Moving back to UK- buy outright or rent- please advise!

[greenscarves]

Hi, I am looking for any perspectives or advice from you very wise people. We are living outside of the UK currently due to DH's work. We have rented while away for several years plus for a period before we left the UK as we sold our house. We are planning to move back to the UK this summer. I simply cannot bear the thought of yet another period in a rental property. I have been told that we will not be able to get a mortgage straight away as the banks will want us to have lived and worked back in the UK for a while.

My question is this. We will have about £120000 in savings when we move back to south west England. I know this would not buy much but we are considering finding a small, cheap property and buying it outright in the first instance. Then a year or two down the line, we could look at trading up with a mortgage and any additional savings. Does this sound like a reasonable idea? Does it sound mad? Any thoughts? I'm struggling to see the wood for the trees here with trying to plan it all.

How does this stack up financially? How much would it cost you in rent v how much would you loose buying twice with regards to stamp duty?
Prices are uncertain at the moment post Brexit, there's an argument for waiting in order to realise corrections in pricing in the market - but this varys greatly by area. What about schools? do you need to be in catchment?

Depends where in the UK you will be living. We live in the Home Counties and you could not even buy a bedsit for £120000 round here.

Oops read post properly - still would struggle in Exeter or similar though.

Op said south west england - which is a big area. That figure is under the stamp duty threshold but there are still surveys, legals etc.

Question is - where to live while house hunting and waiting for purchase to go through?

Thank you all. That's a good point about where to live while waiting for it to go through but we plan to make a few trips over before moving for good so possibly could have it sorted in time. Financially I'm not sure its better to buy and sell again than to just rent for another year. I just feel so absolutely done with renting, its hard to describe how much I can't bear the thought of doing it yet again. From the research I have done, I don't think there is any way we can get a mortgage after being out of the UK for 3 years.

I think you would struggle to find anything sensible to live in with that budget and then you of course have your buying and selling costs of the first house to consider. If I was you I would rent and invest the cash as cleverly as you can until you are able to take out a mortgage and buy a new home.

I would speak to an independent mortgage broker now. Will your DH be continuing working for the same company so that he has a track record of career progression/salary advice slips etc?

Rent definitely. You can move in within weeks and move out with a month's notice. Rent for a year and then buy using the 120k as a large deposit.

How about investing in a BTL, you may be able to get a mortgage that way. Then move in further down the line and change the mortgage? If it was me, assuming you could buy somewhere with enough space, I'd buy somewhere outright if I knew I could happily live in it for 3 years +

The main point of your post is that you have had enough of renting.
So get a FTB place and sit it out. You can then see how things pan out
with getting a mortgage Brexit etc
Nothing like your own place.
Could you get a 2 bed place with £120000 do you think?

You need a specialist expat mortgage. There are mortgage advisors who specialise in advising on this.

To be honest, I don't think you would struggle.

There's 2-3 bed homes in Devon and Cornwall that are £140,000 or less. If I had £120k in savings, I'd put half down on a deposit and use £10k for any fees/etc and buy some new furniture.