Rent a dream or buy a dump?

martinnathalie9

I guess it depends on your priorities. I used to think that I would rather rent a high spec home than buy a dump, but a friend recently did something similar and now I'm not so sure. She bought an absolute wreck of a house in East London over a year ago and has spent the last year fixing it up at as low cost as possible.

At times throughout the year when she would have no money and spend every weekend working on the house I did think to myself how could this be worth it? But now she's got a beautiful home. It's by no means finished but now she's got the time to make it exactly how she wants it. She's decided to go with furniture hire which is one thing I'd never considered. I think this is the company she used - http://www.roomservicebycort.com/ It's an interesting idea - she's trying out pieces as she wants to work out what she wants and invest in quality items. I used to think renting was the way forward, but when I see her lovely home, I do agree that the long term gains massively outweigh the short term sacrifices she had to make.

Bearly

I'd buy in the awful area if I didn't have my son...but if my son was in the picture I would rent.

Marvel1

With renting dream home, you could be evicted at anytime.

Don't want to go buying in a rough area too.

Pixie5740

Notnow wrote: »

I've been to brokers, I've been to banks, I've tried online calculators. They all promise figures of 80k to 100k yet when I start applying it goes down to 70k. I have no debt, no kids, no wife, the same job for over 10 years, a great credit score with tens of thousands of pounds paid back over many years without ever missing a payment. I've tried everything and I just keep being told I can't afford more than £300 per month even though I could pay double that and have money spare.

I'm just sick of the whole situation where I can't get a mortgage that I could easily afford.

I even have a 20% deposit saved with the cash in the bank. I don't see what else I can do and they give me no reason for knocking the figure down other than saying It's what I can afford.

Forget your credit score. It's just a marketing tool used by the credit reference agencies no lender sees it never mind uses it. What do your credit files show? I know you say you've borrowed money and paid it back on time but what is actually shown on your credit files? Do you have a lot of available credit? Do you continually dip in and out of your overdraft? When was the last time you borrowed money/used a credit card?

Are the brokers you've spoken to independent brokers or are they tied to estate agents?

There's more costs to owning a home than just the mortgage repayments. You'll have maintenance, repairs, service charges if you buy a leasehold property, etc. Mortgage lenders also have to stress test your finances to ensure you could still afford the repayments if interest rates were circa 7% APR.

If you have £14k in savings and can borrow £70k, what would £80k to £85k get you?

Notnow

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Forget your credit score. It's just a marketing tool used by the credit reference agencies no lender sees it never mind uses it. What do your credit files show? I know you say you've borrowed money and paid it back on time but what is actually shown on your credit files? Do you have a lot of available credit? Do you continually dip in and out of your overdraft? When was the last time you borrowed money/used a credit card?

Are the brokers you've spoken to independent brokers or are they tied to estate agents?

There's more costs to owning a home than just the mortgage repayments. You'll have maintenance, repairs, service charges if you buy a leasehold property, etc. Mortgage lenders also have to stress test your finances to ensure you could still afford the repayments if interest rates were circa 7% APR.

If you have £14k in savings and can borrow £70k, what would £80k to £85k get you?

My credit files show everything to be fine. I have just one credit card with a very low limit, I asked them to lower it and make sure it was noted I requested it. I've never used an overdraft and I never owe anything on my credit card for more than 24 hours as I pay it all off right away.

It's just my income they say is the problem. I understand stress testing and I get why they are cautious but it is annoying when I know I could afford more but just can't get it. If only they still did self cert mortgages...

Pixie5740

Why a self cert mortgage? Are you self employed?

glentoran99

Notnow wrote: »

My credit files show everything to be fine. I have just one credit card with a very low limit, I asked them to lower it and make sure it was noted I requested it. I've never used an overdraft and I never owe anything on my credit card for more than 24 hours as I pay it all off right away.

It's just my income they say is the problem. I understand stress testing and I get why they are cautious but it is annoying when I know I could afford more but just can't get it. If only they still did self cert mortgages...

That may actually reflect badly, If you aren't getting a statement then it will actually show on your credit file that you aren't using the card, The low limit could also be a negative, you aren't using credit and are only trusted with a low limit, so don't have a credit history so to speak

marksoton

Notnow wrote: »

but it is annoying when I know I could afford more but just can't get it. If only they still did self cert mortgages...

The reason they don't offer the latter anymore is because plenty of people believed the former. They were wrong.

Notnow

glentoran99 wrote: »

That may actually reflect badly, If you aren't getting a statement then it will actually show on your credit file that you aren't using the card, The low limit could also be a negative, you aren't using credit and are only trusted with a low limit, so don't have a credit history so to speak

I have used them plenty. It's only recently I started keeping the statements clean and I was advised by many people to cut my limits so I wouldn't have too much unused credit. It seems that everyone wants different things with some lenders liking high limits and other liking low.

My credit score isn't the problem here, that's fine and I've never been rejected for anything. It's purely my income which stops me borrowing more but there's nothing I can do about that and I'm not changing a job that I love just so I can buy a home.

marksoton

Notnow wrote: »

I have used them plenty. It's only recently I started keeping the statements clean and I was advised by many people to cut my limits so I wouldn't have too much unused credit. It seems that everyone wants different things with some lenders liking high limits and other liking low.

My credit score isn't the problem here, that's fine and I've never been rejected for anything. It's purely my income which stops me borrowing more but there's nothing I can do about that and I'm not changing a job that I love just so I can buy a home.

Lenders will ( generally ) like to see a decent limit with a low %age of use.

If income is the problem but you have no motivation to increase it then you've answered your own question. You'll never own a property.