Is owning a home important to you?

Chatzby

C_Mababejive wrote: »

You never truly own your own home..or anything in fact. You just have use of it whilst your alive.

A car..well you can pay it off in 3 years.

A house? well you spend most of your life paying it off...and then you die..and then its sold to someone else who spends their lives paying it off..and then they die..

The only people who truly own houses are the financial institutions who pimp them out,year on year to burden people with like Marleyian chains..to keep them enslaved.

That is a really lateral way of thinking about it. Are you anti-home ownership then? Or do you think that the problem is a non-problem? What is your experience i.e are you renting?

KateLiana27

We've just bought our first home, but funnily enough it was never particularly important to me. I don't hold with the argument of renting being "money down the drain" - if I'd bought four years ago when I first had the opportunity, I would have lost more than I ended up paying in rent over that period (when buying/selling fees were factored in). Renting also gave me the freedom to move with my job (so allowing me to get a better, higher paying position without being tied down), when I met my now husband, and so on. It had huge advantages.

I never felt treated as a second class citizen for renting. Interestingly, I did feel that (particularly older) people looked down on me for living in a flat rather than a house though!

I also agree with the idea that if the bank owns 75% (or whatever) of your home, can you truly call it "yours"? Hmm. You certainly don't have the right to lord it over anyone if you technically "own" only a small proportion of it.

Why have we bought now? A combination between a cold, hard financial decision (we now have stable jobs in this area and aren't planning to move again), the houses we wanted are affordable, and we wanted the benefits of a proper house (garden, parking, more space) without paying the high rents we would have to for this. We bought it to live in it and not to make money from.

We afforded it by living well below our means for years. I've had one holiday abroad in five years, we rented a one-bedroom flat, don't smoke, drive second-hand cars. You can't have it all and have to decide what is most important to you.

mustrum_ridcully

Chatzby wrote: »

Do you think that it'll ever be possible to get the attitudes from the continent about renting here? I.e better rights for renters etc

Labour were going to introduce more regulation, but the Tories cancelled the plans before they came into force.

Don't forget that Labour had plenty of time (12 years) to introduce such a law (like when they introduced deposit protection). However they didn't seem that interested, hardly surprising though as quite a few MPs were apparently involved in BTL (including one Tony Blair).

Because of all that I personally suspect improved regulation was nothing more than a cynical/desperate ploy to save/get a few votes from people who rent (which just highlights attitudes towards renting).

guitarman001

You don't own until you've paid it off. Until then you're a home 'loaner'.

House prices rose ~300% in the last decade whilst wage inflation was near-stagnant. My elders' houses cost in the order of £50k yet now they cost £200k+ whilst wages have remained the same, so the house price:income ratio has massively increased. This has been worsened due to both people in a relationship going to work, forcing prices up even more such that singles find it exceedingly hard to 'compete' (especially if on under average income of £25k). Never mind buy-to-let, housing benefit (check out the relation between housing benefit and rents in your area) all helping to push prices up. The point here is that prices are SO high now that it really is not WORTH youngsters even thining about buying as prices are in bubble territory (just like every other property bubble we've had decade after decade). It's not economically productive yet since the UK economy is based on house price inflation we have to suffer low rates making it hard for anybody to save, be it for a deposit or other.

I balk at the payments I have to make on my student loan, let alone a mortgage costing a FRACTION OF A MILLION POUNDS. And that doesn't take into account the mortgage interest over the period, which can DOUBLE the amount you pay back! Then you get imbeciles who think it is great for property values to go up - newsflash!! Your home=£100k and you want to 'move up' - if prices double then the difference you have to pay doubles! No thank you...

I work as an engineer and have a little amount stashed away, but never would I plunge into buying right now. I'm starting to see it as an awful thing to do, a stone pushing me down. I LIKE the thought that in two years' time I can go and work in Germany/Vienna/California and rent it out in one of those great countries, get better weather, experience a different take on life.. in European countries it is normal for the majority to rent! In germany the economy is doing well partly because it resists house price inflation (more affordable housing, rents for business not as high, economic productivity goes up). Plus with renting I don't have to worry about wasting thousands on repairs or too much on decoration etc.

I wouldn't mind if house prices were sensible. The media get it SO wrong, asking what new schemes can be thought of to get people to buy. The problem is that high prices financially cripple the youngsters - effectively it IS a pyramid scheme, keeping prices high so those that bought years ago can feel wealthy. It is the youngsters that are paying for it. And God knows they've enough on their plates - £9k per year tuition fees, low wages, few jobs to go to (with those facts, who on earth thinks values are going up... so what, a one-bed flat will cost a million pounds? I don't think so). I don't buy this talk of 'youngsters need to get off their bums and graft hard and save'. NEWSFLASH!! here is one youngster who does JUST that. I work LOTS, I don't drink, I stay at home and save >50% of income, yet still it is LUNACY to hang that rope (mortgage) around your neck at unrealistically high prices. On a site like MSE, I would expect people to 'get it'.

IF house prices came down and looked like proper value, THEN I MIGHT consider buying at some point in future. I can't deny it would be good to pay off the place you own - but right now I would be worse off in the long run, both financially and in terms of quality of life, if I were to buy now. Now is NOT the time to buy when it looks like prices are set to fall much further. Better to work abroad, get some life experience, progress in your career. Don't tie yourself down to a MASSIVE mortgage, leaving you SKINT every month, stuck in your little hut like everybody else. Some of my friends bought at peak and BOY do they regret it. I got lots of stick for staying at home, but it seems I am in the position of power. They are now in at least £20k of negative equity, forking out far too much of their income every month on mortgage (one taking out credit cards to get by), and just don't have the same quality of life as me (I do go on one big holiday a year) - even if I were to rent I would still be better off (though rents are still ridiculous in the UK's unregulated market).

I guess my message is... don't buy into this inflated market. Go do something UNIQUE instead, live a little, then perhaps think about buying once prices come down, if you wish. By then you may even have increased your earning potential by having worked abroad, learnt a new language, travelled around to get increasingly better job roles. EDIT: and if you're serious about buying, you should have 25% deposit and borrow at 3-4x single income (just like the Germans do it, and they do things right).

I should also add... I almost bought at peak, also. Almost brainwashed into the 'property miracle' I was. Let's just say it was one of the best decisions of my life not to go through with it - I would be tearing my hair out now if I had bought.

MoonJelly

We are paying off some debt (we I meant my hubby and I). Why? No, we were not living "la vida loca"- we lived well within our means. However, we had some setbacks, in both our professional and personal lives and when the recession hit we had to use the credit cards to pay bills to tide us over.

I would love to own a home (notice I said home not house). Just a place where I can paint a wall raspberry, or have a pet, or relax knowing I don't have to put up with a defective boiler.

We have always rented and I can tell you that we have lived in houses where we have to live with 70's lighting and 80's curtains. We have put up with black mold (I have very bad asthma but the landlord couldn't have care less). We have put up with zero insulation and old-fashioned heating systems. We had to move once because the landlord didn't want children in the property (I'd become pregnant during our 1st year in the property). When we tried to move to another property the agents told us nobody wanted babies in their flats because it disturbs the neighbours. We ended moving to another town.

I don't think at our age the bank will give us a 25 year mortgage so _pale_

jrawle

For me, owning my home is important for one simple reason: I can't imagine being able to afford to rent in retirement. You still have to pay bills, food, etc. from a pension that is significantly lower than income when you are working.

I certainly don't look down on people who rent, particularly those who need to be mobile and move for their job. However, I do wonder if those of us who are rent- and mortgage-free in old age will end up paying towards benefits for those who don't own their homes and need extra state help to survive on their pensions.

quintwins

i personally don't mind renting but we do want to buy then build or if luck shines on us just jump to building, but i do this it requires cutting back and savings, after all once you own a house your going to need a bigger safety net incase you need to replace something or lose your job, so why should a bank lend you thousands of pounds for your roof to fall in because you could afford to fix it and they can't even recoup that cost from your house as it's now unliveable ect

anyway the reason we wnat to build is because it will be a house made the way we want it to meet our needs, but were not naive enough to think we can just go and do that so were planning on buying a cheapish house in an area we lived in before and we would be happy to live in for 5-10years of needs be overpay like mad, sell or rent(it's a popular area) them build also it will be alot easier to live in a mobile home if we don't have toddlers, i don't want to be a renter in my old age and i don't want to owe a mortgage then either i would like to know i have a home when i'm no longer able to work and somewhere comforting to spend my last days which if need to i can release equity from it of need to to be comftable and not worrying about heat/food costs (i'm only 25 btw but i've always thought of it like this) and not relying on handouts

Idiophreak

Chatzby wrote: »

Would you say then your more interested in owning because of the stability it provides? And yet do you not think there are some downfalls of owning a home, especially if your a certain age, not in a relationship etc? What is your experience?

Stability is the key thing - and having a sense of ownership. I'm not a student any more and the idea of having to ask someone else's permission to do anything I fancy to my home is a bit hard to swallow.

Lizgreen210

This is a very interesting post to read, lots of different ideals on renting/owning. I am only 24 but really do want to own my own home soon. I am living with my parents still (and saving hard) but just want to have my own space, and this is all i've wanted since i was about 18...to know i could own a home of my own. My parents worked their way up the property ladder nicely from a maisonette to a 3 bed semi to another 3 bed semi which they did an extension on and now we live in a very nice part of the world in a 4 bed detached. I would love to have my own place and then own a family home if i go on to have children and be married which i hope to do one day. I dont have anything against renting but i too would like to be able to do my home up and know that it was mine to change.

MonkeySaving?

Given that I don't spend much time at home, I prefer to pay peanuts to rent properties worth over 300k, saving the hassle of living in a **** area and ensuring that by the time I retire I have a huge fund to buy a nice house in a good area for cash. Sod living in a little terrace with crap neighbours and working your up the ladder. Do I worry about the need to do DIY/Improvements? No, i'd rather let someone else handle that whilst I put my all into my career making sure my plan works out.