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Original poster

Is it better to rent or to buy your own home?

167 replies

MerryXmasMrsHenry · 11/12/2009 20:45

DH and I have been discussing whether to go back onto the property market while we still have a deposit or to just go all Continental and rent long-term instead.

We've only been renting for 6 months and would love your opinions on the pros and cons of renting and buying.

TIA!

OP posts:
Doobydoo · 12/12/2009 21:52

We bought a house and sold up approx 5 years ago and moved abroad.We were in it for about 18months.Prior to that and from 2003 we have rented.
I am really happy with where we are now.On our return to UK,we were fortunate enough[after a few months with crap landlord]to be told of an estate that has lots of houses for rent.They don't sell them and are fab at repairs and checks etc.We could never,ever afford to buy the house we are in now.I was fed up with bad landlords and no security.Long term we may buy,but abroad.

LynetteScavo · 12/12/2009 21:52

I like oning my own hom, as I know when the mortgae is payed off I won't have to worry about paying rent, and can imagien being visited here by my grand children.

WE did rent at one point, a lovely house, and we'd made a huge proffit on the house we'd just sold (we'd only lived in it for 2 years, so were laughing( But the owners wanted their house back.

It was absoultely gutting to have to move when we didn't want to, and although we didn't want to buy again, for financial reasons, think it's the most stable thing to do while raising children.

Obviously this may not be true for every one/every situation, but it's best for our family to have a mortgae rather than rent.

saramoon · 13/12/2009 09:46

Yes, of course it is better to buy, would love to buy but saving a deposit of, what? 10% of the value of the property would take us over 10 years to save up!

Georgimama · 13/12/2009 09:56

We rent and have done for 10 years. We missed the property boat some time ago, and now it has sailed so far away it has docked in New York and the passengers have disembarked.

We love our rented house, it is our home. My only issue with renting is that when we retire (which is some way off) we won't have the means to pay the rent, whereas a mortgage would be paid off by then. Somehow we have to buy. I fear this may only be possible when my mother dies .

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 10:39

'I fear this may only be possible when my mother dies '

It would only be possible if both mine died, without having had to provide for any nursing home care before their deaths.

They cling to their retirement funds/pension/annuity quite rightly in case they need to pay for care in the event of becoming unable to care for themselves.

My mother has COPD. Barring any other affliction, this is a slow, painful way to go.

We, like you, Georgi, will have to figure something out, because living over a procession of criminals isn't going to work.

Georgimama · 13/12/2009 10:45

Indeed expat, I should have said that the only way I can invisiage us getting our hands on a significant lump sum is if my mother dies without having had to sell her home to fund nursing care. I would of course much prefer her to use her own assets in her own lifetime to make the end of her life as comfortable as possible. She has actually spoken of a longing to drop dead whilst in reasonable health and in full possession of her faculties, and her house, within the next 15 years. She has also spoken of doing an equity release to give us money but I won't let her.

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 10:49

What an awful prospect, Georgi! I really feel for you and I empathise completely.

Georgimama · 13/12/2009 10:51

Our rental situation is also unusual in that we live in a house rented out by a country estate and the landlord is not going to want to move in here when he has his 300 + room palace down the road. There is always the possibility that the estate could serve notice because they wanted the house for someone else, but so far that hasn't happened (fingers crossed) and there are about 300 other houses in the estate so no reason why he should fixate on getting this one vacant for any particular purpose.

Georgimama · 13/12/2009 10:52

So really we are quite lucky. I feel for you because whilst some of the locals are "colourful", they aren't actually drug dealers. Or if they are, they are Glaswegian, armed raids at 3am kind of drug dealers.

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 10:53

we are looking at renting a house on a private estate as well, Georgi.

the trade off is that it is VERY isolated and DD1 will need to leave the school she loves so much.

all the children, too, will need to board during the week for secondary school because there is only one in the region and this area is deemed to far to come and go in one day, so the council boards a number of pupils.

but we can't take living like this anymore.

Georgimama · 13/12/2009 10:56

I know, we are very isolated and as DS will be starting school in 2011 (not that long away really now) we are starting to think not only of school transport issues but playdates etc. Even a pint of milk is a 5 mile round trip drive away.

Shall we go in that corner over there and eat worms together?

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 10:59

oh, yeah, a pint of milk would be quite far from here. a spar about 5 miles away on a single track.

mine have never had playdates or the like so that's no concern.

the council lays on transport, and the school they'd attend is lovely, too, i just hate to wrench DD1 from this school she is doing so well there and the teacher loves her.

she's making wee friends.

but am getting sick of thugs who either have loud parties or gangs trying to kick in their door.

moomoomalarky · 13/12/2009 12:39

A lot of people here clearly bought a house well before prices got silly - of course it was cheaper to buy 10 years ago and you are the people who have benefited hugely from property prices rocketing and low interest rates.

However buying in many areas now is a no brainer as it has been for the last few years. It totally depends WHEN you bought and WHERE you live as to whether the odds of renting or buying stack up. Buying simply isn't an option for most young people starting out now!

Missus84 · 13/12/2009 13:36

Expat - is there no way your HA will rehouse you? Or have you thought about going for a mutual exchange?

Earlybird · 13/12/2009 13:37

expat - would a different flat on the same HA estate be an option? Have you simply been very unlucky with the flat underneath, and might it be different elsewhere on the estate?

Sorry you're going through this. Housing has been a huge issue for you for quite a long time.

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 13:43

'expat - would a different flat on the same HA estate be an option? Have you simply been very unlucky with the flat underneath, and might it be different elsewhere on the estate?'

No.

It's not an estate.

It's a large building.

They will not rehouse us as we were just housed after being declared unitentionally homeless.

I had to get my MSP and MP involved to even get this and not a flat in an even worse part of the building that was a doss house.

Just been unlucky with what's underneath.

Zero chance of exchange as everyone wants a house and not a flat with no garden.

So back to private lets for us.

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 13:44

'Buying simply isn't an option for most young people starting out now!'

It's not an option for many, not just the young.

Missus84 · 13/12/2009 13:46

If you are prepared to move out of the area (obviously that might not be practical for you) you may find someone who is happy with a flat with no garden. You can join the homeswapper website and see if anyone there is looking for a flat in your area.

noddyholder · 13/12/2009 13:48

God expat I really hoped this time you would get a bloody HOME!It is ridiculous the way this country operates The people below should move not you.There really is a mountain to climb with housing in the UK it just isn't seen as a basic human right which is shocking

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 13:55

this is quite a rural area, Missus, with limited employment, so we don't want to move too far out of it or DH would have to get another job. in this economy. and we're both low-skilled so it's not a good option.

there's only one HA for most of this region, and no one wants a flat because a lot of their stock used to be houses.

just bad luck for us, really, but there isn't much stock left in this entire region, FWIW.

Earlybird · 13/12/2009 13:58

Don't know how HA works, but is it possible to put yourself on a 'list' so you can 'move up the ladder' when something preferable comes available?

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 14:02

DH knows the guy who lives next to creep downstairs. i'll call this guy 'D'.

D said the chap that was there before drug dealer was even worse!

the HA has basically turned it over to teh council to stick homeless singletons in (it's a bedsit) and so care not a jot who they stick in there, mostly prisoners on remand from greenock the authorities are trying to move away from their 'friends'.

i contacted teh homelessness office last week when the chap got lifted, to let them know that the occupant wasn't there and people were still getting into the flat.

they couldn't have cared less.

so it's going to be a procession of neds.

i give up, truly.

screw it.

moving from here to there is how we have to play it.

home will needs be a state of mind and that's it.

needless to say, i'm finding it super hard to be sympathetic to druggies and their ilk.

they bring untold misery to their families and everyone around them and are the most selfish, inconsiderate LOSERS you could meet.

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 14:04

'Don't know how HA works, but is it possible to put yourself on a 'list' so you can 'move up the ladder' when something preferable comes available?'

No.

It's a points system here.

The closer you are to homeless or actually homeless, the greater your points.

You take what you are offered. You have one refusal and then you lose points.

If you are considered adequately housed you have zero points.

We're over it at this point.

We're happy to go back to the insecurity of private renting for life, because that's what it is for us, in order to get our kids away from trash like this.

noddyholder · 13/12/2009 14:07

Could you consider moving from scotland?It sounds an even worse system than here

expatinscotland · 13/12/2009 14:07

the cow housing officer was supposed to come for a 'settling in' visit.

i did her the courtesy of phoning her on that morning because 4 out of 5 of us had a stomach bug, to cancel.

she said she was booked up through the new year then.

i said, well, we're not really settling because there's too much criminal activity around here.

all she said was, 'i'll reschedule in the new year then, if you're still here.'

fuck it. gimme the hour long drive to get a dinky co-op and packing the kids off to board at 10 or 11.

i've had done living next to shite like this because we can't afford to buy.

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