Buying Property/rising up the ladder - is it just What We Do? I want to get off...

[Pavlov]

DH and I own our own flat. Or rather, probably the front door, front windows, few bricks. Oh and the new bedroom up top, we own all of that.

We have two children. And we want to move. We can't afford it now as DH has lost his job. But, that will change in the future.

However, even if we absolutely max ourselves out, we will get a house that is ok. It will Do. But it won't be everything we want. We won't for example, be able to get a huge garden. Or 3 good sized bedrooms with a study, dining room, garage. Whatever we buy will, even though costing us a lot of money, will need work done to make it 'finished'.

So I am thinking, why bother? Why do this? why spend 100 of Ks potentially to get something that we are not 100% happy with. In the hope that, next step, we might get a bit closer to what we want. Then again later, a bit closer, then, when the kids are adults and we have a huge house, we will sell it and downsize.

If we rent out our flat. That is our investment kept. Then, we can rent a lovely property, in the countryside. Something we could not afford to buy. No millstone of a mortgage around our heads. If we don't like it, we can move. We won't have 1000s of £ estate agent fees, or having to redecorate/renovate/rebuild/do up costs when we move. We wont have to fix a leaky roof, or burst pipes, or worry about negative equity, or getting a good rate of mortgage/interest rates going up.

and with a target of 15 years, we will build our own place. Exactly as we like.

The thought of renting out a little cottage in the country makes me feel warm and fuzzy, the thought of going through the trauma of selling/buying and living on a shoestring for something we don't even like that much terrifies me.

Is it just me who feels like this ownership culture is just all its cracked up to be?

Thinker you are so right.We are renting atm and if we bought this place the mortgage would be 1500 minimum we pay 975.I bought sold and renovated 11 houses to get mortgage free but don't reccomend it now Too risky.renting is the wise option until the dust settles Houses will be more sffordable in the next few years I am sure

noddy i just find it all so stressful. The mere thought of having to buy again in order to live in a house makes me become very anxious. I would stay here forever just to avoid having to do it all again. In reality it is a good sized flat, It is even fine for a family with one child (two big bedrooms, one tiny one) but I want my family to run around, so I have to consider a way out. I feel trapped on the property ladder, I can't go up, can't go down without losing money.

So, this option of renting thinker pheasants....i don't even mind a bit of damp if that is what it takes.

I have looked at the site you gave me, only one place, but a bit too far away in Honiton. But, a great site and if we wanted to move up North we could get SO much for the money can pay. 4-5bedroomed detached houses with acres of land! Unbeleivable. I really might talk to DH about selling. We could move up north. I could probably get a transfer if a job comes up there. There are criminals up north too . DH will do anything.

Pavlov if I was you I would sell and rent.When prices fall and you know what you are buying is long term and not going to clean you out financially I am sure the stress will lessen.

noddy I guess, we have invested a lot of time, money and heartache in this property. I think DH feels attached to it in a odd way. he always saw this as our long term investment whatever else happens.

If you let your flat now and decide you need to sell it in the future the govt will take 40-50% of the profit in tax.If you sell now and bank the profit yopu will get 0 tax as it is your primary residence.

We jumped off the housing ladder and now rent , also on an estate, and it is the best thing we ever did.

The rent is cheap for a dream type country cottage in a beautiful location. We could never afford to buy it and ut would never be for sale. We can do what we want and it is ours as long as we want it.

We have a deposit for our own home in the bank, we were going to move into an awful boxy Barrat's type home and withdrew at the last moment. We were going to hand over 25K in deposit.and pay double our rent for a house we didn't even like.

We feel like we have escaped the rat race.

noddy that is a very good point. I shall remind DH of that fact when he gets in! If we sell and bank it now, we can put it towards our house build.

DH is worried if we banked the money, we would spend it, as we are not good at keeping savings. I have said we could give it to his mother to look after and get it back when we need it for the house build and not before.

The increase on CGT is going to bring prices down aswell so you may well get a decent house sooner than you think.Lots of houses here in Brighton aer student lets and some are huge and in good roads and I think the landlords will sell now and bank the profit at 18% tax rather than 40/50 next april

Is the capital gains tax thing with no threshold then? We will not be making any kind of profit really. Not enough to make a jot of difference to anything other than possibly a nice big holiday and a brand new sparkly car. Which we do not want. We intend to drive our car into the ground then buy another banger.

Once upon a time, we wanted a big house all of our own, a nice new car, expensive foreign holidays to far flung countries (not that we ever actual did that, just aspired to), lovely clothes, eating in posh restuarants. And now, i wonder why on earth we wasted the money we had doing such disposable things with it. I really do. I wonder now why on earth I ever wanted a new car. It will not save me any money to get a brand new economical car, as it will cost thousands and thousands in the first place. And I don't want to take two children on a plane across the world to see something they don't really give much of a toss about, to spend the first week jetlagged, when we have such a beautiful countryside and wonderful things to do here.

I longer want a huge tv, all the channels the world can offer me. I could not care less if we have no tv at all as I don't watch it.

I used to worry that DD would want things I cannot afford. I know now that shallowness will only prevail if I let it, same for DS.

I don't want to be part of all that any more.

We have never had a new car or big tvs etc.We bought and sold and renovated houses because we lost our first house when I became ill and vowed never to be in that situation again.It has been thoroughly enjoyable and I haven't ever missed the material things along the way.We have been in a good financial position for about 2 yrs now but I still have no desire for the 'trappings'.They are unnecesary nice if you can afford it but meaningless in teh big picture.the thing is if you sell now all teh profit is yours.If you rent the flat becomes a taxable asset which would be taxed at 18% under old rules but this will rise under new budget coming in next april.

noddy the thing is. Getting that house. DH and I want to split the childcare of our children. I don't want DH to work all the hours god sends to provide for us, i want him to be a father too and so does he. We might not even get a loan for a higher mortgage, at least not enough to buy any decent, as they have reduced the multiples since we bought. I would not even get a mortgage to buy this place again if we started it out now, not even at the price i bought it.

If we keep this place, we won't be able to get the mortgage of such a high amount, and if we sold this to get the other place, this place will drop in value, so we would lose our profit and still be where we started.

If you sell your flat now and it drops in value later it won't affect you!You need to look at the big picture and if you are really undecided I would sell up lock stock rent somewhere you love and forget the pounds and pence because all that is about to change and I think financially things will be clearer in about 2012-2014.the silly price rises are over.Lots of BTL will be for sale to escape the tax and this will mean lower prices.Interst rates will rise and taxes too so the only way is down and that is not a bad thing.Think of your family life now no one can do more than that Live in the day and forget this imaginary ladder.It has taken up a lot of my time over the years but has been financially succesful but knackering and at times not worth it!

Pavlov, if it makes you feel better: people with a large mortgage only are renting their places anyway. from the bank. biggest difference is that the committment is much higher with a mortgage, less flexible. with regards to decoration: speak to the landlord, most are ok with decorating, as long as you return it to a similar state than original before moving out.

sonilaa that is true you don't own anything until the last payment is made.And according to yesterdays telegraph interest only is set to become a thing of the past another nail in the coffin of silly prices.

noddy can't sell now. Not til DH has a job and I am back at work. I am back at work in a couple of months. But who knows when DH will be working again. Hopefully, any time soon. In reality its been a while already. That is why we are making plans for next year rather than now. And the problem with that is that all these changes may have taken hold by then.