Buying a house with son

LouK1964

I was wanting some advice on if it is an idea to buy a house with my son. I am 52 years old and we are both living together at the moment in rented accommodation. I have around £8000 saved up and I earn just over £900 a month after tax, NI and pension has been deducted. I am currently debt free and after all my outgoings have around £400-500 a month free.

My son earns around £1300 a month and currently has £9000 saved up. He is 21 years old and his outgoings are the rent, household bills and his car which he has on finance at the moment. After all the bills are paid he has around £600 free.

So jointly at the moment we have £17000 between us. We both really want to own our own house and we are wondering is it a good idea to stop renting and try and get a house together? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Pixie5740

Can you afford to buy somewhere you would both like to live using your savings and a mortgage based on your income? Your age might restrict the term of the mortgage which would mean higher monthly repayments. Have a play around with some online calculators on lenders' websites or talk your options through with a mortgage broker.

Long term though what will happen if your son meets someone and wants to settle down in the future. Would they both live with you? Would this place have to be sold in order for him and his partner to buy their own place? And vice versa if you meet someone.

flashg67

As I see it, the upside is you'll own something and benefit from any increase in value, although you'll have to pay maintenance/repairs too of course.

As above, consider the likelihood if one of you 'wants out', could the other afford it on their own? Worst case would be to sell at this point, take any profit and start renting again

AdrianC

You don't say where in the country you are, and what sort of property you're expecting to be able to afford. I presume you're wanting at least two bedrooms.

Also - what happens when your son meets somebody he wants to settle down to make a life together with? Or even, frankly, somebody he just would quite like to get... loudly amorous with?

Cakeguts

This would not be fair on your son. He is only 21 and this idea would mean that his finances are all tied up in a house which would have to be sold if he wanted to live somewhere else. If he moved to get a better job you would lose your home.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Your son earns more money and has more savings at the age of 21 than you do at 52. Why in the name of God would he want to tie his finances up with yours?

amateur_house

I considered buying with my son, (similar ages to you, 52 & 20 at the time) but didn't go ahead as he lost his job when the company went out of business and hasn't yet found another. My idea was that on both incomes we could get a mortgage, and when his income increased he would be able to take over the mortgage in his own name. I did think it might cause a problem if he didn't earn enough to take it on by the time I wanted to get a mortgage in my own name. I viewed it as being an investment in his future as he would inherit it either way.

It will depend on which area of the country you live whether your income is high enough, but where I live in the North of England it would easily be enough.

davidmcn

AdrianC wrote: »

Also - what happens when your son meets somebody he wants to settle down to make a life together with? Or even, frankly, somebody he just would quite like to get... loudly amorous with?

Or what happens when the son has to put up with the OP getting loudly amorous with someone...

bmthmark

Bad idea, mainly for son.

csgohan4

What is it with the oldies on here. Can't the son find another man as well and settle down??? So discriminating this bunch. I'm reporting all of you

But seriously, don't do it, your son will want to settle down, does he want to stay with his mum when he a pregnant wife, his wife might want privacy even if you think you will give it to them.

LouK1964

Thanks for your replies. My idea would be to invest my savings in the property and pay half the mortgage every month with him. Then when he does meet someone or I meet someone and we want our own space, we would then sell the property or I could move out and find somewhere cheap to rent.

My son has made it very clear to me that if he did meet someone he wouldn't rush into living with them or buying a house with them straight away. He would want to wait a good couple of years before doing that. He has said that I am a much safer bet to buy a property with because I am his Mum. He could meet someone, buy a house together and then break up a week after moving in!

At the moment we don't really like where we live. We do want to move away. Also we don't enjoy spending hundreds of pounds of renting a property. We are not getting anything out of it. At least if we got a property together then we would be getting something out of it.

We live in the South of England so property prices here are quite expensive. I did a mortgage calculator last night with Santander who we both bank with and the said they would lend us £100,000. It does look like we would be going for a flat.