To Buy or not to Buy

TechyC

Hi First post.

Trying to make a decision wether or not to buy a house. We are luckily in that we will be in a position to buy in about 6 months time but can't decide if its a good idea.

We will have to move fairly soon as house we are in now is too small but my landlord has other properties which we could move into potentially and they are fantastic landlords.

Alot of people I work with in France and Germany don't understand the house buying obsession and plan to rent having no stress or bother of maintaining a property does appeal to me.

From a financial point of view it does seem to make sense as the difference between rent and a mortgage is much more than the equity I would get in a house.

E.g difference between rent and mortgage for me is approx £400 less to rent than a mortgage.

Over 10 years even with zero interest I would have 50,000 if I saved but probably wouldn't have that much equity in a property unless house prices rose significantly (which I consider unlikely whilst the average house price is 10ish times average income.)

Well thats all my pros and cons is there anything I haven't considered? or any experiences which would be helpful?

motherofstudents

There's a lot to be said for renting. No costly repairs to the building. You can easily move if you have nightmare neighbours or you want to relocate for work etc. Everyone I know in France and Germany rents, it's just a different culture. The main downside I would say is you don't have security of tenure unless you rent from council or housing association. I guess it's down to personal choice in the end.

alx2010

We have been renting since 2004 - we sold our house then to move to france where we rented for 4 years - as you say there is a no big pressure to buy there. We moved back in 2008 and have been renting ever since waiting for prices to drop...
I am ready to buy now though, I just want a place I can do work to, knock nails in the walls, plant shrubs and generally call my own.
Also was given notice at our last place after 18 months because the owner decided to sell which was not pleasant - we have 4 kids so finding a new home + schools was not straightforward.

shortchanged_2

One of the main disadvantages of renting is that you pay rent until the day you die. At least if you have bought a property hopefully you would be mortgage free by the time you retire.