Buying A Home Or Private Renting? Which Is The Best Option?

getmore4less wrote: »

What was the purpose of the visit?

what was the primary goal you were trying to achieve with the visit?

Why did it end up being 2 weeks changing hotels because you did not plan it to be two weeks at the start?

My visit was to go to visit letting agency's to both talk to them about private rented flats and to look at properties. And to get to know the area I thought I wanted to live in more.

But things did not go to plan because I never got out of my hotel room in time to go to the letting agents. And I did not know how to get to the addresses where the letting agents I had a list of were. Because I do not know my way around Liverpool.

I had originally booked for 3 days at the hotel in Southport but because I never got to the letting agents. I kept on extending my stay but I still never got round to going there.

Although I did get to go to the local Sainsburys big superstore in Southport. And also the big ASDA's in Birkenhead. I also found out where the 24 hour Tesco and big Sainsburys is in Birkenhead but I never went there. I only went to the ASDA but at least if I had have moved to Birkenhead or Southport I would know where the big supermarkets are.

Because wherever I moved to I would still use them to do my weekly food shops as I do in Essex. So I would need to know where they are.

But I never got round to going to any letting agents. Well as I said I don't think I wanted to go because I did not want to move. I only thought that I did.

leslieknope wrote: »

the staff are being friendly to you because they want you to leave good reviews for the hotel. that's customer service. because they are being paid to be nice and do a good job. and you cannot leave your rubbish and wet towels out in the hall and affect other guests - AND the fire safety of having rubbish in the hall. if you don't want housekeeping to come into your room then you need to take your rubbish and dispose of it yourself. and there will be a rail in the bathroom for towels, there is one in every premier inn.

it's clear you're not in a stable mental health position to leave the support system you have, with your dr and community mental health team. stay where you are.

Yes there is a rail in the bathroom and I can also leave the wet towels in the bath. Then just phone down to reception and ask the cleaners to come and take them away.
They would do that. And there are bins outside the hotel in the street. I could put my rubbish bag in that.
So these are not issues I should get myself worked up about.

No I don't have the support of the CMHT.

Although I have minimal support from my Ex- CMHT Social worker in that I can contact her from time to time and she will help me with my benefits. But she is not giving me regular support and I do not have a keyworker because the CMHT say I don't meet their criteria.

But I do have the support of my GP and I do have a home.

A permanent home with my HA.
Something I would not have with a private landlord.

Since being here I have found out that Liverpool is not what I thought it would be.

The people here seem friendly when you first talk to them but I have quickly found out that they are NOT.

When I was on the Tube today coming back from Bootle I met 2 women who were also from the South of England like me. They were from Cambridge.

They said they have not found the people in Liverpool friendly at all. They said they have found most people up here don't like conversation. And they did not feel comfortable here. And I have found that also.

At home in Essex and in London I have got to know people. Such as the staff in the local shops, the bank staff and other staff where I go to restaurants and the launderette where I go and even the drivers on the taxi rank. Who I have talked to about my inheritance and my mothers will and other things.

And they listen to me and even give me advice.

But up here in Liverpool when I tried to talk to the people here about my getting a flat and try to talk about other things with them, they don't want to know.
They don't seem to want to listen to me. Well they don't want to listen to me, they act like they want to get rid of me, even though they don't tell me directly but I can tell.

That does not happen to me in Essex or even in London but it does here in Liverpool. In other words people up here in the North pretend to be friendly. But once you get into conversation with them they don't want to know.

I have noticed that and so did those 2 women I met on the tube(the Liverpool's underground) who come from the South like me.

So if I were to give up my HA to move to private rented up here not only would I not have a secure home, I would feel very isolated. Because I would not be able to have the conversations with people up here that I have in my home town and in the South where I am from.

People up here are not as friendly as I thought. I have found that out.

And some of the things I have seen in both Manchester and Liverpool are quite shocking.

Up here in Manchester and Liverpool I have seen lots of homeless people and men sitting outside of banks and shops on nearly every street in the city centers begging for money.

We have this in London also but not on as wide scale as here. Here in Manchester and Liverpool you see it a lot more and they are always outside the banks by the cash machines.

So I am afraid to use a cash machine here because of this. I always go into the bank. And I advise anyone else who visits here to do the same.

Not only that but I saw a man lying spark out on the pavement outside a bank in Piccadilly Manchester and people were just walking past him as if he was not there, Nobody took any notice of him. And this was in broad daylight in the afternoon in the busy shopping center with hundreds of people around in Manchester.

And you see this a lot in Liverpool as well. In Liverpool city center you see men and women lying on the pavement and nobody takes any notice of them. They just walk past them.

I was shocked to se this both in Manchester and in Liverpool.
If the people in Liverpool are so "friendly" why are they leaving people lying on the pavement?

They are not. It's all a lie. I have found out that Liverpool is not as friendly a city as the people here make out it to be.
The people are not. They are more friendly in the South of England.

I think it would be a mistake for me to live here. Even if I did get a HA flat up here, I don't think I would like it.
I don't think Liverpool is the right place for me as I have said before.

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Annbarbs

Can I also suggest, when you get home, you don't tell people there about your inheritance also.

I know someone who also has mh issues as well and he seems to have 'fair weather friends' who seem to appear when he has money to buy drinks and disappears when the money has gone.

No I should not tell everyone about my inheritace.
I told the cleaners here in this hotel about it but I should not have done.

I had £1600 in cash on my because I drew it out of the bank before I came here. Because I thought I would need it for a deposit for a flat.

That's why I did not want the cleaners in my room.

But I went to the bank today and I have now put that money away in my bank account.

And I now take my bank books and debit cards and all of my cash with me when I go out.

And I also take my 2 Mobile phones out with me because I don't trust those cleaners.

I have also put a password on my laptop and have locked it away in my padlocked luggage bag.

I don't normally do this but I am afraid those cleaner will try to steal my money and try to access my laptop.

The cleaners are being far to familiar and friendly with me. I feel that something is very wrong there. As one cleaner was saying she can help me buy a place.

And she does not know me, so why should she want to help me? I a stranger and she does not know me.

And I told her about the inheritace so of course I have the right to be wary and not trust them.

The cleaners might be trying to steal my money. They way they are being over friendly with me sounds too good to be true.

That's why I don't leave any of my money and bank books and my passport in my room. I always take it with me whenever I leave my room or go out.

I am not going to leave them in my room because I think the cleaners might steal them.

So I will be glad to get away from this hotel.

There are many calculations and write-up on these comparisons. But the most important things that you keep in mind you should look into your financial situation first as both going to cost you. First, seek an answer to these following questions:

Is EMI of the house in which you are staying or wish to stay is affordable. If not, then staying on rent will save your money.

Look at the things time and travel so rent a house can be good if you want to leave the place near your workplace, child's school which otherwise is not possible by buying a house.

If you can evaluate above points you will be able to decide which is better for you in current scenario.

getmore4less wrote:

Why are you still there?

Because I have paid for that room for the week, until Friday. So If I leave now I won't get my money back. I check out tomorrow.

carryheather wrote: »

There are many calculations and write-up on these comparisons. But the most important things that you keep in mind you should look into your financial situation first as both going to cost you. First, seek an answer to these following questions:

Is EMI of the house in which you are staying or wish to stay is affordable. If not, then staying on rent will save your money.

What does EMI mean?

ViolaLass wrote: »

Anyone else get the feeling that annbarbs will still be living in that hotel in a month's time?

Annbarbs, you claim that you're well enough to manage your life but you can't even work out how to find an address in a new city or whether it's sensible to carry around £1600 in cash.

Go home, go home, go home.

Oh my God NO.

They won't keep me on that long because this hotel has not not any more rooms after tomorrow, they are full up.

And if I sat any longer it will cost me another £1000 if I stay another month and stayed there for months it would eat up all of my inheritace.

So no way am I going to do that.

I have got to go home.

Sure I can come back here for short visits only-that is stay for a few days. But not for months and months. That is a waste of money.

Norman_Castle wrote: »

There's no need to tell anyone about it and you should stop focussing on it. You don't need to make changes because of it. Go home, put your money with banks with the best interest and live your life as you did before. Don't look for ways to spend this money. Don't spend it because you've got it. If you don't spend it now you will still have it when you need it.

Go home, park this money and forget about it.

Well the DWP know I have got my inheritace and so do HB because I had to tell them. It is the law and they have stopped my HB and CTB as a result. But I knew that would happen.
And my HA knows because I had to tell them why my HB has been stopped because I am now paying the rent myself.


But you are right, there is no need for me to tell anyone else.

And I should not have told the hotel staff. That was a stupid thing to do. I should not do it because one day I am going to tell the wrong person who might try to steal all of my money and I don't want that.

But then they don't know where I live. Though I have not told my neghbors about it because a lot of them are on HB and they do know where I live. So I have not said anything to the neighbors about my inheritace.

I did tell my GP that my mum left me some money when she died. And my HB and CTB has been stopped because the money made my savings go over 16k.

But I did not tell the GP how much money my mum left me.


Just that my mum left me some money so I cannot get HB now but I still get DLA and reduced ESA Contribution based only.

And I showed my GP the claim form the Council gave me to fill in for Council Tax reduction Benefit. Which I may be able to claim on grounds of being mentally impaired.

My GP says she will support me when my ESA and DLA come up for review. And she is willing to give the Council a medical report for mt CTB if they write to her.

But I and the GP agree we should wait until my medical records come throgh before applying for CTB so the GP knows more about me and can write a good medical repaor to the Council.

I have only just joined this GP practice 6 weeks ago at the end of March.

So it's not been that long.


I have had to split my inheritace up and have got half of it in one bank and half of it in another.
Because banks can only guarantee 75k.

But the only high interest accounts my bank has is bonds. In which the money is locked away for so many years. But I cannot lock the money away because I have got to live on it.

And if I were to lock it away if I needed to get to it I would not be able to.

But the accounts I have the money in are just regular or ordinary savings account that don't pay much interest.

And I don't get any interest at all on my 2 currant accounts because the banks don't pay interest on those.

I don't know of any other banks that have high interest accounts where you can draw out the money when you want. All of the banks I have asked at only have Bonds as I high interest where the money is locked away. And ISA where you can only invest up to 15k and you are only allowed 1 ISA account with any bank.

So if you have an ISA with one bank for example, you can't have an ISA in another bank or anywhere else.
1 ISA account only.

Do you know of any banks that I can put my money in a high interest account where I can draw out or access my money when I want? Because I have not found any apart from at my own bank Nation wide which can offer me a Loyalty saver because I have been withmy bank for 15 years.

But the Loyalty saver is the only one I know of that lets you draw out money when you want and pays a higher interest.

But the interest in all banks is not very much. Even if I locked some of my money away in bonds I would only get about £350 a year which is not very much.

So there is no where relay where I can get enough interest such as £1000 or £2000 a year.
I wish there was.

And even that's not a lot of interest for the amount of savings I have.