Which house to buy? First time buyer angst 😬

[OnTheJourneyOnwards]

We seem to have found the ‘perfect’ house for us. Not a single thing wrong with it, could just move in. All renovated about 5/6 years ago - new kitchen, new bathroom, new downstairs loo. Even the gardens front and back are nicely done (and low maintenance). Let’s just say my husband and I LOVE it 😍

But… it’s top of our budget. We’d be paying almost £1000 a month mortgage and our rent is less than that. Mostly because our clueless landlord hasn’t put our rent up in years (thankfully).

We technically could pay that much. But it doesn’t leave much disposable income.

However, we love it and think living there would make us feel happy.

The other option is to approach our landlord (who is 90) and ask to buy our rental house. It’s probably worth £20-30K less than the house we love… but it’s in need of some renovations. New downstairs loo, a mould/damp problem, a new upstairs bathroom, replastering the stairs and upstairs hallway…

We don’t know which to go for.

If we bought our rental we’d be paying about £850 mortgage.

But we don’t have savings to do renovations.

So what’s the best option here?

Move and get the perfect one is the correct answer. No further responses are required.

Have you done your budget to see whether you could afford £1000?

If you have a deposit and the house you live in is 20-30k cheaper than the house you could get a mortgage on, could you not reduce your deposit accordingly to do the work?

Renovations are often more expensive than most people think. Perhaps get some quotes to see what the likely costs are - you might find it adds up to the same cost as the house you are looking at. You should also consider the stress of renovations, whether you have to move out while they are being done, and the fact that you will either have to borrow to do them or save up for several years). You can’t really take a view on which house is more suitable until you have fully thought this through.

Btw, there is nothing wrong with offering under the asking price of the property you like. The housing market is tricky right now, and they might be keen as you are chain free too. The worst they can say is no.

Easy choice IMO, those improvements will cost more than £20k & cause headache.

£500 each for perfect accommodation is a bargain.
i pay £1000 as a single parent and live on a building site trying to save for those renovations

Just get the house you love.Think about how happy it would make you. It will be a better investment. New bathrooms and kitchens cost at least £20k, most likely a lot more. Can you go through your budget and see where you can find the extra £150 per month. Your salary is likely to go up. Can you go for a longer term mortgage and then reduce it when you can.

We renovate our homes and it’s not for the faint hearted. We go from weekend to weekend, evening to evening doing work on the house, cleaning because the DUST!

If you cannot afford to renovate it, don’t do it. You don’t want to be caught in a situation where the boiler goes or the electrics are dangerous and you need a require. Those are not quick/ cheap jobs they are expensive and messy.

It’s the top of your budget, so still within budget. Sounds lovely to me.

The difference is £150. That will soon get swallowed up. A tin if paint can easily cost thirty pounds, for example.

Is the heart house your forever home and the rental a ‘for now’ home. If you go for the rental one, and plan to move in five years, then the money you spend on moving you may as well spend on heart house. If that makes sense.

New house, the expense is worth not having the headache of renovating which will probably cost more in the long run.

You don’t even know if your landlord would consider selling. In the time it takes him to think about it, discuss with family etc you could lose out on the “perfect” house, AND him discussing all this with people might prompt him to put the rent up.

If both were actually for sale and you knew the relative prices and could cost up renovations etc, it would be an actual decision - but that’s not the case.

Go for it. 1k isn't bad for a monthly mortgage and as time goes by, unless interest rates climb by stupid %, your pay will increase so it will be a smaller % of your take home pay.

It's a no-brainer, @OnTheJourneyOnwards .
You love house A. You'd make do with house B.
Think hard about putting money aside for a rainy day, even if your disposable income isn't much.

Get the house you love. Renovations are notoriously expensive and stressful. The ‘probably’ £20-30k less for the rental house is a red herring. Even if it was £20k less, it’s nowhere near enough to get the rental into the condition you want it to be.

£500 each per month to live in a house you love? What are you waiting for!?

Buy the house you love. £150 per month extra from buying a project will not take you far. Also, your landlord is older, you may suddenly find yourself given notice to leave and having to quickly find a new rental which will cost you more per month than the mortgage on your perfect house.

We have renovated two houses. Buy the ready made one. When we were looking a renovated one wasn't available. Plus I have time and energy to be able to research everything and enjoy it. People spends years doing up their house. You could be sitting in yours enjoying it.

Depending on your ages you could extend the mortgage term to reduce your monthly payments. This isn't set in stone and you can bring it back down again at a later date.

I would move into the house that is in moving in condition.

House A. I agree that the renovations on the other could easily end up costing as much plus you have the hassle.

my grandad always said spend as much as you can afford on a house. Overtime most peoples wages rise via promotions and job changes.and your mortgage payments hopefully don’t rise as much.

Though I guess 30 years ago we didn’t have such bad inflation so you do need to take into consideration how much disposable income will you have left to cover for a potential jump in council tax, energy bills, food costs.

Buy the house you love. A new bathroom is about £10k. Plus a few thousand for a new stairs loo. Flooring is expensive, plastering is expensive. Mould can be a nightmare to deal with.

id look to have a longer mortgage term if 30 - 35 years if you can. You can always reduce it later on

The turnkey property sounds like a great choice, as others have pointed out the renovations on your current rental will likely far exceed the difference in value.

It might be helpful if you share your income and other outgoings to help us understand whether or not the £1000 pm mortgage is affordable for you, it's a low monthly payment in general but without knowing more about your finances no one can really advise.

I would rule out your rental house as you don't have savings to do the renovations it needs.
House A sounds perfect but it's hard to advise without knowing your financial situation .....do you have kids, if not are you planning them (because childcare costs will need to be taken into account), or are you currently working part time and might increase that to full time, are you in a career where your salary will increase significantly in the next 5 years etc. Also check things like council tax band, insurance costs etc which could be higher than in your rental prop.

I wonder if you are pricing all of this on an asking price of the perfect house, rather than what it may actually eventually sell for. It's a buyer's market right now, and a chain free buyer ready to go is worth a lot to sellers these days. It could be a bit more affordable than you think and it may go for a decent discount less than the asking price. I'd be buying the walk in ready house instead of hoping the costs of renovations turn out to be not as high as they may be heading.

It’s all completely hypothetical though isn’t it?
You haven’t even asked the landlord to sell, it’s just a pipe dream at the moment.

Renovations always cost more than you expect unless you're able to do all the work yourself/have family or friends doing it cheaply for you .

If you have the absolutely perfect house for you and you love how it is decorated , love the kitchen style, love the gardens etc and plan to be there for many years buy it - it's £150 a difference per month

• also your landlord may refuse to sell
• sadly your landlord could die and whoever inherits could bump your rent up very quickly

Buy your dream and enjoy

It's a no brainer - go for the house you love.

Renovations could cost more than just buying the house you love and won't have all the benefits.

The mortgage always seems high at first but generally seem more manageable as time goes on.

Definitely the house you love. 5 years from moving in to mine I still find myself randomly stood round the house thinking how much I love it and how happy we are here.