Just an observation - Renting VS Buying

purch

wotsthat wrote: »

I just don't buy the 'no choice' argument - by far the biggest influence over our own lives are the choices we make.

Of course, everyone's current situation is a sum of the choices that they have made, but it is very easy to be in a position where you have no choice other than to rent, due to the choices made previously, good or bad one's.

A very small minority probably do have no choice, and it is not particularly influenced by choices they have made previously.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Previous life choices running back over your entire life are of little use at the point of making a decision to buy or rent. I know what you are saying, one choice may lead down 3 paths, etc etc. But like I say, all of this, and whether you studied a bit harder or took a different course in sixth form is neither here nor there when you face the choice of needing a property to live in at that point in your life.

As the outcomes of poor life choices are easy to predict I'm fairly unsympathetic to those who find themselves victims of their own actions.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

As the outcomes of poor life choices are easy to predict I'm fairly unsympathetic to those who find themselves victims of their own actions.

Were moving into something quite different to the original post here.

However, while you are unsympathetic to those who made "poor life choices" one would need to bear in mind that those life choices were not necessarily their own.

By the time most people will be wanting to rent or buy a house, they will have spent a good two thirds of their life having their choices made on their behalf......by their parents.

Needless to say, there are many other reasons people could have made "poor choices" in your view. For a more obvious example, we can look at very recent news events in Rotherham to note that often people find their choices are anything but their own, but can have a great impact on their choices in life going forward.

In other words, we don't know what's going on in other peoples lives. Therefore we should be careful not to simply assume they made bad choices and therefore are somewhat less "deserving" of sympathy.

As I say, we have come a long way from the OP here, but it's also quite important to recognise that, for many reasons, things are not always as black and white as "rent or buy" and neither are the reasons that led there.

quantic

I think one of the reasons its tricky to work out is because its typically a lot of little decisions which add up to someone not being able to do something. I have been a saver way before I even understood that you needed to do it to buy a house, so the concept of not thinking ahead is completely alien to me.

I know there are people out there who earn too little to save up anything, even if they lived very frugally. But in my experience there seems to be less of these and more people who just have a "live for today" attitude.

I suppose it depends how a person looks at it. For me, having a pension and paying my mortgage are none negotiable. So I only have what is left after that - its irrelevant if its not enough, you just make do - spend within your means etc. I pay my bills the day after payday and then if I've got barely anything left I don't do or buy anything.

When you boil life down to the essentials, if we are being completely honest - the majority of people can afford these.

wotsthat

Jason74 wrote: »

There's quite a lot of truth in this for many people, and as you say, he whole thing is sometimes more complex than a yes or no question. The OP provides a good example of exactly what you're talking about. But for more and more people, it doesn't work like that. For example, in London, the starting point to buy almost any property in almost any area is in practice just short of £150k (there is the odd exception, but this is a decent guide).

So buying in London isn't an option for lots of people. They could choose to rent or choose to buy somewhere cheaper - like Plymouth. Maybe owning isn't a high enough priority that they're willing to make the required compromises - fair enough but they're not without choice.

System

This one is quite easy for me, house next door is being rented for £359 a month more than my repayment mortgage.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Needless to say, there are many other reasons people could have made "poor choices" in your view. For a more obvious example, we can look at very recent news events in Rotherham to note that often people find their choices are anything but their own, but can have a great impact on their choices in life going forward.

Jeez - talk about taking arguments to the extreme.

quantic

For the record, I'm not being judgmental of people who take different paths, I'm just trying to understand it. I suppose when you think about it, its not too different to careers. Had I been more clued up or knowledgeable at the time when I was deciding on what to study at uni I could have been a doctor or something now, but I took an easier route which hasn't necessarily worked out for the best.

So other people probably look at my life and say, why didn't they do this at uni or work harder at school. I just find it pretty shocking that if you make the wrong decision at the very beginning of your adult life, all of the decisions you make afterwards can fade into insignificance.

Unless you have a lottery win or a very very highly paid job, its going to be impossible to catch your friend who bought when you rented. Not to mention the issue of housing when you retire. Not that life is a race, but I just mean making it work in the future.

pcgtron

Joeskeppi wrote: »

This one is quite easy for me, house next door is being rented for £359 a month more than my repayment mortgage.

But there's all this talk about how much more expensive renting in compared to a mortgage payment, and yes, whilst I do agree with that in principle, I think that the maintenance and upkeep costs of a house are never included in peoples calculation.

I have owned the house I currently live in for just under 2 years, and it that time I have spent probably just in excess of £40,000 on it. Yes, I have done some structural work, but this is a cost of mine that a renter would never have had to pay for. The boiler breaks, Landlord pays, the cooker breaks, landlord pays, the roof needs replacing, landlord pays. All of these are home owner costs, so whilst owning may well be cheaper than renting, it's not by the amount that many people think it is

Jason74

wotsthat wrote: »

So buying in London isn't an option for lots of people. They could choose to rent or choose to buy somewhere cheaper - like Plymouth. Maybe owning isn't a high enough priority that they're willing to make the required compromises - fair enough but they're not without choice.

That's certainly true technically. That said, if everyone who worked in London but couldn't afford to buy there moved to another part of the country, London would grind to a halt pretty quickly (and the same is true of most places with lots of priced out workers). For that reason alone, a lot more should imho be done both to reduce the size of the group of people who cannot buy, and to improve the housing options of those who remain in that group.