What should we do?

mummy_dumpling

We are living in a rented house and the tenenacy agreement runs out end of May. The landlord has told us that he is going to put the house on the market this year - and wants to know if we want to buy. So basically we have till May to either buy this house or find somewhere else to live, he won't extend our tennancy agreement.

We live in a small town miles from anywhere so are limited for choice. We have 6 kids so need a biggish house and don't know of any other 4 bed houses for rent locally (or any big 3 bed for that matter)

I'm not sure how much the landlord wants for this house yet. It was on the market for £134k for at least 6m before we moved in and started renting (we moved in May 08).

We've spoken to an IFA and he says that the max we can borrow is £140k if we have deposit of £25k so looking at £165k max for our new house. We currently have £18k saved for our deposit and can add £1500 - £2000 per month to that if we really tighten our belts (DH earns £35k pa)

I have seen a couple of houses that I'd love to buy that are currently on market at £175k and £180kz so being able to afford them would depend on them lowering price to £165k or less and us finding the extra £7k deposit money asap. BUT as we have to be out of here by end of May that wouldn't leave much time to complete on sale after we find remaining deposit money before we have to move out of here (if we decide to buy elsewhere)

What do you think? This house is OK and it would do but I don't love it and can't see us being here long term (given a choice). The other houses I've seen I could happily live in till the kids are grown up as they have more living space downstairs and the garden I've always dreamed of. There isn't anything any cheaper that offers us more than we have here.

thanks

Debt_Free_Chick

My suggestion is that you buy the house you want to live in and don't even consider it as an "investment" that might yield you some profit. Even if you do get any profit, it's very rare that you get this as cash - we tend to move to another similar property where the property is needed to buy the new house.

I think your choice is ...

(a) look for another rental short-term, whilst you consider properties to buy

and/or

(b) look for a property you want to buy and live in.

Do both, though. If (b) comes along first at the right price then buy it, but have (a) to fall back on. If (b) doesn't come along at all, then have (a) to fall back on.

It's not easy - I've been in this situation - but you have to pursue both options and let fate take its course.

mummy_dumpling

thanks for replying

I guess I should be thinking about what other rental options are available - just incase

my youngest is only 4m and we were hoping to be able to stay here renting a bit longer till we built up a good deposit and decided where we wanted to live long term

maybe I'm just being unrealistic and should ignore my heart and follow my head

the house we're in should tick all the boxes - we have 4 big beds, parking, large yard, nice neighbours, close to schools/shops, needs no work/decorating done to it and we wouldn't have to move house again

BUT I've always wanted a house with a garden and the other houses I've seen have more living space downstairs too (our house is on 3 floors so the living area isnt as big as a 4 bed on 2 floors would be). Things are ok now as my eldest is only 11yrs but if we stop here another few years I can't see how we're all going to live comfortably here - there's not even enough room for everyone to sit on our sofas now and no room to get anymore in.

If we bought this house then I'd want to know that we could move on to a bigger house in a few years and not be stuck with this one cos we wouldn't be able to sell it and cover our costs, if you know what I mean.

Its just frustrating that if we didn't have this time restraint on us then we'd have saved another £6-7k in 3-4m but if we have to wait till then it won't leave us much time to buy a house before we have to leave here. aargh.

Do you think that an offer of £160-165k on a house marketed at £175k is unreasonable? (thats if we can get the deposit together) and its jumping the gun as we've not even been to view yet LOL but if its going to be unattainable then I'd rather not go and look and see what we could have had - does that make sense?

thanks for reading my wafflings - just trying to decide what to do for the best

zone

How long has it been on the market? Try £150k first

mummy_dumpling

just discovered property bee one of the houses has been on since july 08 at £225k was reduced to £200k in oct and is now £175k, another house has been on since april 08 at £215k, reduced to £200k in may and then £180k in nov.

I spoke to a mortgage advisor at one of the local estate agents today and they said that we'd not have any problems getting a mortgage for a house at £180k with 20k deposit (taking tax credits into account) - which has confused us more. Who do you think is more likely to be "right" - the EA mortgage advisor or an IFA? Obviously if the EA is right then we don't really have a dilemma as we'd be able to afford any of the houses we want to look at

Oh and will it work to our disadvantage that the EA mortgage advisor knows our financial position? (if we want to put an offer in on a house they're marketing) didn't think of that before I asked them