Can I afford this property?

Doshwaster

Many letting agents will measure affordability as being your salary should be at least 30x monthly rent.

On that basis, this property is affordable - but I still wouldn't do it. Thre would be precious little money left over for anything else, especially if you are saving for a deposit to buy.

I would rather rent somewhere cheaper and less "beautiful" for a few years so that you could save up enough to buy the perfect house for yourself. £500 a month saved is £6,000 a year.

Smexybean

cashbackproblems wrote: »

The landlords wont ask for anything, iv seen a few ads from EA asking for proof of income but never encountered this. As long as you can pay first months rent and deposit in advance you are doing the LL a favour.

I used to be an LL myself, and wouldn't consider that a favour .... just a sensible requirement when renting out property!

honeypopper wrote: »

Why are you only taking home £2,600 a month when you're on £45k?

Pension, tax and NI.

Doshwaster wrote: »

Many letting agents will measure affordability as being your salary should be at least 30x monthly rent.

On that basis, this property is affordable - but I still wouldn't do it. Thre would be precious little money left over for anything else, especially if you are saving for a deposit to buy.

I would rather rent somewhere cheaper and less "beautiful" for a few years so that you could save up enough to buy the perfect house for yourself. £500 a month saved is £6,000 a year.

Thank you Doshwaster, I can understand what you're saying. There is a property around the corner which provides exactly that option. It is in shocking condition - hence the £750/month price tag, and I would really be taking a risk signing up to a property without first seeing that the carpets have been cleaned, the walls painted, and windows repaired. I would also have to buy/rent white goods, which are not supplied. Plus.... it is attached to a shared HMO rental (£1,300 for a 4 bed semi!) which might be noisy :undecided

I've already got my deposit, but yep, the idea of "throwing away" that extra £6,000 per year is chewing away at me. Basically it means I cannot add to my S&S ISA this year ... which rather sucks....

Choices, choices....

When_is_the_reset?

Smexybean wrote: »

The current jobs and housing market situation may work in my favour too. House prices do not have to decline much in the next couple of years for renting to become the more financially sensible decision.

Very rough figures of two year timescale versus buying a £220k property - break-even happens with a price drop of c6%.

Congratulations! One of the smartest posts I have seen on this site ever.

Buying is not always the best option - far from it. If you do the sums it makes sense more often than not and does not tie up vast deposit capital.

poppysarah

Rent less. Save more. Buy your own.

Bullfighter

cashbackproblems wrote: »

The landlords wont ask for anything, iv seen a few ads from EA asking for proof of income but never encountered this. As long as you can pay first months rent and deposit in advance you are doing the LL a favour.

Our LA asked for proof of income & job references from both our employers.

This was despite us having monthly take home pay of nearly 10x the monthly rent, and at least 5 years rent sitting in the bank.

Your mileage may vary.

Good luck.

DKLS

I know exactly what you mean op, I spotted this at the weekend, and am sorely tempted.

When_is_the_reset?

DKLS wrote: »

I know exactly what you mean op, I spotted this at the weekend, and am sorely tempted.

That is a beautiful building and I would love to live somewhere like that.

I wonder if you could buy and maintain it for £1,200 a month? And not have to put 10's of thousands down as a deposit.

Smexybean

DKLS wrote: »

I know exactly what you mean op, I spotted this at the weekend, and am sorely tempted.

Ooooo that is gorgeous!!!! One reason I like the house I'm interested in, is the amount of natural light it gets, but that orangery blows it out the water!

I'd fancy that house myself, but it's a bit far to commute...

elona

The house we are in the process of buying (fingers crossed) has lots of natural light because of its design but the orangery is stunning and I can see how tempting it is.

If only it was about 20 miles south I'd be dragging DH to look at it.

twirlypinky

whilst i believe that buying isn't the be all and end all, certainly not in the way that it used to be, i do think you should be considering a couple of things

Firstly, if you're deciding not to buy, you should probably make sure that you're doing something sensible with your savings as you're not "investing" it in property. I'm looking into selling up and renting at the moment, and some kind of pension is essential without a house to sell to fund residential care or health bills or whatever old age might bring me.

Secondly, if you're not actually going to own the house, how pretty does it need to be? I ended up working to jobs so i could continue to rent a lovely period flat in a gorgeous old market town. But it was never mine and when i left i walked away with nothing but the memories of living off of super noodles in order to stay there.

It's a toughie.

cx