Psychology of Home Owning

Elaine_Wilson

Fascinating. I'll add my answers though they do not differ much from the replies given.

1) How did you feel when you moved in to your first place?

Difficult to define. More a sense of adventure.Yet apprehension at the responsibility. I doubt it would have been different if I rented my first place, though.

2) Has owning a home limited your choices?

I can't think of anything I would have done differently had I been renting (but see reply to (3))

3) Has owning a home enriched your life, or do you imagine it would?

It actually gave me the freedom to take a risk in business. I doubt the bank would have backed me without the security of the equity in my home as collateral.

4) How did you feel when you paid off your mortgage?

I haven't technically paid it off but there is only a few hundred outstanding. But when I finally stopped paying the first emotion was a feeling of accomplishment. Then I reviewed my financial position and realised I was in a position to reduce my working hours and enjoy life more.

5) Any other good/bad things about owning that I've missed but you'd like to share?

Apart from the first few years I don't think the mortgage repayments were significantly higher than the rental on a similar house. I can now look forward to reduced outgoings in my later years.

Also, one big plus which I couldn't have envisioned at the outset is that I have an asset which can fund nursing home fees should I need them. I know I would never have been able to put enough cash by from taxed income to create a pot which would put me in the same position. This all helps towards a worry-free retirement in a few years.

wageslave

Elaine_Wilson wrote: »

Also, one big plus which I couldn't have envisioned at the outset is that I have an asset which can fund nursing home fees should I need them. I know I would never have been able to put enough cash by from taxed income to create a pot which would put me in the same position. This all helps towards a worry-free retirement in a few years.

Your idea of a worry- free retirement is paying your own nursing home fees?

Elaine, please tell me your lying

SingleSue

I'm going to answer this from my experience of buying many years ago, even though I no longer own.


1) How did you feel when you moved in to your first place?
Honest reaction? Oh !!!!!!, what have we got in to! Our stuff won't fit in!

2) Has owning a home limited your choices?
It completely beggered it for a very long time.

3) Has owning a home enriched your life, or do you imagine it would?
It didn't....well I lie, it did when things were going good but when the !!!!!! really hit the fan, it almost ruined it.

4) How did you feel when you paid off your mortgage?
Well the house sold in the end which paid off some of it but we spent the next god knows how many years paying off the shortfall.

5) Any other good/bad things about owning that I've missed but you'd like to share?
The good thing was having something which we could call ours (well the banks really) and where we could pick up our post stark naked if we wanted to. Keeping pets, decorating etc, we could do anyway in our old rented flat so that was no different..but picking up the post stark naked was!

The bad side was the oh begger moment when we realised everything was going belly up employment and health wise and that we were in negative equity with no way forward...we couldn't just sit it out for the prices to rise (which took 6 years to reach our purchase price).

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

It's quite interesting to see such a recurring theme from the home owners, that owning a house gives them the security to enable risk taking that just wouldn't be possible as a renter.

Quite the opposite from what the renters like to portray as reality.....

wageslave

Oh give it up Hamish.

If the best thing they can say about home ownership is they can pay their own nursing home fees, they seriously aren't getting it

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

wageslave wrote: »

Oh give it up Hamish.

If the best thing they can say about home ownership is they can pay their own nursing home fees, they seriously aren't getting it

No, pretty sure there were some other comments in there as well.....

About being able to live/work internationally, use equity to guarantee the start up of their own business, etc.

Why even you, wageslave, spoke so movingly of crying in a corner and feeling you'd finally done something right....

Although having the option to pay for good nursing care is surely far better than being pennyless and reliant on the state?

wageslave

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

No, pretty sure there were some other comments in there as well.....

About being able to live/work internationally, use equity to guarantee the start up of their own business, etc.

Why even you, wageslave, spoke so movingly of crying in a corner and feeling you'd finally done something right....

Although having the option to pay for good nursing care is surely far better than being pennyless and reliant on the state?

I wasn't crying in a frakking corner because I was overcome at the thought of all that equity.

That is what got us, as a nation, into all the trouble we are in.

Shakethedisease

For most it's either

1) The thought of not living with parents any more..

OR

2 ) The thought of how nice it would be not to have to worry about being kicked out every 6 months or so with 2 months notice. Hanging your own pics up and getting rid of magnolia paint is good too. So is not having to pay £££'s to get permission to own a dog/cat/guinea pig/ or run your own business from home. Oh and not feeling pressured to have viewers traisping round peering in your cupboards when the 2 months notice is given. You could even have a sneaky cig if you want.. in the kitchen too !!!

Anything else and you're just in it for investment purposes.;)

mitchaa

Option 1 - Typical 25yrs of mortgage payments that are always likely to decrease as LTV builds up, not inflation linked.

Option 2 - Assuming FTB at 25, and living until 80....55yrs of rental with payments definitely rising year on year due to inflation.

That's the way I look at it anyway, option 2 is going to cost you a hell of a lot more in the long run, perhaps 4-5x as much as option 1. Option 1 is an asset, whereas option 2 leaves you with nothing at the end of it.

Buying vs renting is a no brainer.

the_ash_and_the_oak

Well with the choices seemingly being only between buying for 25 years and renting for 25 years buying did seem the better option - but then I began to wonder about well I doubt as a potential FTB whether the place I might buy is going to be that dream home I'd stay in for life and guessed it would probably be a flat and well I'd probably stay in a flat for maybe 5 or 6 years so then really with me going to be selling the flat in 5 years or so to trade up I began to think well maybe I should base this over 5 years rather than 25 years and the likelyhood of would i be better off in 5 years time if I rented a flat or if i bought a flat and sold it again and made use of the equity gains

but then I thought I have to be honest I'm less than convinced that flats will have any real equity gains over the next 5 years (plus the buying/selling costs to take into account) and though I thought about the rising rental costs I realized I live in London and am in my 20s so rents rising isn't something I've experienced and with archive.org showing static rents in most London postcodes since 2002 and can't really see them rising any time soon either and well rent is cheaper than mortgage interest on fixed rates for people with 10-20% deposits...

... I began to think well you know when it comes to maybe trading up in 5 or 6 years I think I'll be worse off if I buy a flat in the meantime than rent one so decided not to choose the buy for 25 years option or the rent for 25 years option, and chose the "rent for prob another 4 or 5 years option and then have a look at things depending on my life situation" option