Buy A House Or Wait?

Gaz1980

Hello.
I'm a bit stuck with what to do. Any advice / thoughts would be good.

Im 29, still at home with the parents. Thinking it's about time I moved out. However Im in no hurry to move out... I've got about £65K saved up, but it's just in standard bank accounts - no real investments. The money's not making me any money.
So unless I can get a financial advisor or find something worth while investing in would it be better to get a house now (seeing as Im going to need one someday). Or keep saving up and get one in a couple of years?
I'm on about £16K a year from work, but don't really touch it as I also work for myself at weekends. Living at home I have no real expenses / outgoings, but if I had a house I would have all the bills to pay so would it really be an investment? Or should I hang on a bit longer and keep saving up so then I can probably get a house without a mortgage?
I don't know anyone else in my situation, all my mates have left home & had to get houses becuase of necessity - ie having familys etc...
So any advice / ideas would be good.
Thanks!
Gareth

not_loaded

Heck, it’s impossible to say really Gareth!

There’s a whole spectrum of opinion out there (which will shortly turn up here too) to tell you: 1) buy now, and quick, 2) wait a while, there’s better to come, and 3) wait a few years for rich pickings.

The truth is that nobody knows what’s coming. Sorry this is no help!

jw2003

lol not_loaded, opinion number 1 coming

My opinion would be to buy sooner rather than later, especially if you can afford to do so. Some opinions would suggest to pay the lower end of the interest scale now especially as your extremely size-able nest egg won't be earning a great deal. If you definitely want to buy a home for yourself in the future than it is worth serious consideration. If it's something you feel you should be doing then seek out independent financial advice on the best place to invest your savings

Radiantsoul

Gaz1980 wrote: »

Hello.
I'm a bit stuck with what to do. Any advice / thoughts would be good.

Im 29, still at home with the parents. Thinking it's about time I moved out. However Im in no hurry to move out... I've got about £65K saved up, but it's just in standard bank accounts - no real investments. The money's not making me any money.
So unless I can get a financial advisor or find something worth while investing in would it be better to get a house now (seeing as Im going to need one someday). Or keep saving up and get one in a couple of years?
I'm on about £16K a year from work, but don't really touch it as I also work for myself at weekends. Living at home I have no real expenses / outgoings, but if I had a house I would have all the bills to pay so would it really be an investment? Or should I hang on a bit longer and keep saving up so then I can probably get a house without a mortgage?
I don't know anyone else in my situation, all my mates have left home & had to get houses becuase of necessity - ie having familys etc...
So any advice / ideas would be good.
Thanks!
Gareth

You have a great level of savings, but a pretty low salary(I don't mean that to sound bad - but after council tax, food, insurance, etc there is not going to be a lot left to cover mortgage payments), so you might not get a large mortgage. Of course it all depends on where you live and how much houses cost.

I am not sure that I would necessarily see buying a house as an investment. If you want to move out then you can always rent. If you are happy with living at home then you may as well stay there and keep saving.

Probably with that level of savings you might not want to keep it all a standard bank account. You can get tax relief on money you put into a pension and you might want to consider that. Although that would lock the income up until you retire.

I also think you might be able to invest some of the money in shares or an investment linked to shares, it is a bit speculative but the returns are likely to be better over the medium term than holding cash in the bank. I suspect you are pretty risk adverse(based on the fact you haven't already done this) so you might want to limit it to a few thousands.

In your position I would stay put if I were happy with it and continue to save, and perhaps engage in some slightly riskier investments. I am not sure that buying is necessarily right if you don't need to move and will struggle to make ongoing mortgage payments. It seems maintaining a house is more expensive than you imagine, and that seems to be everyones experience!

Fire_Fox

Depends how expensive housing is in your area, if you could afford to buy a two bedroom place outright I would go for it. Move into the smaller bedroom, let the larger bedroom for a tax free income of around £4K. The extra income should cover most if not all of the bills.