Should we continue renting or try to buy ?

Kev64

My wife & I are in our mid 40's and have never owned a house - we've always rented. Now, we want to move from our present place to somewhere quieter, but it's going to cost us around £450pm in rent. I can't help thinking that this money is just going to waste, when it could be going towards a mortgage. Having never had a mortgage, my knowledge of them is virtually nil. Given that we have no savings, debts of about 18k and a total gross income of about 30k, is a mortgage even an option ? I read somewhere that you can't get 100% mortgages if you have any debts, or if you can, they're stupidly expensive.

So, in short, Would we get a 100% mortgage ? ...and if so, how much could we borrow, given than I couldn't afford to repay more than about £500pm ? ....and more importantly - is buying a sensible idea at all when the housing market has never been so expensive and we have no kids to leave a house to anyway ?

Any rough ballpark figures would be very helpful, as would any general advice !

Many thanks !

olly300

There are loads of threads on these chat boards, and you should do a search, which indicate the advantages and disadvantages of buying a property, and with debts. Only you can truely decide whether it is right to buy a property in your situation.

thesaint

I would say that you are on a hiding to nothing.

Have you thought about reducing your level of debt before taking on 10's of thousands more?