Moving to completely new area - rent first or buy now?

[Alias78]

DH and I have finally been priced out of London as we'd like to buy a house now we have DS1. A familiar story I know!

Tonbridge in Kent ticks all boxes for us in terms of property prices, schools, commute etc etc. we feel we've got a grasp on the benefits and shortcomings of the area and are pretty certain on our decision.

Our original plan was to rent there for 6 months to make sure we like it and get to know the area. But we've waited too long on other areas we've liked and ended up being priced out as house prices shot up. I'm wondering if we should just go for it and buy straight away as we'll have to fork out money from our house deposit on all the admin nonsense that goes along with renting (inventory, credit checks, letting agent fees, removals etc). Plus the hassle of moving twice on top of that.

So I'm just trying to see what others would do in the same situation. Tell me, WWYD? :)

Btw, we're renting in london now so nothing to sell

We moved to a completely new area and had to buy straightaway because of a number of circumstances (no choice). Once in the house we discovered huge problems with traffic in the area, including the fact that you can't turn right anywhere, so every time you go out it adds an extra couple of miles (in standing traffic) to the journey. We'd always driven in from the other direction before buying the house so we didn't realise.

Plus the road we live in has a high number of HMOs and associated problems with parking and noise from parties.

Renting first gives you a chance to check that sort of thing before you commit.

I agree - rent first then ask people the best areas to find a home in... Somewhere that suits your needs for the next 10 years or so ! As it's pretty expensive to move again ! Ie good schools - or good social area - or quiet and away from it all - whichever is your goal ! Best of luck with it all ! :-)

I'd say rent first but Tonbridge is notorious for being fairly recession proof, so be prepared to see house prices go up the longer you rent for.

I'd definitely rent first - you won't know what you like or dislike about the area until you've lived there for a while. You could make a huge and very expensive mistake if you bought straight away.

We left London in same circumstances as you last year. We were all set to rent but we found rentals really expensive and crap quality. It made more sense to buy as we had the deposit ready and mortgage was much cheaper than monthly rent.

So we took the plunge and have no regrets. No nasty surprises but we did a lot of research before choosing our house.

Really glad we did it as prices are shooting up in our area and we may have been priced out if we'd hung on.

Also it's so lovely to be able to decorate your own home after years pf renting and living with other people's mainly crap taste.

It definitely pays to be cautious but sometimes you just need to take a leap!

If you are in a position to buy then I would. Just do your research carefully. Rent is going into someone else's pocket and you will have an additional set of moving costs (going from rented to owner occupier).

I'd be tempted to buy. Having said that, we bought straight away and probably regret it but that was down to a number off factors including moving from overseas so really having no idea of the property market here.

I would be factoring in the expense of renting, plus double moving costs (at least - what if your landlord decides to sell after a couple of months?), plus the fact that property prices in London and the SE are only headed in one direction at the moment.

When we moved here we bought straight away. I didn't want to rent, settle the children in school then have to move them because we bought a house in a different area.

We also didn't want to sit on the money from our house sale in case we spent it/house prices went up.

However, dh had been working here for a few moths before we moved down and spoke to his colleagues about where to look or not look. He then visited shortlisted houses before we all came down for a week to look to make sure they weren't about to fall into the sea/next door to a nightclub/had parking etc.

Fwiw, friends of our recently moved to Tunbridge Wells from Oxfordshire and they too bought straight away!

Unless you know the area very well, I'd rent first for all the reasons previously stated. Yes, it will be expensive to move twice - but you don't want to get 'stuck' in the wrong place because you didn't know any better.

Also, renting gives you a chance to figure out your ideal routine - where you like to shop, eat, go the park, etc. Not to mention schools and activities for the dc....

I can see the logic of renting, but when we have moved we have always bought. The places with options to buy don't always have rentala available, and renting might not give you an accurate picture of an area. We have tended to do a lot of research, lots of visits (mid week and weekend) and contacted anyone we vaguely know friends of friends of friends to get the low down. Found people are really helpful and ready to share their thoughts/opinions prejudices and we've always landed on our feet. If what people are saying about the SE is true (I'm up north then some) buying doesn't seem very risky as you can always sell??