Get mortgage or pay upfront?

[IamPotty]

I have a choice - buy a house NOW and get a mortgage of around 200,000 or wait 5 years and more or less pay for the house upfront. Would it make more sense to pay rent for the next 5 years - 500 quid a month or to get a mortgage now?

Oh and forgot to say, we negotiated £17,500 off the asking price of our 4 bed semi in a popular area, you need to find the vendor under pressure and be cheeky with your offers, we could have knocked £39k off one house but we felt the one we're buying was better value.

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good point twiglet re. daily calcuated mortgage rates. This is what we have. I also load everything onto the credit card then pay the credit card off without penalties every month to also save on interest. Dh reckons he can't decide whether I'm tight or have too much time on my hands to ponder such things

Thanks for all of your input! I´m mulling over your ideas...

Nothing to stop you looking now and if you find the right house at the right price then get the mortgage. If you don't, then hey at least in 5 years whatever the situation you will know you did your best.