Help- Should we buy or not?

canhams

Hi I am after some advice. Its a bit long winded but here goes!Approx 10 years ago my husband & I sold our house to move to Spain with our children with no intention of coming back to the uk.however our business in the uk was in difficulty & we made the decision to return to try to save it. Unfortunately we weren't able to but remained in the uk ever since & have been in rented accommodation for the last ten years as all our money was swallowed up! We want to try to get back on the property ladder but it's so difficult trying to save when you have rent/bills to pay & teenage kids to support!we were considering the homebuy scheme with 5% deposit to just 'get back on' but don't really want to go down this route. I think our best option is to save what we can for the next few years for a deposit, but then I do worry about getting a mortgage as we are 42 years old now & will be paying it off when we are old & grey!! Whilst trying to decide what is best to do we also thought the best option might be to continue to rent,not get a mortgage at all & just put savings in the bank for the next 20 odd years because the way we see it your house is only worth something to you when you either come to sell it, (then you need somewhere else), paying for your care home or leaving it to your kids!! Depressing I know. I know it's a personal thing but we are in such a dilemma and don't know what is the best thing to do. Suppose we could just save & when we have money for a deposit then make a decision. If we hadn't sold years ago we would be quids in now but we have no regrets as the time abroad enhanced our lives. Interested to hear others thoughts.

Errata

List all the options with their advantages and drawbacks might clarify things.