to consider giving up a housing association house to buy our own house?

[MistyMountainHop]

we have a large 3 bed HA semi

pro's - the rent is affordable (about £200 a month less than market rate round here)

-its a nice, good sized house

-big garden

-secure (as in no landlords going to sling us out on a whim)

-if things go wrong the HA sort it out free (new boiler last winter, god knows what that would have cost in our own home)

cons - its in a pretty grim area (very large midlands council estate)

-its still renting, secure or not

-will have nothing to leave the DC if we stay here

-schools are not great round here

-there is a lot of crime in the area

(there are probably more pro's and cons but these are the main ones)

anyway i am a bit obsessed with owning our own house, and have been looking into it tentatively. we would need to save about £20k for a deposit which i think, with a LOT of cutting back, working overtime (both me and DH) and hard saving, we have some savings already so could probably do in about 18 months.

however, the mortgage would be around £200 - 300 a month more than our rent so things would be very tight, at least till the DCs are older and i can work full time. and if anything happened and we lost the house, we would not be able to get back into social housing.

anyway, sorry its long and rambly! nut what do people think? is it worth trying to buy in this climate or should we just stay put where its cheap and secure (ish) but if we do stay here what will happen when we are old?

If you can afford a house, don't like the area you're in, and would feel happier owning, then buy one. The warnings about the 'current climate' are a bit hackneyed. Truth is that, unless you're buying a house purely as an investment, it doesn't actually matter if the value goes up or down in the short term. If you're looking at it as a 'forever' house you'll get your money back eventually. When you ask about your old age, stats show that people who own their own home live, on average, a year or two longer than those who rent. And what price good schools and a good education for your children.

Some caveats.... since interest rates are probably going to rise in the next 3 - 5 years, if paying more on your mortgage would be a problem, look at fixed rate terms rather than variable. Good luck with your decision.

The thing is it's not just the extra money each month for the mortgage, it's the things like the boiler breaking down, roof needing work, guttering needing replacing etc etc etc - it costs a lot to maintain a house, much more than you think - I was pretty shocked when we owned our first home. Good luck with whatever you decide :)

Personally unless you feel confident that you could pay a mortgage even if jobs are lost by you/your DH I would not even consider it. I think house buying was sold to many people who have discovered with the loss of a job that actually it's not that great being a home owner and far less secure than a secure HA tenancy. Have done both - been a home owner until husband lost his job and once the savings had gone we had nothing to pay the mortgage with. Thankfully we were able to sell which is far more than many are able to do currently.

Do you have the right to buy on your HA house? I have a council house with RTB and the discount we'd get would help us get on to the housing ladder, especially with the increased discount that's likely in the future. I don't think I'd consider going from renting on a secure tenancy to buying otherwise, as owning a home costs much more (not just the mortgage, but as others have said, doing all your own repairs and maintenance). But the discount would mean that we should be able to get a small mortgage and not have to worry so much about interest rates. We probably won't want to live in this area forever, but we'd need to stay for at least five years to avoid paying back the discount, so if you definitely want to leave your area soon that might not be an option.

I agree with everyone who has said to start saving and see where you are in eighteen months.

You say a mortgage would cost £200~£300 more than your current rent. Try and save £300 a month for the eighteen months it will give you an idea whether you can afford the mortgage.

Best of luck (also if it was me I would want to move).

A point worth bearing in mind HA houses are built to meet and exceed minimum space and facilities standards set by the Homes & Communities Agency (used to be housing Corp). Private houses are not, private development has squeezed on size and facilities over the years so they tend to be very mean especially at the more affordable end of the Market.
It's worth bearing that in mind when looking at your options as a 3bed house may be very different privately than a 3bed HA property even tho it might not be immediately evident when looking round