Do you want house price to rise or fall?

ukcarper

My thought on ownership is i paid off my mortgage 10 years ago rent would be a minimum of £1300 a month that's £150k. Over the term of mortgage I paid less than I would have in rent so long term I can't see advantage in renting.

chucknorris

ukcarper wrote: »

My thought on ownership is i paid off my mortgage 10 years ago rent would be a minimum of £1300 a month that's £150k. Over the term of mortgage I paid less than I would have in rent so long term I can't see advantage in renting.

Neither can I financially, but as I said above, the advantages of home ownership also extend way beyond mere financial advantages.

lookstraightahead

chucknorris wrote: »

Neither can I financially, but as I said above, the advantages of home ownership also extend way beyond mere financial advantages.

But there are also disadvantages. You are tied down, less flexible in being able to move, in the hands of providers (for a big portion of your life), less choice when deciding your neighbours - I can think of one for every advantage. I suppose it comes down to what you want out of life (as I think you suggested anyway). So one person might want a dog, a community at home etc, others may want to be able to move to different countries etc at the drop of a hat. I'm just a bit unsure as to why we. Red to lance so much emphasis on it - as though home ownership makes people 'better' than others.

ukcarper

lookstraightahead wrote: »

But there are also disadvantages. You are tied down, less flexible in being able to move, in the hands of providers (for a big portion of your life), less choice when deciding your neighbours - I can think of one for every advantage. I suppose it comes down to what you want out of life (as I think you suggested anyway). So one person might want a dog, a community at home etc, others may want to be able to move to different countries etc at the drop of a hat. I'm just a bit unsure as to why we. Red to lance so much emphasis on it - as though home ownership makes people 'better' than others.

I can see the advantages of renting in short term but certainly would want to renting in my retirement. I certainly don't think being a home owner makes me any better than renters but it does give me free secure accommodation that within reason I can do what I like in.

andrewf75

lookstraightahead wrote: »

I think there is an unhealthy desire / habit of property ownership and far too much emphasis is placed on it above other life experiences, especially those who are young.

Agree. Our obsession with property ownership is certainly unhealthy for the country as a whole, because it leads to the increasing divide between the haves and have nots.

andrewf75

ukcarper wrote: »

I can see the advantages of renting in short term but certainly would want to renting in my retirement. I certainly don't think being a home owner makes me any better than renters but it does give me free secure accommodation that within reason I can do what I like in.

To put it bluntly unless you own your home you won't be having a retirement! No pension is going to cover rent.

chucknorris

lookstraightahead wrote: »

But there are also disadvantages. You are tied down, less flexible in being able to move, in the hands of providers (for a big portion of your life), less choice when deciding your neighbours - I can think of one for every advantage. I suppose it comes down to what you want out of life (as I think you suggested anyway). So one person might want a dog, a community at home etc, others may want to be able to move to different countries etc at the drop of a hat. I'm just a bit unsure as to why we. Red to lance so much emphasis on it - as though home ownership makes people 'better' than others.

If you are offering renting as a way of not being tied down, you could just as easily rent out your own house, then rent somewhere else. I have actually done that from 5 different properties (except that I actually bought the other one, rather than rented it, but the principle is the same). It has nothing to do with being 'better', it is to do with being wealthier (certainly later in life) and (in most cases) more freedom to do what you want in your own property.

chucknorris

andrewf75 wrote: »

Agree. Our obsession with property ownership is certainly unhealthy for the country as a whole, because it leads to the increasing divide between the haves and have nots.

Who is obsessed with it? I own my own home because I am free to do in it what I want, and it is much cheaper. It is both a lifestyle and financial choice, once the choice was made, I have barely thought about it, never mind being 'obsessed' about it, for god sake it is just a house, just somewhere to live.

I can be obsessed about things, in fact, I use it as a tool to do better times in runs and cycling, and lifting heavier weights, but obsession has nothing to do with my house. If you asked my wife, she would probably tell you that sometimes I neglect our house.

chucknorris

ukcarper wrote: »

I can see the advantages of renting in short term but certainly would want to renting in my retirement. I certainly don't think being a home owner makes me any better than renters but it does give me free secure accommodation that within reason I can do what I like in.

When I first moved to London I rented for 6 months, to give me a chance to get to know the various London areas. I also rented (some of it was in hotels) for about 2 years when I worked in Germany.

ukcarper

chucknorris wrote: »

When I first moved to London I rented for 6 months, to give me a chance to get to know the various London areas. I also rented (some of it was in hotels) for about 2 years when I worked in Germany.

I've never rented although I was bought up in rental properties at first private and then Council. But when I left my parents home to get married it really came down to buying as there was very rental property available. I think younger people would be surprised how difficult it was to find decent rental property on the early 70s.