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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder if having a mortgage is worth it?

240 replies

malificent7 · 09/05/2019 19:19

If for example you have to scrimp and save for a deposit first...then earn enough for the monthly deposit.
It may mean giving up pleasures and treats in life such as nice food or a social life.
Also it means that many will stay in jobs they hate for fear of loosing a house.

I am aiming for a mortgage but has anyone decided not to get one in order to have a better quality of life. ( mad though that sponds.) I know that dp will gave virtually nowt left for treats if we got one which is going to be hard for 25 years.

OP posts:
wingdings24 · 09/05/2019 20:14

For us it has been 100% worth it. We were living near the city centre in a 1 bed maisonette and paying £850 pm in rent. We saved hard for a deposit and bought a 3 bedroom house about 30 minutes drive away from city centre and our monthly mortgage payments are £580pm. So our quality of life has actually improved and we were happy to sacrifice our quick commute for what we have now. Obviously it really depends on where you live and the current rental market/ cost of renting.

reluctantbrit · 09/05/2019 20:14

Renting in this country is far too unsecure to make me feel I could do it long term. You have short term contracts, no idea if it will be extended. Children may need to move every other year, disrupt their lives.

Friends had this, they saved and saved to finish the renting disaster with 3 children.

I come from Germany, my parents and my PIL rent, same house/flat since 40+ years. My mum had to move as the house was pulled down and the landlord had to help her finding a new flat and pay for moving. You don't find this anywhere here.

Yes, renting has its advantages, you don't have to worry about bills for repair but you have no real freedom to do what you want. We had a landlord who complained about us putting up pictures.

MagicKingdomDizzy · 09/05/2019 20:17

My mortgage is just over half the cost of rent on the same type of property.

Absolutely it's worth it.

You keep the house at the end, and you can't be evicted.

Mortgage over renting always.

Whatthefoxgoingon · 09/05/2019 20:18

Renting is far more secure in other countries such as Germany. We don’t have the same level of security here by any means. Not even close. That’s why people strive to own. Because it really does pay off in the end if you are financially savvy.

adaline · 09/05/2019 20:23

I wouldn't want to rent long-term if at all possible.

Our mortgage will be paid off before we retire. It means we have a home to live in and won't have to worry about paying for rent on two pensions!

Nacreous · 09/05/2019 20:26

My mortgage is £450 per month and has about 20 years left to run. Of that, about £200 is interest, and the rest is paying off capital. An equivalent house to rent would be £650 ish a month. That is a really big difference just in cash flows, never mind the fact that the capital is a form of investment/savings. I definitely don't spend £2400 a year on maintenance, and most upgrades I do add value to the house (and are still Way less than £2400 a year!)

WeaselsRising · 09/05/2019 20:27

I agree with Pinkgin. We bought many years ago but several house moves have increased the length of the mortgage. We rented privately for a year between house moves. Moving house costs a fortune with estate agents and solicitors and stamp duty, then any work you need to do to the house like replacing kitchen or bathroom.

When you are renting, the boiler breaks down you call the landlord to get it fixed. When ours broke down we had to pay for a new one, which we had to get a loan for, so we were without heating or water for 3 weeks. The shower broke and just had to stay broken. In this house one of the ceilings fell down and it was over £1k to get it fixed. The other ceilings need doing too but we don't have the money.

Then you pay off your mortgage (hooray) and they won't pay your care home fees because you have an asset. Or worse still you lose your job and although you could get benefits to pay your rent there is nothing to pay even the interest on your mortgage.

So in addition to everything else you have to pay you have to have insurance for the mortgage payments, and the building, and the boiler, and anything else that can go wrong.

bamboofibre · 09/05/2019 20:27

Private renting in this country is such shit of course it's worth it to have a mortgage.

Chloemol · 09/05/2019 20:28

Mortgages are hard to start with, I had very little left each month for a couple of years, then with pay rises it started to get better. Now I have managed to pay it off and the house is mine. I feel far more secure as I can’t be evicted, and would always recommend a mortgage if you can. ( and in my area mortgage payments can be cheaper than renting)

notangelinajolie · 09/05/2019 20:30

But the scrimping and saving doesn't go on forever. Nor do mortgages.

Paying rent does. It's a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Justaboy · 09/05/2019 20:38

Never mind the deposit get the mortage as soon as you can by whatever means you can!

MiniCooperLover · 09/05/2019 20:41

It is definitely worth it because rent needs paying every month even when retired ... I worry about people who rent who may not have provision for when they're retired.

Echobelly · 09/05/2019 20:46

I think in the long run it pays off if you can - I fear a lot of people, not even badly off people, are now going to end up spending so much on rent all their lives that they won't be able to pay much into pensions and will end up unable to afford renting anywhere when they retire. Whereas I guess if you have a property that you own outright by retirement that's something to show for it.

SuziQ10 · 09/05/2019 20:49

I'm a few years in to a 25 year mortgage.

The monthly repayments have become easier as we've both had occasional pay rises, come in to a little money through inheritance and generally worked hard. Yes it is a fair amount of pressure, but there would also be pressure having to find somewhere suitable to rent, worry about what happens if they choose to sell / evict etc .. not being able to make the house your own.
Pros and cons to both.

SilverySurfer · 09/05/2019 20:50

speakout
You may end up losing all your equity anyway if you end up in a care home

The difference is, if you sell your home to pay for a care home, it will be one of your choosing, not one smelling of pee and cabbages paid for by the council. I know which I would prefer.

Bluntness100 · 09/05/2019 20:50

Of course it's worth it, because as everyone is saying a mortgage ends, rent is forever. And you've no idea what will happen to rent, it could increase to unmanageable levels leaving you living in an unsuitable property.

Mortgage is generally cheaper than rent for an equivalent property, and property prices always increase, leaving you with equity at the end of it. Which is you downsize can be a nice lump sum for you.

Renting will never give you that.

Plus the security. That someone can't chuck you out because they want to sell up or whatever.

Mortgage is always better than rent long term.

PinkieTuscadero · 09/05/2019 20:52

There's just no security renting in the UK so I'd definitely say a mortgage is worth it.

quizqueen · 09/05/2019 20:53

I've been mortgage free since my mid 40s. It's a wonderful feeling to have achieved that and it means I've had spare money to spend on other things like travel. It was so worth a bit of hardship in the early days. Now I'm just living on state pension I couldn't afford to pay for rent.

Winchestermom35 · 09/05/2019 20:56

Our mortgage is less than renting in the same area.

We’ve been asked to leave houses twice as landlords have been selling up. This has happened despite us never missing a rent payment.

We’ve seen massively cheeky estate agents fees, lived with a leaking tap for 2 years as the landlord wouldn’t fix it (we couldn’t apparently without replacing the entire tap).

We finally bought our first house last year. Already had to get a new shower & oven. The roof leaks.

I’ve never been happier to know that’s unless we want too, our kids aren’t going to be uprooted again

MediocrePenguin · 09/05/2019 21:03

Remember also that as you pay off your mortgage your equity increases and house prices will also rise (long term) so your payments are likely to reduce substantially.

We have about 60% equity now and our mortgage payments are a fraction of what we'd be paying in rent. Plus most of that payment goes back into out pockets as we pay more of the loan off.

AwkwardPaws27 · 09/05/2019 21:05

Our mortgage on our first flat was £100 more than renting for the first year. The rents went up, as we paid more of the mortgage and got a better deal the mortgage went down. After three years it was £250 a month less than rent on a similar flat.
We sold the flat after three years and bought a house. Our mortgage is £400 pcm less than it would be to rent.
If shit hits the fan, we have to find the money to cover the mortgage - but we don't have to pass credit checks or convince a landlord or letting agent to rent to us, and we can't be evicted because the landlord wants to sell etc (well, we do have to pass checks if we remortgage for a better deal, but we could stay on SVR).

Seafoodeatit · 09/05/2019 21:05

Our mortgage is less than local rent, we only bought our house 2 years ago with a low deposit so it's not because of massive equity but just the reality of renting around here.

PetrichorRain · 09/05/2019 21:07

I just had a poke round rightmove, and in my small market town there’s one house for rent that’s equivalent to the house we have a mortgage on, and it’s £750 a month more. I widened the search to five miles radius around our town, and there’s maybe ten or so houses that are similar - even the cheapest is still £300 pcm more than we pay on our mortgage. When we bought the here years ago, the rental prices were much closer to our monthly mortgage payment. We have a measure of security you wouldn’t find in a rental, we can make alterations to our house, we can have pets without asking permission, we can plant a tree in the garden and know we’ll be here to see it grow... and our mortgage won’t increase unless interest rates go up (and we chose a five year fixed rate mortgage so we’re ok for the next couple of years at least) but rental costs where we live have massively increased even in the past few years.

Definitely try to afford it if you possible can, OP. The scrimping won’t last for ever and it’ll be well worth it in the long-term.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 09/05/2019 21:07

I think it's difficult to know how things will pan out. I know people who have never bought because they weren't willing to take the step down from what they can afford to rent, to what they could afford to buy. They seem happy with their choice, and most of them are living in nicer places than I own.

Also many of my older relatives never bought (or expected to buy). They private or council rented while working, then retired and lived on the state pension, in nice little council cottages, maintained by the council, with a home help and medical card paid for by the state (Ireland). The relatives who saved and bought didn't really have a better quality of life, although they left something to their children.

Who knows what the state will pay for in the future? I bought because I just couldn't be arsed moving house ever again.

Yabbers · 09/05/2019 21:10

I have relatives who spent all that money on holidays and nice to haves whilst renting a flat for their entire lives. They got to retirement, and couldn’t manage the stairs in the flat anymore but found themselves in a bad situation as they needed to move but had no capital to put towards a retirement home. Bad planning.

Rent or mortgage, you still need to make sure you have a job to pay that bill.

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