To think having a house with a mortgage is not 'owning your own home'

[easternuts]

We had a mortgage for 30 years before paying it off recently on our modest home. Now we consider ourselves home owners.

Dd rents because she doesn't want to pay the bank more in interest than the cost of her rent is. Yes her rent can go up but so can your mortgage.

I've had friends of mine make snide comments that dd is going on another holiday when she doesn't own her own home. This is as opposed to their own children who have recently bought with 95% or 90% mortgages in a part of the country where a 3 bed house is less than £150k.

AIBU to think that you don't own your own home just because you have a £15k down payment. DD has far beyond what is needed for a deposit but it makes zero sense in central London at present.

Why does it matter? You know what they mean when they use the term. She rents and hasn't bought. If she doesn't care, and you don't care, just politely say she has different priorities right now.

Well, sure, but being a homeowner is a financially better position usually. Having a mortgaged home means you are building equity. Paying rent is throwing money away.

But then, you don’t need to live in central london either.

I find it weird too - lots of threads on here and people saying they have their own home but it transpires what they mean is they have a mortgage, a debt! I think people assume that because they pay every month it's a foregone conclusion but I remember after the crash a lot of people who had been given huge mortgages having to sell... I think people forget they don't actually own it as people now use finance for cars and mobiles so it doesn't compute fully these things aren't owned by them.

Who are these people who make snide comments to you about your daughter's choices? Ditch them.

Of course you own your own home if you have a mortgage: you get to sell it, don't you? Nobody else is paying for its upkeep. You are the one making choices as to how to keep it or improve it. You simply don't own it 'outright'.

You are wrong.You still own your home even with 100% morthage.The lender has a charge on it.Theyvare not owners

No, that's not always true. Paying interest on a loan is throwing money away if house prices aren't rising.

Oh wow, I don’t think this will go well!
While I don’t have a mortgage, I certainly think my friends who do are still homeowners.

They have a loan to repay the purchase price of the house, so by definition they own it IMO

I've had friends of mine make snide comments that dd is going on another holiday when she doesn't own her own home.

Really?🤔. Your friends have actually made snide comments?? That's bizarre.

You need new friends. I can't imagine any of my friends being arsed if my daughter had a mortgage or rented. Very odd that they care tbh.

The bank own it ! I agree op..

You do own it legally, but yes with a mortgage though. You just have secured a loan against it. Any equity is yours.

plus when it’s paid off, you’re sat on an asset.

if you can buy, it is a much better position financially as after all renting is still paying the bank interest, just via the landlord’s mortgage. And it’s the landlord who then gets the mortgage free asset at the end of the mortgage term

Everyone’s different. Just tell them that’s how she likes it. But they’re not wrong

YABU on usage of the term. If you are listed as the legal owners on the land registry, then you own the home. When you look for insurance etc you can tick the homeowner box.

Your friends' rudeness is another issue altogether. I'd find new ones personally. How your daughter chooses to live is none of their business.

I don't know if that isn't slowly changing though. My friend in Germany rents as their tenants system is so much better. She never has to spend on a new boiler/roof/fencing etc and always has money to go on holiday. I think the cost of home repairs now has gone up so much post Brexit, as well as the importing of goods, I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't becoming more of a money-pit ball and chain to have a mortgage as well as having to fork out for maintenance over a 25yr+ period.

She is paying a mortgage, she’s paying someone else’s.

She won’t have an asset at the end of it like you do and is at the mercy of a landlord so can lose her home more easily.

Having said that she is right not to buy until she is sure she is where she wants to be but renting in my 70s is not something I’d want to do which is why I eventually got on the property ladder.

You defo own it more than you do a rented house but honestly OP I don’t know why you care! Unless you just LOVE to brag about you being mortgage free 🙄

Yes there's a big difference: by renting you never see a longer term benefit of your monthly fees where as , as a home owner with a mortgage, you own a home but owe money which you eventually pay off. The home is in your name throughout the time you pay your debt.
As to whether your daughter should be going on holiday when she is just renting - only she can answer that! Maybe she doesn't have goals of being a home owner, which is fine !

People are losing their minds over who lives where and how. Course you don’t “own” something you owe a large debt on. Mortgage= debt.

Legally they don't. The buyer owns it. The bank had a charge over it. They neither own it nor do they own a share in it.

I own mine without a mortgage.

I also owned it before I paid the mortgage off. The lender had a charge against the house but I owned it.

But at the end of the term you own a house, where as if you rent for 30 years you don’t so long term having a mortgage is better

Your friend is very rude.

But on your general point, even with a mortgage, you're still the owner and I think when people hear it they know what is meant by it.

But the point is, in 30 years when your dd retires she will still be paying that rent. Whereas the mortgage will have been paid off.

I dont really care. But I dont know how people can argue that renting puts you in a better long term situation that a mortgage.
Same price per month, but only one of them gets you a paid for roof over your head in retirement.

Well I don't think the bank are going to fix my broken shower neither will the landlord I don't have because I owe my home!!

Rather than being snippy about mortgage terminology, try finding some new friends who don't make shitty comments about your DD!

I have a family member who rents in Germany and is retired. His place is as good as his own and he’ll stay there until he needs to go into care or dies.

His kids chip in for the rent every month so that he has a decent place with space for them to visit despite him being on a good pension.

He won’t have any asset to pay for his care in later life and he won’t have anything to leave his children either.

The land registry will have the mortgage holder as the owner. The lender of the mortgage doesn't own the home, they have no right of use, no right of entry, no right to change the internal or external features.... they just are owed a sum of money which must be paid to them if the house is sold.

The issue is the snide friends making comments about other people's lifestyles.

Buying is still the best of a bad bunch in the UK. Here in the NW there's a massive shortage of rental properties, due to the factors you mentioned LLs have sold up in droves.
It's OK for single young people or even a couple but not for families with kids being at risk of forced moves.