Is it really THAT important to own your own home?

Sapphire

mrsS wrote: »

But the older generation didnt start out in 3 bed houses did they? My parents lived with my grandparents for years before they bought anywhere. my mother in law had a small cooker in her parents bathroom so she could pretend she had her own kitchen for a couple of years before my in laws moved out. There was no expectation of going into a 3 bed house straight away.

I dont want to re-hash the old argument about starting in one bed room flats in grotty areas when we were young etc-

Yes, my parents had four children, yet lived in small rented flats for all their lives until recently, when their children bought them a maisonette (in London). I can remember sharing a small room with my two sisters (had to open up my bed, and my sisters had bunk beds), in a two-bedroom flat with a tiny kitchen and bathroom.

Even when I was in my early twenties, I didn't entertain the idea of buying a place - there were other things to do before settling down and nothing could have been further from my thoughts. Most people I knew thought this way. Until recently, there was no stigma attached to renting, and some people did it all their lives, as they do on the Continent.

Among many other things this 'government' should do is to reinstate the protection that renters once had in this country.

maryjane01

I think it is important to own your own home, so that if you are unable to care for yourself when you are older and have to move into a care home, you can sell the house to pay for it. It can literally be thousands of pounds per month.

I am young enough to have been brought up adjusted to the 'user pays' mentality of the government. If I can't physically live in a house why should I hang on to it and have it sit empty till the day I finally die and expect the state to pay for my housing and care? There is a big problem in those inbetween years when you could live at home with a bit of help, but that 'bit of help' is unaffordable.

catkins

The problem with renting, in my opinion, is the lack of security. Myself and OH are in the third rented house in 4 years. The first landlord after twelve months wanted to put the rent up by £100 a month. We refused so he would not extend the tenancy. The second landlord also wanted to put the rent up by a substantial amount (after 6 months). In this house we had put in a new bathroom at our expense (the bath and loo were so disgusting I could not use them) and put in a kitchen (when we moved in there was just a sink). So again we moved. We have been in the this house for just over 2 years. When we moved in we told the landlord the carpet downstairs was covered in dog wee and stunk. He said take it up and I will replace it - oh yeah we are still waiting. The boiler packs up on a regular basis (luckily OH is a plumber so repairs it). We have redecorated cos it was so grubby and again put in a new bath and toilet. Perhaps we are just mugs but we are not prepared to live in a tip.

We did have a house but then we moved abroad. When we came back we could not afford to get back into the property market (house prices abroad do not go up like they do here) as we did not make much profit.

We do not feel that owning a house is that important but, as I said, the problem is you can be given 1 months notice to get out and that makes us feel very insecure. Because we have a large dog it is never going to be easy to find a house to rent as so many landlords will not entertain the idea of a pet.

Gorgeous_George

People save for their retirement in many different ways.

For me it's about investing in my future. I've never bought a house thinking it may increase in value. That has been incidental. Equally, I won't be selling to rent. Price falls will be incidental. One day, I won't have a mortgage and I won't need to depend on the State. I never have and I'm proud of that.

You decide how best to secure your future. You may invest in your career or pay huge sums into a pension fund, it's your choice. But, if you want my respect, you will be prepared for your old age.

GG

lieutenant_dan

Just reading through the thread, can safely say my current landlord is great compared to some of the other examples used!

Dropped the rental asking price when I haggled it, and never ever comes round, in fact the only time I've seen him this year is when I asked him to come round and remove some stuff. I have no restrictions whatsoever either.
So I have freedom where I am, and am as secure as can be from renting, if not having the same type of security as for buying your own property.

But I do like my rented flat and quality of life currently. I just can't help but look at the bigger picture though in the back of my mind. You kind of feel like a failure if maybe you don't buy a property by a certain age, and the fear is the prices move even further away 2 or 3 years down the line, though far more likely the prices will turn the other way, but you just don't know. And I'll have paid out around £25,000 in rent in 3 years, a lot of money I'll never see again.

My options currently are to stay where I am for 2 to 3 more years, then hopefully have enough saved for a big deposit, or downsize now to renting something basic like a room/bedsit and then should be able to buy in a year (even at these current levels) but severely compromise my standard of living for that interim period. Not sure whether to take one step back to in theory take two forward, or to just relax and stay where I am for now, and to just see how the market goes over the next couple of years before committing to buying. Or maybe I should just get the hell out of this country and buy a huge house in somewhere like France for £70k

do_it_today!

My friends have just bought a big house in Germany for £36k which is currently divided into 4 flats 3 tenanted 1 flat for them, because they couldnt afford a 2bed flat here in London so they continuing renting here instead

do_it_today!

catkins wrote: »

The problem with renting, in my opinion, is the lack of security. Myself and OH are in the third rented house in 4 years. The first landlord after twelve months wanted to put the rent up by £100 a month. We refused so he would not extend the tenancy. The second landlord also wanted to put the rent up by a substantial amount (after 6 months). In this house we had put in a new bathroom at our expense (the bath and loo were so disgusting I could not use them) and put in a kitchen (when we moved in there was just a sink). So again we moved. We have been in the this house for just over 2 years. When we moved in we told the landlord the carpet downstairs was covered in dog wee and stunk. He said take it up and I will replace it - oh yeah we are still waiting. The boiler packs up on a regular basis (luckily OH is a plumber so repairs it). We have redecorated cos it was so grubby and again put in a new bath and toilet. Perhaps we are just mugs but we are not prepared to live in a tip.

We did have a house but then we moved abroad. When we came back we could not afford to get back into the property market (house prices abroad do not go up like they do here) as we did not make much profit.

We do not feel that owning a house is that important but, as I said, the problem is you can be given 1 months notice to get out and that makes us feel very insecure. Because we have a large dog it is never going to be easy to find a house to rent as so many landlords will not entertain the idea of a pet.

thats terrible ... dont you get angry that you improve the property but dont get anything back except rent increases?

ixwood

Putting new bathrooms and kitchens in rented houses?? That's just crazy.

chocolatechipcookies

I don't know anyone from back home (The US) that rents, but I think that depends on where you're from. Anyway.

I want to own because of all the rules from renting. None of the places in the area we live won't take kids or pets. I want to be able to paint the walls and decorate the way I like it. I don't want to pay someone for the privilege of living in their property. It's a personal opinion to rent or buy and neither of them are wrong.

chocolatechipcookies

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

Letting agents are the Devil's spawn. Particularly Property Quarters :wall:

Got sucked into all their fees as I had never rented before. Came to a shade under £300 for credit check, passing me the landlady's contract and handing over the keys. They also expected a £70 every six months for renewal.

Landlady came to her senses and promptly dumped them.

I'm always keeping an eye out for something better and cheaper, but realise that any gains made on rent could be lost through agency fees.

Not all of them are like that. I've been with my current letting agent for over a year so far and have had no problems at all. They're very good.