Putting your life on hold...

celyn90

We rent at the moment but are in the process of buying. I've never seen it as having my life on hold - OH and I simply have jobs that are somewhat nomadic in nature, so it never seemed sensible to buy unless we knew that we were going to be somewhere for some time.

Now our contracts are longer we have decided to buy - but the mortgage on 3-bed house in my area is actually cheaper than the rent on a 1-bed flat by over £100 p/m; so it makes financial sense for us to do so as well. There is little to no difference in area with the property we are looking to buy, it's closer to work, it's significantly larger and it has a garden. Our current flat is a tiny little one-bed crash pad, no garden, very little space in a roughish area - but rents are high where we live as demand is high.

As far as I see it, I'm just moving house - buying to me just means I have to phone an engineer when the boiler stuffs up rather than the letting agency and I get to choose what colour the walls are. If I've been waiting around just for the chance to do that, then I would consider my life to be empty and very very dull. I have everything I need already.

But then I'm at my happiest standing on a mountain-top somewhere or running across lava flows, so a house to me is where I sleep, do laundry and collect my post from Doesn't matter to me if I'm paying the bank or the landlord; my life is the same regardless. So I do think that largely if your consider life is on hold for any reason it is because you decide it to make it so, not because of where you live.

cel x

Orpheo

Batchy wrote: »

PS interesting perspective as a Boss, I would consider whether someone is a house owner before I employed them as I know I will get possibly more years out of a home owner than a renter, who needed flexibility... its all about managing expectations.

You must have an aging workforce.

What a shame if the best candidate needs to relocate but can't sell their house. But I suppose most chip shop staff live locally.

dorset_nurse

Batchy wrote: »

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I would say most renters feel they need to earn more money than they are, and they are scared about their future... otherwise they would be happy doing what they are doing! When you reach the top of your tree, you BUY.

I agree that the general consensus is that people want to settle at some point and will decide to buy then.

Some people are stubborn and insist that they never want to rent- but I haven't heard of many people that want to continue renting for the rest of their life...

FATBALLZ

WelshNic wrote: »

I made an observation - but have obviously struck a nerve with you.

Personally I'd rather not rent again as I like to be in control of my own destiny, I'll never say never though.

Lol so people who rent aren't in control of their own destiny? If the limit of your goals is to be able to paint a wall then you are probably right, but in that case you may as well top yourself anyway

Eton_Rifle

I'm also tired of a landord having so much control over my life.

I've spent the last 12 years in rented and it's been great but now I've got to the stage where I no longer want to be subject to the whims of random strangers.

Orpheo

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

I'm also tired of a landord having so much control over my life.

I've spent the last 12 years in rented and it's been great but now I've got to the stage where I no longer want to be subject to the whims of random strangers.

You have been renting from random strangers?

Or have you been subjecting yourself to the whims of random strangers?

If the second is true then I think you may be looking for forums.sexygroinpavement.com

Beckyy

Renting isn't really an (easy) option when you have pets. I dread to think how long it would take us to find a landlord who would allow tennants with a Great Dane and 2 cats stay in their property. I'd rather be saving the money I would have poured into rent and put it in a mortgage. But then renting is the ideal option for some.

It depends on each person's situation.

Eton_Rifle

Another factor I've noticed increasingly of late is that you're likely to have to choose between other people's rejects - the properties that wouldn't sell as nobody wanted them so they put them up for rental.

FATBALLZ

Beckyy wrote: »

Renting isn't really an (easy) option when you have pets. I dread to think how long it would take us to find a landlord who would allow tennants with a Great Dane and 2 cats stay in their property. I'd rather be saving the money I would have poured into rent and put it in a mortgage. But then renting is the ideal option for some.

It depends on each person's situation.

Why is paying interest on a loan to a bank better than paying it to a landlord?

Orpheo

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

Another factor I've noticed increasingly of late is that you're likely to have to choose between other people's rejects - the properties that wouldn't sell as nobody wanted them so they put them up for rental.