Would you rent in our position? What are the pro's/con's of renting?

[GoldenSunset]

We currently own a house that I hate living in due to the neighbours from hell. They have vandalised our car amongst other things and they are horrible nasty people who scare me.

We have the option of selling, which will bring us enough money to pay the solicitors,EA and clear the mortgage.

Selling would mean renting forever as we would never be able to afford a deposit again.

DH is set against renting. He wants to bear with it where we are and wait till the prices increase, sell in roughly ten years and buy somewhere in a better area.

I want to go now. I want to leave the stress and fear behind. Walk out the front door and never have to see my neighbours again. Renting would also mean we live in a better area which means a better school for dd when she's older.

Is renting as bad as what DH thinks? He thinks we will constantly have to move house and we will have to get rid of our dog. He says the house will never feel like our own.

He is also worried long term, we are in our late 20's and he thinks we will have no decent pension provision if we opt of the housing market. He has a point as we are not guarnateed state penion when we are older and both our occupational salarys are no longer final salary. But I think that's way to far ahead to be ruling how we live now. He also worries about how we would pay rent once we are a lot older wheras a mortage would reduce over the years, he's worried as rent gets dearer.

Sorry for rambling - advice gratefully recieved.

I phoned the estate agents who gave us a valuation last year. They said the house would sell between 12k - 15k above our mortgage. Not good news

We have always rented and i have been known to moan on here about wanting to buy but we have been living in a house in a lovely area now for nearly 2 years and i am so glad we are living here and that our dds can go to a great school. Our landlord wants people here long term and the rent has never gone up - and it has never gone up in any other property we have been in.
We would like to buy in the future - we are 32 and 36 so are not so young - but happiness and peace of mind is more important to us than a property at the moment.

I'm 40. We sold up when we left the UK 3 years ago to move into rented accommodation. I used to have sleepless nights about it. It was MY house, my comfort blanket. We have no deposit for a new place at the moment, but hope to in the future. It does worry me a little.

The upside is that we have a lovely house, one that we could NEVER afford to buy. And we have a 9 year lease! The landlord can only chuck us out if he wants to live here, and as "he" is a property company that won't happen. The Belgians DO renting. Your rights and responsibilities are really clear, as are those of the landlord.

The downside is that it is "wasted" money. I have the English disease of NEEDING to be on the housing ladder somewhere. We can't afford it at the mo. But in time, we hope to manage a little place in the country for our old age.

I think you have time on your side! Many people haven't managed to buy ANYTHING whilst still in their 20s.

The pro (for us) is that we can afford a nicer place to rent than to buy.

The con is that the landlord can give you notice when you're enormously pregnant

Sorry about the situation with your neighbours. If you decide to rent and won't be able to get back on the property ladder will you be able to afford to keep paying rent in your retirement? To me paying off our mortgage is a key part of our pension planning. I do understand you want to get away from your neighbours so it must be a very difficult decision for you.

Right now the issue with renting is you may well be paying WAY more in rent that you would be in mortgage! For example, we pay £950 pcm rent for a house we would be paying about £400pcm mortgage (which is what our landlord is paying!) - we like to console ourselves with the fact the place is losing more than £550pcm in value but that is increasingly not the case.

We have exactly 60 days security; a hired pimply youth can come around at the owner's behest with- is it 24 hours?- notice to inspect my standard of housekeeping and report back; every child's juice spillage on the carpet instead of becoming 'one of life's stains' in your OWN house becomes a potential £500 new carpet in a renter, thank you.

Renting SHOULD be a sensible option but whilst it remains, at least in the private sector, so insecure and precarious, I'd buy.

Have only read OP...

We sold our house and are now renting (with a dog!!!!). It's a lovely house, and has given us what we wanted. We get to live in a house that we can't afford to buy. We have no repair bills, and it's so liberating that when something goes wrong we only make a phonecall and then it's dealt with by someone else. It's not our problem.

We are S L O W L Y saving up for who knows what - maybe buying a house here or maybe moving overseas. In the meantime we are able to raise our children (and dog) in a house that meets our needs.

HTH.

We were in exactly the same position as you 5 years ago GoldenSunset. We had the neighbours from hell not just next door but all around us - a pub and takeaway on the same road. My dh and I had awful rows as I hated it with a passion but dh was happy to accept living there. I got my way in the end as I got so depressed about it - also we had a son and the local school was in special measures.

We sold up and have never looked back. We've rented ever since and have watched prices going up and then down again. Yes it is frustrating not owning your own house but it is worse owning a house in an area you hate. We have our weekends to do what we want rather than house repairs, and a lot more disposable income. I believe prices may dip further still so am waiting to buy sometime in the next few years - in no hurry though!!