Rent or Buy

[bumblebee61]

I am in a bit of a mess - have to be out of our current property by the end of next month and haven' t found somewhere to buy. We have seen somewhere which we like, but it's more than we had intended to spend. Question is, do we buy not feeling 100 percent sure or rent and throw thousands of pounds away? Renting is fraught with issues as we can't get to the area we are moving to easily to view, and some estate agents want to tie us in for a year. All the places I have looked at online are grot holes. Apparently many people prefer to buy rather than rent to avoid all this and the cost of paying rent for a year will nearly add up to the stamp duty anyway. What would you do? Buy the house we had our eye on and sell down the line if it doesn't work out, or rent with all the stress hassle and double moves/storage that involves? An alternative is to buy a house near us which is less expensive as a compromise. This is doing my head in.

I've always preferred owing to renting. I'd probably go with the location you like. As you'll own the property, you can make it all to your liking internally. On the money front, it might be an idea to sit down with a mortgage advisor or a savvy friend/family member to work out what you can afford.

If you're going to struggle to view places, that's a MUCH bigger problem for buying (the biggest purchase of your life, and a huge PITA if you get it wrong) than for renting (where you'll only have to spend 6 months or a year there, and may even be able to agree an early surrender with the landlord).

Also, if you only have six weeks to move, you will massively struggle to complete on a house purchase in that time even if you'd already found a place and had the offer accepted!

If you're moving to a new area, I very much recommend renting first. That way you can build up your understanding of the area, the issues, which bits to avoid etc, and be solidly positioned to buy the right house when it comes along. As a chain free buyer with no looming deadline, you'll be in a much stronger buying position than if you're desperate.