Would you rather live somewhere you hate but own, or live somewhere you live and private rent?

[ijudge]

This is the choice we are faced with and truly have no idea what to do for the best.

We really dislike where we live now, bad neighbours, quite a rough area, - but we do own our house, no equity with a mortgage we are struggling to pay and won't end till we are 65.

Move to another part of the country where we would like to live, somewhere beautiful where we could rent forever and raise the children in a better area.

What would you choose

Short term happiness over long term security?
Live for now or plan for later?

We are going round in circles and would appreciate any advice

I have looked at Rightmove for rented houses and a lot of them in the area we are looking at are listed at long term - although from a previous thread I understand that that means little as they could still write a 2 month get out clause into the contract.

If you rent how do your kids feel about moving?

We have no equity after fees so chance in buying a smaller house.

Letting it out carries so much risk when we have so little money out aside

ijudge we rent, have a 2.5 yr old and one on the way, and we have been fortunate to find a long-term rent (the owners have emigrated to NZ and use the rent we pay as an income over there).

This, however, did take us 3 goes, as we moved in together when I was pregnant in early 2008, moved again in mid 2009, and then again into our place we have now 6 months ago. I felt terrible for uprooting our little one both times we've moved since he was born, but it really did not seem to bother him as he's so young. I would feel bad about moving him every year and would rather he can stay somewhere for a long period of time, but I think you'd have to have really bad luck to end up moving yearly or something like that.

The problem with renting privately is that you are never going to find a contract with a longer notice period than 2 months, to have real security on paper you would need to have a council / housing association house. Hopefully the private renting sector will change as the government realise it is the only / better option available to an increasing number of families, and start to change the laws to refelct those on the continent more and make private renting more stable for the tenants.

The key I think is to ask pertinent questions when viewing the house about how long realistically the landlord wants to rent the house out for and make it clear that you are looking for somewhere for a few years. Also, a good indicator is if they are happy for you to decorate etc., so you can make it feel like your own. Other posters are right about there being a big difference between those houses which are rented out by landlords as a business or second income, and those who rent their house out whilst they are away temporarily, waiting for the housing market to pick up etc.

We do have an element of instability, yes, but on the plus side we are living in a nice area of the city with great schools, lots of entertainment, culture and green spaces on our doorstep, that we could not afford if we were ever in a position to scrape a deposit together and buy. If someone did drop 40k into our bank account tomorrow so we could buy, we would still end up in a poky house on a rough estate, so I would probably consider investing that money in something else apart from property for my children's future and carrying on renting in an area that makes us all happy.

Taken me a while to get my head around the fact I will probably never own a house, but we are happy in an area we love .

Can you rent out the house you live in now?

or is the area that bad?

then you can pay the mortgage on it and still get some equity (at some point) and rent with your wages/income.

(sorry, i only read the first page, 50 posts, and yours about letting appeared at 53)

I would still consider it till you can sell it in a more stable markt.

We have exactly this choice and have chosen to rent a big house with a big garden in a perfect school area rather than buy a small flat with no garden in a worse area.

Quality of life for us was more important than the property ladder. The security thing is a problem though there's no denying it.

Well we move quick in this house, showed dh this thread and we spoke and we have an estate agent coming out to put it on the market a week today.

Hope we are doing the right thing - its so scary to give away our stability but I think this is best for the children, this is putting them first IMHO.

As you are already home owners, can you keep a house and let it out, while simultaneously renting another place of your own? That way, you can buy a property in an area which will let easily and lucratively (but not necessarily where you will choose to live) and remain in the housing market, but remain flexible yourselves through renting?

The key thing to me, would be remaining in the housing market. If you own property, you have the long term asset, whether you live in it or not

But we have little money for repairs and what would we do if we had no tenant? Its too risky

Oh well, it wont hurt to see what an agent thinks and put it on the market - as long as you know what your bottom line is :)

Keep an eye on the rentals and see how it goes.

Having done each of those things, I can say I would prefer to rent somewhere nice than own somewhere horrid. :)

ijudge, I and others are here to tell you: renting is not the end of the world.

You can definitely get insurance against not having a tenant. Don't know how much it costs tho.

Is there high demand for rental properties in your area? We worried about what would happen if we didn't have a tenant, but the house we rent out is in a very popular area that is mostly flats and very large houses so a two bed house is highly sought after. Chat to the agent about it - nothing ventured, nothing gained. We have had the same tenant in our house for nearly 5 years.

Rent. The only drawback is the insecurity. I think the law will have to change on this eventually too. It is becoming an issue for more people as so many are priced out of buying.

Education was my priority when I chose to rent a flat in a pleasant area next to a good school over a house in a rough area next to a mediocre school. Their schooling will affect them for the rest of their lives.

I own my own house (ex is living in it , I am waiting for him to move out) and rent a place.

Owning seems to be seen as the thing to do, but I like the freedom of renting, albeit that you can't do what you want to the house (and might just carry on doing so, even after I sell my house).

I live in the SE and there is no way in my industry me and DH could live where we need to to work (media so London based).
We rent and will probably rent for the next 20 years. HOWEVER I am looking at getting a buy to let mortgage in 10 years time in a cheaper part of the country while we rent down here. That means we have a foot on the property ladder, while being able to live where is best for us.
GENUINE QUESTION: Is this a good idea?

Go for the place you love, life's too short.

We bought a house in an area only about 10 miles from where we 'belong' (houses waaay to expensive for us there). It was a bit rubbish living there so when a house came up for rent in the area we prefer we took it and rent out the house we bought. We are actually financially better off (as long as interest rates are low).

Of course I would prefer to own a house in our chosen area, but even if we sold our house there's very little equity in it so we'd be back to square one.

This way, I think we have the best of both worlds and it's hard to put a monetary value on quality of life.

Sorry for essay, good luck whatever path you choose.

How are you finding renting out your house Mouse?

Apparently the bank of england will probably put interest rates up in the new year. There is talk of house prices going down further. Sell up if you only loose out a bit- I mean in effect even if you loose 10K that is about a year of rent.....and find a rental till prices come down.

Life is too short.

We rent in a lovely area with a fantastic primary school. Have never been able to buy and it really used to bug me. We have now been here over 3 years and I now LOVE it as we can save money every month and not have to worry about house stuff like the boiler breaking etc. I feel happy and know the DC are happy.

Sell your house and rent in a great area. You will never look back.

If house prices fall and interest rates rise, you probably won't be any better or worse off, as the amount you have to pay for your mortgage will probably be the same, eg say you pay 6% on a 100k mortgage - 6k a year this is the same as paying 12% interest on a 50k mortgage.

Don't try and rent your house out. You need to be more secure financially to consider this option. You could end up in a terrible financial situation if you have periods without tenants.

My OH bought a house with an ex in a rough area. OH and I stayed there for a bit with ex - no choice financially. Ex didn't want to sell and so they agreed to rent it out. But ex didn't have money for repairs, decoration, etc. So house deteriorated and the types of tenants willing to rent house deteriorated as well. Was blessing when eventaully we could sell it.

Many posters seem to have bought into idea that owning is always a good thing. It can in fact be a millstone around your neck. Renting out your house in a bad area with little money for repairs would you leave you very vulnerable financially.

You speak sense lesley IMHO