nothings exactly cheap. And it bugs me that there isnt much affordable housing for first time buyers either.Also we get alot of people from away move this way so they are willing to pay the prices. We have looked into part ownership before now and have been wondering weither or not thats another option to think of or not

 

[evemarie8]

We bought our 2 bedroom semi for £130k in Feb 06, but we had to live with my Mother in Law for 4 years before we could afford to take the plunge!!! Its so difficult to get on the ladder but once you have done it its all worthwhile.

 

[Minxy]

Maybe you could move area to somewhere more affordable? It might be easier now while the kids are smaller and not in school.

I really would get some professional advice. There are so many ways to do it now, from higher borrowing to longer terms. If you see an impartial advisor they shouldn't try and push certain products and should find you the best deal.

 

[glitzyglamgirl]

If you can afford that much rent a month then you can certainly afford a mortgage, and its pretty easy to get a 100% mortgage these days and pay interest only until your financial situation improves.

It might definitly be worth having a look around at different mortgage deals to see if there are any that would suit you

 

[Flossy82]

Cheers minxy im seriusly going to look into as much as i like where we are etc i really font fancy renting forever

 

[mummykay]

we will be payin 200ish punds on a 2bed flat with the rent at 825 pcm!!!!

so damn expensive but we need to stay here cos of Mickey at the bbc, hopefully within the next yr or so we can get on the property ladder but i hate the confusion of mortgages!!!

 

[jenna]

i dont think renting is good for people that have settled down. We rent and hate it. The only reason we havnt bought a house is because we want to save a big deposit so we can buy a better house. Theres so many bad points to renting. Its never a stable home and you dont really have a choice as to how long you can live there, the landlord might want to stop renting it out at any point. The other thing we hate is that with all the houses weve rented we havnt been able to decorate or even put a picture up because the landlord doesnt want holes in the walls! And we havnt got on with any of our neigbours because they all look down on us and think just because we rent we dont have a say on anything, wether it be to do with the street or the house/garden. One *beep* even parked on our drive almost every week and said it wasnt up to us because he owned the house next door and we rented!!

 

[kellie80]

We rent ours. Not through choice we just can't afford to buy one. We throw £300 a month away to rent a crappy house in a crappy area.

 

[Sammystar]

Here in Switzerland 70% of the population rent. To own a house here is an expensive business. Prices are high but the crunch is that the banks require a 20% deposit. There is no such thing as a 100% mortage here. On the plus side, interest rates are really low. We are currently waiting for our house to be built and have agreed a mortgage over ten years at 2.8%
The deposit was a killler though

I can't believe how expensive England has become. My parents live in Harrogate and they have their four bed detached house on the market for £475K!!! The house has a shared front garden and is about two feet away from next door, with a really steep driveway.
They bought it 20 years ago for about £57K. Amazing!

 

[Flossy82]

Another thing is it worth considering at all part ownership on places?

 

[MissGobby]

my view is that if you can afford to rent you can afford to buy, the main reason is because rent (dont know about anywhere else, im saying this of where i live) is soo high it is around the same price to buy!! AND at the end of it, if you buy, it is YOUR house, no-one elses!!! i think renting is just dead money and if you can afford it i would say buy!!!!

 

[Alfiesmummy]

ooops sorry i didnt read the question
i voted rent but i thought it was do i rent or own.
I defineately think for that price you copuld own a house. We at the moment are looking into buying a house and it will be a fantastic investment. Put it this way by the time im 45 i could never have to pay rent/mortgage again. Thats an extra 500/600 pound odd a month to spend, just need to find one i like for now haha

 

[skairdykat]

We own ours. I inherited it when my Dad passed away in 2002.

 

[monster_munch]

I'm glad you asked this - I was about to post something similar before I realised there was already one here
OH and I are currently saving for a mortgage - we have about £3k saved and are ploughing every spare penny into the savings account (or at least trying to!)
One thing that bothers meis that I don't understand how mortgages work at all - I used to think there were just big loans but discovered they were much more complicated!
Have looked on the internet to get quotes to see what is available, but all the sites I have found ask you for the price of the house you want to buy - all I want to know is how much money OH and I could loan so we can start to see what is in our price range! Anyone know of a site that does it that way round?

Sorry for really long post!

 

[Gemma & Jake]

We rent at the moment as it is sooo expensive to buy.

 

[trixipaws]

we own our house. we bought it 4 years ago i let my boyf sort it all out!