How to be comfortable with renting somewhere?

[fellyfoo]

I’m from a working class background and a poor area. Everyone buys as soon as they can. It’s normal for people to buy at 18-21 as houses can be £120k for a three bed terrace.

I went to university and moved to London, where houses prices are obviously completely incomparable. I’m now 27 and scrapping together enough to get a deposit on a one bed flat in a rough area.

Everyone back home tells me I’m wasting so much money on rent or I’m paying someone else’s mortgage.

I’m not sure I’ll stay in London forever or if flats will continue falling in prices here so don’t think buying is a good idea yet.

How do I get comfortable with renting when you were brought up with rent = stupid? (My own brother’s words…)

I’m 50 and I rent after a divorce and I get these comments too. I pointed out that I’m paying for a home. Also, I’m peri-menopausal and out of fucks so I say their comments are unhelpful and rude.

When I was in my 20s and living in London, it didn’t enter my head to buy. Everyone house or flat shared.

I know it’s not easy, but just try to ignore them. You sound like you’re doing great.

Thank you! Interesting that it unfortunately seems to be a comment which everyone gets

Had this for years but I moved around with my job a lot so it simply wasn’t practical to try to buy anywhere.
Simply, they don’t get it. And they never will. At the moment I’d be playing on the “have you seen the mortgage rates…” line.

well OP… maybe it helps you to think of it this way?

A)you can either pay rent to a landlord.

or

B) owe a bank the money you borrowed

Either way you are in thrall to someone else.

Unless your friends are mortgage free, then they don’t really own their properties either….

These people are forgetting to factor in the opportunity costs. Granted things have changed somewhat with WFH, but what would your job prospects be like if you stayed locally? It's likely that your career opportunities will be much better in London, not to mention your lifetime earning potential. My husband grew up in a low cost of living area in the northwest and we have enough cash to buy a home there outright if we wanted to because we both moved away and invested in our careers.

You will probably have a lot more opportunities socially as well - travel, new people and experiences, even just having the amenities of a vibrant city like London close by. Those things also have a value. It's not as simple as paying x amount on a mortgage vs X amount on rent. With the current interest rates, a large portion of a mortgage payment is being "wasted" on interest now anyways.