Rent Private or Buy from Family?? Help!!

Vness81

Hi, I am new to this but apart from seek professional advice I don't know what else to do! I'm screaming inside!!

My husband & I, & our 2 kids currently live in a nice small 3 bed house which we rent from our father. We've been here 4 years and so far have paid around £20k in rent. (in which all the pros & cons are expected)
Recently we have looked at buying or renting somewhere bigger. Also thinking of extending the house here. I'm not employed at the moment as I have a 3 yr old, so my husband is the only earner although I do get tax credits & child benefit for 2 children.

My husband can get a small mortgage, which too be honest can't really buy much, and we have no way of getting any sort of deposit. So it seemed us buying at the moment is not really feasible.

This weekend I found a lovely huge 5 bedroom 3 en suite house, just around the corner from where we are now, so no uprooting the kids etc, and it is up for rent at a cost we could healthily afford per month. Almost the same amount we already pay living here.
After a brief descussion with the inlaws, they have offered to sell us the house we are in now, with a 10% discount off whatever the value is now so that we can sell it & do what we want with. But we have no savings & don't want to have to remortgage to be able to buy bigger. Also we don't want to be waiting years!!! We don't have spare money to spend on fees etc either.

What do we do??? Rent the bigger house that we love and would never be able to own in our lives (unless winning teh euro millions) with a spoken agreement from the owner that we can live there as long as we like so long as we pay. Or be stuck in a house we've outgrown & feel depressed in, and be tied down to a lengthy mortgage by accepting the Inlaws offer (although I feel we may not be benefitting as much as they will be)

I would welcome any advice or help!!
Thank you

McKneff

No one can make the decision for you. You should sit down with your other half and see what his thoughts are. and then go with your heart. This is the rest of your life and dont forsake your happiness for the sake of other peoples. Explain everything you have said here to your inlaws and I,m sure they will understand. Good luck, (bet you go for the big house)
Be happy

alm721

Personally in your situation and at this point in times I would go with renting the big house every time, can't really see what you'll gain buying your in laws house. (Although can see how they would gain!) Even if you get the mortgage you would then have to sell it. By the time that happens the 10% they've given you could well have evapourated and you may be in negative equity. Also the cost of buying and selling the house will also eat into that 10% pretty quickly (assuming its not worth a fortune). They you have the stress etc of having to sell it.
Why not rent the bigger house where you will be happy and let the in-laws sell their own house.

poppysarah

You've got quite a secure rental going on. There's no guarantee this bigger house will stay a rental forever. I'd say it was a risk too far.

Vness81

I think the Inlaws have offered us to buy this because if we move out, it will be empty, & I doubt they will get new tenants or sell any time soon, leaving their pocket empty of a regular weekly income. I think they thought we'd jump at the chance.

We know that we might not be able to stay in the new rented house for ever & we're prepared to move again should we have to, but also our own situation will change when I go back to full time work, so we don't if a yr or 2 down the line we can afford to buy then.

My heart says go for the rented, but part of me says stop dreaming, stay where we are, deal with not having the big house & be thankful for what we do have & the help the Inlaws have given us already?

But when is the right time to go out & do it for ourselves, it will be the forst time we would've rented outside the family, & it is scary. But I think we're only tied down for a year at a time, albeit dead money we're spending, but in a great house we'll be happy in however long it lasts.

My husband will do whatever I want, but he has said that he wants the big house, he doesn't like to admit that maybe his parents are only making us this offer so they don't lose out, even though it may not be a good choice for us?

Vness81

Oh just to add...The Inlaws own the house we are in now outright, they have a few other properties in the area which they own outright, so they have no mortgages or loans on this property.

Robert_Sterling_3

You are in a 3 bed house. It is not big enough.
Your in laws have offered you a deal of some sort which I would not accept.
There is a big 5 bed house which I think might prove too expensive.
So don't go from 3 bed to 5 bed. Go to 4 bed. You will gain also another reception room.

Vness81

The 4 beds are the same price as this 5 beds, plus it's the only 4/5bed that's in our villiage. This is the thing, this new house would be a a bargain!! We not silly with money, so understand the costs of running a bigger etc, but not all rooms will be used most of the time, only when family stay.

I may provide hot water bottles & bed socks for added warmth lol

socrates

Why dont buy the house off your in laws BUT you get your inlaws to become your lender - i.e continue paying rent - but the rent now becomes a mortgage payment.

Obviously you will need Solicitors but it can be a nice clean transaction.

In many ways it solves a lot of problems - you can even ask if they will count the £20k you have paid already towards a further reduction.

Its something you can all discuss calmly around a table as well.

dopester

Vness81 wrote: »

After a brief descussion with the inlaws, they have offered to sell us the house we are in now, with a 10% discount off whatever the value is now

Doesn't sound like much of a bargain to me - unless they are being very realistic and discounting 10% from 2004 prices.

Even then... would you be getting value?

House buyers want 25% discount
CityWire.co.uk - 3 hours ago
By Nicholas Paler | 00:01:00 | 16 March 2009

Rightmove said there was interest among buyers but only at a substantially reduced price of around 25% below peak prices.

Potential home buyers are only willing to purchase properties on sale at a 25% discount to peak prices and are therefore discouraging new sellers from coming to the market, Rightmove has said.

Delivering its latest house price index, the property website said would-be sellers were being deterred from putting homes on the market in the current environment because buyers expected to do deals at much reduced prices.

Rightmove said there was interest among buyers but only at a substantially reduced price of around 25% below peak prices.

It said the prospect of offering such a huge discount was still too difficult for owners to swallow, and as a result there had been a 57% fall in the number of sellers listing their properties year on year, down to 79,000 in March from 182,000 last year.

Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: 'Some sellers are still pricing wishfully high, though it is encouraging that elements of the market have adapted relatively quickly to find a new price floor at a discount of around 25% from peak.'

Robert_Sterling_3

Thank you for your reply to my post.