Buy a house or go travelling?

eddddd

All,


Thank you for the advice so far.


It's quite a mixed bag of responses, all of which have made for good and insightful reading.
The overall flavour coming through however seems to be that we should travel while we have the chance.


We've certainly got a lot to think about and after talking last night, we now have a third option:


3. Take a sabbatical of 6 months to a year. This in some ways is a compromise as we won't completely break free, but it also provides us with some good reassurance for when we return.


Any further thoughts or related experiences would be more than welcome.


I've also added a poll to this thread.

mai_taylor

I'd say get on the housing ladder as young as possible, I've just turned 30 and just bought a house but wish I'd had the opportunity to do it earlier. You can always take a career break and rent the house out in a few years or see the world bit by bit.

If you want a compromise why not go away for a couple of months and use part of the money you have saved, rather than all of it?

HappyMJ

I'd go travelling with your money.

If you're young enough you can get working visa's for the countries you wish to visit and work your way around...I'm thinking Australia and it's working holiday visa scheme. Once you're 31 you are no longer eligible for this visa. You also need around £2,500 each after you've paid the cost of the plane ticket and visa costs.

Cash-Cows

Whatever you decide have no regrets.

martinsurrey

If you'd just finished uni, were 21/22 I would have different advice.

Late 20's, do kids feature in your plans?

A fair few of my friends are hitting their early 30's and the biological clock is ticking and they still live at home or are renting a 1 bed flat and are looking back at their wild days "finding themselves" with a slightly bitter edge.

There is no right or wrong answer, but there are a few things that cant be put off too long.

dirty_magic

Does it have to be either/or? You don't have to 'go travelling' to see the world. We bought a house, but we still want to see the world, we just do it through going on holidays instead of all in one trip.

I'm not one for travelling with 6 months worth of clothes in a backpack though, and I don't see the appeal of living on next to nothing. I sometimes think you see more of countries when you dedicate a holiday to each place anyway, sometimes with travelling you end up doing whistle stop tours to fit everything in.

HappyMJ

dirty_magic wrote: »

Does it have to be either/or? You don't have to 'go travelling' to see the world. We bought a house, but we still want to see the world, we just do it through going on holidays instead of all in one trip.

I'm not one for travelling with 6 months worth of clothes in a backpack though, and I don't see the appeal of living on next to nothing. I sometimes think you see more of countries when you dedicate a holiday to each place anyway, sometimes with travelling you end up doing whistle stop tours to fit everything in.

There are washing machines around you don't need to keep 6 months of clothes all of the time. Charity shops stock very cheap items so there's no need to carry a thick jacket throughout summer you just donate it to charity at the end of winter and buy another one when the weather gets cold. I paid £5 for a coat this winter.

You're not living on next to nothing. You need to show you have savings when you land in a country on a working holiday visa. You cannot land with no money and hope to find a job. The job is just something you do to get some more money to holiday more without the expense of a flight back to the UK to work for a year to earn more and fly back.

TopQuark

AndyBSG wrote: »

You can go travelling at any point in your life, but given the rising cost of housing can you afford to buy a house at any point?

I'm approaching 40 and have less than 5 years on my mortgage because I bought young and concentrated on my career but friends I know who went travelling are still struggling to get on the property ladder or are living in one bedroom flats.

Once my mortgage is paid off in the next few years I will be in a position where i'm firmly established in my profession and then have an extra 600 PCM in disposable income which will let me go travelling to my hearts content safe in the knowledge I have a home that is fully paid for.

No contest IMO

I'm 34 and am mortgage-free, having bought outright without one (from savings alone, at the age of 32). The house is rented out as it is in a different country to where I live currently. I have also been travelling and living/working abroad since I was 26 (I am fortunate that my chosen career is international by nature). I would not swap my travelling experiences for anything, they are more precious to me than the bricks and mortar - I met my husband whilst in the far east!

Why not work along the way, to really get a feel for the places you visit, as well as earning some cash? I'm not so familiar with the UK rental market as a LL, but I imagine that if you buy with a residential mortgage and want to let the house shortly afterward, you may need to switch to a BTL or obtain consent to let, which they may not grant so soon after. Additionally, becoming a LL carries legal and moral responsibilities; your house will become someone else's home once let and when you return to live in it, you'll need to follow the legal process to get it back, which can sometimes be prolonged.

So, IMO it is no contest - go and see the world!

dirty_magic

HappyMJ wrote: »

There are washing machines around you don't need to keep 6 months of clothes all of the time. Charity shops stock very cheap items so there's no need to carry a thick jacket throughout summer you just donate it to charity at the end of winter and buy another one when the weather gets cold. I paid £5 for a coat this winter.

You're not living on next to nothing. You need to show you have savings when you land in a country on a working holiday visa. You cannot land with no money and hope to find a job. The job is just something you do to get some more money to holiday more without the expense of a flight back to the UK to work for a year to earn more and fly back.

It just doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to have to wash my clothes and I wouldn't want to sleep in dorms with people I don't know. I know loads of people who have been travelling and they all seem to live on next to nothing, so I'm basing it on their experiences really.

One of my friends said he was living on one meal a day because that was all he could afford! Another of my friends came back early because he liked the idea of it but found that he didn't really enjoy it as much as he thought he would.

I just think there's more than one way to travel so it might be an alternative for the OP. You don't have to do the 6 month backpacking thing to see the world, we've had some amazing experiences without it!

julian99

There`s a balance to be struck.

Timing: The world is not going to get easier to travel than now.
Property only makes financial sense in the 10 year plus term ( and I could argue that that for your generation its possibly not a good idea at the moment). With all the taxes fees possible nightmare tenant scenarios buying then renting out seems a large risk to reward ratio. The balanced approach of 6 months sabbaticals keep all your options open and if you are really careful and plan well the travel can be cheap and rewarding. There is a cliche that when you travel you take your old self with you but the diversity of experiences will test and open up new avenues of thought. Those who travel often return refreshed and it can enhance careers. Helpx Workaway: We host "volunteers" through these sites and see so much good in the experience for those you pass through. We heartily recommend exploring those. If you want contact me and I will share our knowledge on approaching hosts in the best way for success. Julian