Buy a house or have a baby

[LimeAnt]

DH and I are talking about having babies and buying a house. Thing is, we can't do both, certainly not at the same time.

What would you do? What did you do?

I know buying a house is an asset but who can actually do that without rich family and with how expensive life is.

How old are you? When are you buying a house?

Babies aren't very expensive, you can get a lot of stuff second hand. They get expensive as teenagers. If kids are something you want in the relatively near future I would always prioritise that as you don't know how long it will take.

It depends on your age, I think? If you’re young with plenty of time left to have kids, then the house first is the wisest idea. If you’re older, then it depends how strongly you want to have children, as obviously that’s got time restraints on it.

Well how far off buying a house are you? What deposit do you have? How long would it take you? You would get more from the bank with no dependents. I would buy first and get settled but that’s just my opinion. Theres a lot of other factors at play too.

Do both and eat beans on toast for a few years would be my advice

Bit pointless to post without giving your age or any other details about your household income, current living situation etc.

Buy the house.

DH and I tried (and failed, as it happens) to have a baby while living in horrible rented accommodation (damp problems etc) because age was against us, the mortgage rates had just skyrocketed and by the time we bought a house we’d have zero chance of having a baby. But your situation may be different.

Why can’t you do both? We bought a house at 3 month pregnancy. It was incredibly tight for a year or so but fine in the long run.

Could you have a baby and buy a smaller house, or a house in a cheaper area?

Are you 24 or 34? How old you are will
depend on the advice you’re given.

It depends on many factors, including age and financial situation. We were fortunate and already owned prior to having DC, but we really wanted to move for various reasons - however I was into my 30’s and it felt riskier to wait to get pregnant, so I had the baby first. A year or so later we found a wonderful property and moved then, so it all worked out. I’m sure it will for you too, I’m very glad I chose to have the baby first but it depends so much on individual circumstances.

It depends on lots of things.
Particularly your ages, unless you are 40 or puahing 40 I would prob buy the house first.

Reasons:
There are no guarantees with babies.
Getting a mortgage / getting a house is much harder post kids.
It is much easier to service the mortgage payment vs what we'd be paying in rent (ie to rent our house it would cost the same as our mortgage AND FT childcare for one child.

If you are happy to buy 2nd hand and do local council run classes etc. babies dont cost that much when small...

Well we need to know how old you are obviously

If you are under 35 I would buy the house first then try for a baby after.

If you are over 35 I think maybe the opposite.

A no brainer, really.
You need a place to live.
You don't need a child to live.
Sorry for cynicism, I never wanted kids.

Renting is dead money and usually more expensive then buying.

Age is a factor and if you are young babies should not be rushed.

if you are in a position to buy now, then do both, They don’t cost that much when they’re babies really, unless it’s nursery fees you are worried about?

I always wanted to buy my house before I had a baby, it’s part of my definition of stability, doesn’t suit everyone but was a prerequisite for me to feel I could n bring a baby into my life.

EDIT: Bought my house early 30s, had DD a few years later!

@LimeAnt Husband and I started renting at 21 on low wages. Took 7 years but eventually saved enough for a deposit and bought a house we could just about afford that needs loads of work. Having baby now at 31. Our families are skint; there's no bank of mum and dad in our lives.

We bought a house first because we wanted somewhere long-term to start a family.

No-frills lifestyle means we'll have a (very) small pot of money saved by the time baby's born to help take the sting out of the £75 a day nursery fees we'll have to pay until baby is 3/4 and qualifies for gov-funded childcare. (Different policy here to England.) Even after tax-free childcare and child benefit, it's going to hurt. We may only be able to afford to have one child and most of their stuff will be second hand.

Age and fertility health is the most important factor here. Take it from someone who waited to get a house then started trying for a baby only to be met with surprising issues, not trying to scare you but took me nearly 3 yrs to get pregnant (over 35 yrs old)

Depends how much you have already saved and how far off buying a house would be. If you are close to having enough to buy a house then do that first but if not, with housing costs so high you could be waiting forever to buy a house and you still need to live somewhere in the meantime so presumably paying that now so I'd have the baby first.

How are babies not expensive? Either one parent quits work so there's a giant drop in income, or you spend a fortune on care. Whereas teens go to school and can be left home alone. Sometimes they even get jobs!

<head tilt> Babies aren't very expensive? Well maybe if you work the fields and can take them with you but for most people they're expensive because one parent has to give up their job to care for them or you have to pay for childcare. I was a SAHM for 5 years. Cost in lost wages - 150k

I did both in the same year, is there a reason you can’t? We’re not made of money either.

Obviously dependent on age, but unless you're mid to late 30s, I would definitely prioritise the house.

It's soooo much harder to save for a good few years after having children and even then, you also need to be saving for your children's future.

Basically, if you're finding it hard to save for a deposit now without any dependents, I would say your chances of house ownership after having children are slim.

Or 3rd option of working opposite shifts