AIBU to consider continuing to rent the perfect house until kids go into secondary?

[LifeContinuesToChallengeMe]

I currently live in the perfect house in the countryside right on the beach in the area I grew up in with my two kids. The only problem is I rent it! I do own a house from some years back when I used to live just outside a major city. I have had to have the mortgage restructured at some point and right now I owe 188k and the value of the house is about 260-270k. I am trying to decide what to do next and would really love to get some input! I am a single parent and so can’t get much in the way of a mortgage on my own. A normal house costs 270k at the moment where we live, and I can only get a mortgage for 120k! As far as I can see these are my options:

• Buy a semi derelict house now:

Keep house by the city rented out until mortgage paid off in 2046. Get mortgage to buy wreck around 40 mins away for about 120k and do up slowly (can only get mortgage for liveable house though) either while continuing to rent or while living in it (if possible)

• Buy a small house now:

Sell house by the city, get €90k equity. Get a mortgage for 120k, monthly repayments about 600. Buy house about 40 mins away for 200k (if even possible!)

• Continue to rent and buy a small house later:

Focus finances on overpaying on mortgage on house by the city and sell in 6 years when basically mortgage free. Buy a small house locally for 270k mortage free that does not need work on it. Until then continue to rent perfect house.

• Do nothing:

Continue to pay mortgage at normal rate with no overpayments. Finish paying it in 2046 on retirement. Rent locally in the meantime

YANBU: Rent the perfect house for 6 or 7 more years
YABU: Buy a house now and stop renting

Would your landlord sell to you?

I’m obsessive about owning rather than renting, and in your position I’d sit tight-yes, renting is ‘dead money’ but you’re on the property ladder, benefitting from your city house value rising, so enjoy your perfect house and maybe try to overpay your mortgage a bit if you can to reduce the term.

If you can afford it it doesn't seem as though you need to change your current set up.

I would sit tight. You have a nice family gone to raise your children in and have a foot on the housing ladder

Its unlikely you would be able to get a mortgage to buy a second house while you still own the city house, even though it's rented out. I would sit tight and try and overpay your mortgage if you can.

I personally would try to overpay the mortgage of the house you own, but I have been in rented for a lot of my life, so would feel OK doing that. To me that seems to give you decent options for the future.

Hopefully the house you own will protect you (at least partly) from price rises and being mortgage-free in six years seems a lot better than under the other options. You could also go for a small mortgage to top up your equity at that stage if necessary?

If you had to move out of your rental for some reason, could you sell your house at that stage?

Doing work on a house is very stressful (and at the moment very expensive). I think you would take a hit on your quality of life in the short/medium term.

We had to move for work and rented out our old house, which covered the mortgage and rented a beautiful house. We were only paying about 100 pounds extra per month (as in that was how much our total cost of living increased by) and we were living somewhere we'd never have been able to afford to buy. It actually made complete financial sense, but it took a while to get our heads around that!

I'd stay living where you are living now. It sounds ideal, and you are already on the market, so you don't have to worry too much about being priced out even if your property is in a different area. Sounds like you are in a good, stable situation.

Wow! Thanks, it seems that everyone thinks continuing to rent sounds good! And I had been sure I would be shot down for not trying to buy asap.

I can't buy the house I rent. My landlord built it on family land so it wouldn't be sold, and even if he did it would be worth around 500k and so well out of my price bracket.

Which I suppose is the big thing swaying me to staying put. I get to live in a great house right on a beach and once I move out I really will never get the chance to live with sea views again, as to buy on right on the coast will never be affordable to me. So I am loathe to give it up, though I do get idle decorating day dreams alot. I suppose I am conscious of my age and that I'll be in my early 50's when I buy locally and that just freaks me out a little! But yes, the daily view of the ocean out my windows is worth so much for me, and I can only ever afford to rent this view, not buy it!

Carry on renting but save what you can. I don't think buying is always better- if rent is somewhat affordable, you wouldn't be able to buy it the area and have a bit of savings so if you were evicted you could find somewhere else then makes sense. I lived in zone 2 in a houseshare, absolutely no way I could have afforded to buy there and it was an amazing experience.