Get a Mortgage or stay renting

decotime

Hi Folks,

This is my first time posting and I'm looking for your advice

Myself and my partner have found a flat that we're interested in buying £147k.
We're 1st time buyers and I don't think a mortgage would be an issue to get. £30k savings and annual salaries £50k between the two of us.

Our dilemma is, we don't intend to stay living in the UK and would like to move to Ireland in the next 2yrs to 3yrs - jobs permitting.

If we buy now we lose our FTBA when we move to Ireland and with stamp duty being 7% on anything over 125k euro in Ireland, I think it would cancel out any profit we make.

We would both love our own place but my head is telling me to stay renting

seraphina

Buying a house is a long-term financial decision - I certainly wouldn't buy if I were intending to leave the country in your timescale. Heck, there's people on here who've been trying to sell a house for two years! I know what you mean when you say head vs heart though - but I think you'll be better off renting. Just think how much it will cost you to move in terms of fees, surveys etc...all that can go towards your lovely big deposit.

decotime

Thanks for your response Seraphina.

I should have added in my original post, that if we were to move to Ireland, we would probably rent the flat here in the UK as opposed to selling it again as we wouldn't need the money for a deposit in Ireland as we already have substantial savings in Ireland already.