First Time Moving Out, Rent or Buying Advice?

AWilderbeast

Hi all,

As the title suggests, im to old to live at home now (24! lol) and am looking to move out with my girlfriend.

as far as my knowledge goes it is very limited, all i have is the general preceptions anyone who knows this little has

which is, buying a house, requires a mortgage which would be extremley difficult to get in these times without a large deposit, ive read up on the HomeBuy Schemes the open market social buy for my area has already been allocated so im out of luck there. the home buy direct houses start at about £135,000 which means id ned to get around a £95k mortgage which my current salary wouldnt be able to get me
also i know there is many other purchase costs to be considered which im not very knowledageble about, such as a survey and agency costs and others i probably dont know about

as far as rent goes all i hear is that ooo you shouldnt rent its just dead money, your just giving it away

can someone help me out give me some advice at what are the benefits and disadvantages of each and during times like these which would be the better option for the short and long term.

i dont have any savings as of yet, im a month away from clearing my credit card for good then i can start saving for my options

Thanks for any help
Alex

Mini_Bear

First off my advise would be if you havent lived with your girlf before - rent first!
You dont want to be taking on a 25 yr joint commitment (mortgage) with someone you have never lived with before.
Rentng really isnt dead money in the current climate with house prices continuing to drop, and potentially interest rates increasing which will cripple some home owners and may cause a second crash.
Would you rather rent and be able to get out after 6 months if your circumstances change or buy and be stuck?
It doesnt look like you are in a strong financial position to move out of your parents house and buy or rent as both will require deposits and fees up front.
my advise would be to stick it out at home, clear ur debts and start saving, perhaps encouraging your girlf to do the same?
Good luck whatever u decide!

AWilderbeast

well i practically live with her now, her parents are seperated and she lives with her mum and brother and her mum goes to her boyfriends from friday til sunday so we have the place to ourselves then and during i sleep at hers but have to go home to wash and change for work etc, where on a ok thing now, but are looking to get away from the hassle and just be us really.

so i could rent for 6 months, or maybe a year or two and in the meantime save for a house hoping the market would change?
just the pain that renting means ill be saving less...

renting is a less costly option to move out into though yes?
what sorts of fees are invloved with that?

and is it better to go furnished or unfirnished and what sorts of things should i look for?

THanks

Dinah93

There's a great post somewhere that fully explains how rent isn't dead money, but in this climate prices are dropping quickly, and the ammount a house is loosing in value per month is more than the equivalent in rent on the same sized property so in this market at the moment renting is saving money for most people.

In your position though with no deposit, the decision is kind of made for you as you need at least 10% preferably 25% to get a mortgage.

If you do want to buy, you need a deposit, best and quickest way to do this is to save up while living at your parents. I moved back in with my parents when I was 23 to allow me to pay off my debts, I'm still there a year later and planning to stay nearly another 2 years, by which point we are hoping to have a 40k deposit saved. However if your priority is a space of your own you need to accept it will be a lot longer until you can afford to buy.

princessamy86

To rent you will need, at the very least, one month's rent, plus the deposit (often at least one month's rent), plus any admin fees the agency charge (can be up to £200). Obviously if you get somewhere out of the back of the paper or gumtree then the landlords are less likely to charge astronomical fees.

Furnished or unfurnished: this is up to you, but unfurnished means exactly that! Think beds, sofas, washing machines, fridges. That can cost you a fair bit of money, although freecycle is brilliant and you can pick things up cheaply. The benefit of buying your own furniture is obvious, you can take it with you when you leave, and nobody will be trying to charge you for any damage you may do to their furniture. Depends what you can afford really!

AWilderbeast

so sensilby the best option would be to save save save, but realisticly for the freedom, renting would be the option ahead.

the rent fees associated with moving in are considerably small then, wouldnt take to much money out of my paycheck?

is there some sort of bills that you dont pay renting that you would owning a property?
what sort of bills do you pay renting?
council tax, water, elec, and gas (then internet etc if you want it) but the first 4 are monthlys that you will have to pay, is there any others?
also how much do people pay these days monthly for bills so i can get an idea how much it will all cost per month

and would renting a house or an apartment be a better option?

thanks agian for your advice
Alex

Orlando_Virgin

Its a tough situation to be in. I am in the same predicament and I've read about a few other 20-somethings who have moved back with their parents (cheap rent) to save towards a deposit. Its the sensible thing to without a doubt and will work out best in the long run.

The difficult part is the wait and the pressure you feel from your partner, or feeling like you're a burden on your parents, not moving on in life etc. that makes it so hard. I think thats the aspect that is so often missed on this site due to it being so purely financially based (for good reason - it is called money saving experts)

I've been back in with my parents for 6 months now as they have kindly allowed me to live there rent free and I've managed to save over 10k together with my girlfriend. This is a great feeling, the tough part is that we now live an hour away so really only have weekends, before I rented with my friend 5 mins away from her house.

Its difficult for sure, but if you and your partner (and your/her parents) can cope try to save as much as you can before making the leap and renting is definitely a great idea. My OH and I rented for 8 months back in 08 for a "trial" period and luckily got through it lol!

Good luck whatever you decide.

princessamy86

House or apartment: view both! choose which you think is best for you. For me, living in an apartment wasn't what I liked, I wanted outside space and I was very aware of other people's noise and consequently felt like I had to be very very quiet.

Don't forget to budget for food, plus any nights out that you want, car etc.

You'll need some form of contents insurance, but this is not a lot at all unless you are going to have state of the art TV/sound equipment. Mine used to be about a fiver a month.

Dinah93

Don't take on a bigger property than you need. The smaller it is the lower bills will be and the more you can save towards your own house deposit. Better to have a great house of your own in a few years than rent a great house belonging to someone else now.

GrammarGirl

Dinah93 wrote: »

Don't take on a bigger property than you need. The smaller it is the lower bills will be and the more you can save towards your own house deposit. Better to have a great house of your own in a few years than rent a great house belonging to someone else now.

I 100% agree with this. I've rented since uni but have just moved into a place with my boyfriend. We looked at countless, gorgeous 3/4 bed houses which we loved but were so expensive and would cost so much to run, with only 2 people. We went for a 2 bed flat in the end, I couldn't love it more, and it's cheap too!

Living back at home wasn't an option for us as we both work far away from where our parents live... we have small debts so won't be saving for a few months yet, but we plan to stay in our little flat for a year at least, see where things are then.

AWilderbeast

thanks alot for your comments and advice, helps alot

how much do you pay in bills for your apartment?
id like to get an idea of what bills would cost me a month

THanks