Scared of becoming a homeowner

Davesnave

sugarbabe84 wrote: »

Does anyone else identify with this feeling?

Yes, even at the age of 60, when we last bought, there was doubt that we could fund all the work the property needed or that we'd be able to cope with it.

We could have ended up like some of those who never make the TV programmes; filing for divorce and living in a sea of DIY nightmare chaos. We've seen that a few times.

But nothing ventured etc etc. If you've done your sums and planned-in a bit of contingency, go for it. Fortune doesn't favour the over-cautious.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep...it was scary - definitely!

But, to me, the alternative was even scarier. It would have been scary to be at risk of finding I was still in rented accommodation come retirement age. It was somewhat scary to be in rented accommodation anyway - and, if I'd known just how insecure the rented sector would become = I'd have been a sight more scared than I was.

It was good to know I have the ability to have some control over my home - now I own it - and am not reliant on what a landlord does (or doesnt) do in the way of maintenance.

Once that mortgage goes (one way or the other - eventually) then that is a huge degree of security there. Personally - I paid my mortgage off as soon as I reasonably could (ie it was a 25 year mortgage and I paid it off in 13 years - go me:) - as a poorly-paid single person).

Once that mortgage is gone - no-one can ever exert that much pressure on you as to how to live your life. Believe me - there are parts of the country where some people do put pressure on you to live your life "their way" and, if you own your own home "lock, stock and barrel" you know there are limits to how much they can manage to pressurise you and, once you no longer need a job (ie retired) that sort of person can try all they please - but they can't touch you basically if you own your own home:D:D. (no risk of someone putting pressure on your landlord to chuck you out for having the "wrong" opinions in their opinion).:D

Not to forget scenarios like we read on a current thread - of someone striving to buy a house for themselves now they've just finished years having their finances mucked up by being a carer. It happens to a lot of people and some never manage it because a curveball like that has come along and whacked them one. If you've got the house - you've got it...end of.....and you know you have your "security" and, if it came to a set-up like being a carer, you keep that house and, if need be, could rent it out. But you wouldnt be "out on your ear" wondering where to live come the point you got your Life back.

AdrianC

sugarbabe84 wrote: »

It's a completely irrational feeling, given the monthly mortgage payment is going to be less than my rent

Don't forget that your rent does more than simply "pay the mortgage".

Boiler's just died? Roof leaking? Toilet blocked? Service charge on a flat? Buildings insurance? All part of your rent. Your landlord will also be paying a much higher interest rate on a BtL mortgage than your residential one.

Your landlord will be doing very well indeed to be getting more than a 5% return on his investment, out of which he has to pay tax.

Yes, there's capital growth of the property. If it increases in value. Which it might or might not continue to do. If it does, then the landlord has to pay CGT on the growth.

As you say, the biggest difference is that you will ultimately have paid the mortgage off, so will be free of those ongoing monthly outgoings. But, if and when you come to old age, you will have considerable assets behind you which you will need to use to pay for residential care, and which will be taken into account for any means-tested benefits. If you hit financial difficulties or get divorced, your house may well need to be sold.


It's not quite so one-way as "But the rent is more than the mortgage payment!".

moneyistooshorttomention

Re the "not having a house the Government could grab" if it came to going into a care home come old age - actually, quite frankly, I'm not putting it past the Government to assess the chances of a lot of millenials and beyond as = not that likely to get a house we could grab and so we'll think of some other excuse to grab money from them instead.

Am cynical enough to think the Government will be determined to find some "chink in the armour" somewhere that they can grab money off younger individuals "if.....".

Moral of that story = might as well go ahead and get a house anyway if they're going to try and find an excuse to go for your money if it comes to it anyway #shrugs.

Forgetting the plus factor the millenial and younger generations will have on the other hand - and I anticipate us Baby Boomers will also have - and that is we will have the ability to enforce any decisions we personally make about never going into care homes anyway. I made a decision long ago personally that, if it ever came to that, I'd just make A Decision not to live any longer, rather than be forced into that situation.

The millenials will take for granted the change to the law to give us the right to make our own decisions on that that will be there enshrined in law within the next 5 years one way or another (be it watching Guernsey get that legal right within weeks, as they are due to) and that gives us further "pressure" we can apply to mainland Britain:T or that brave 104 year old currently in Switzerland at the moment fighting for our rights to make our own decision.

I think the concept of going into a home against ones will will be something that is in the history books surprisingly soon now:D

EDIT; The other plus point to having a home of one's own is that one can use any chunks of extra money one gets to pay off mortgage capital with. That is certainly what I did when I had a mortgage - and it gave me HUGE satisfaction to know that "if the worst came to the worst" and I ever got made redundant again, then my spare capital was absolutely safe from being used for assessing benefit due as income. That spare capital had been thrown at repaying the mortgage capital and would have safely been spent before I had any logical way of knowing I was about to get a redundancy letter and therefore was safely not sitting there as savings they would have taken into account and treated as savings - and reduced my benefit because of it.

PasturesNew

It's perfectly normal to be scared. You've made an expensive decision that you're going to now have to live with ... it's petrifying.

It doesn't change for the next house, or the next. It doesn't change if you pay cash or buy on a mortgage. If you're the sort who finds some things scarey then they'll be scarey

The thing is - it's "you" - and you have to "deal with it", whatever "it" could be. "It" could be an electrical problem, or a noisy neighbour ... but whatever "it" is, there's nobody to call to fix it ... to take the problem away, to make the decisions for you .... so you wonder what are all the "it" issues.... and did you buy a pig in a poke.

You'll be all right.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

The scariest part for me was the online transfer of the deposit to the solicitor. All those years of savings translated into zeroes that got casually clicked away!

I bought a house in a bit of a state, and it was frankly depressing walking through the door for the first time as owner and clocking just how much there was to do. My dad advised me to focus on one room at a time and showed me how easy it is to brighten up a space by a quick lick of white paint to the ceiling.

I also had to spend a lot of time in boring shops like Wickes, and in some of those awful out of town furniture retail places where the staff jump on you and don't let you browse.

Last night though I could sit out in the warm evening on a patio I'd built to my spec, eating a meal made from veg I'd grown, in a garden I'd been able to plant exactly how I want. Better than anything from my rental days.

suki1964

Yes its scary committing to such a huge debt, scared me. Thought we would never have a life again and would live on dust for years to come

But the feeling you get the day you put the key in the door of your own ( banks) home for the first time is amazing

You might still lie awake worrying that night mind

Soon wears off, esp once you are on normal mortgage repayments and all the legal fees are paid. Then you realise that yes you can manage, you still have a life and best of all you are paying off your own home, not a landlords retirement fund

Give it a year and you will be looking at over paying the mortgage to get it down so you can go through it all over again in a bigger house

Techno_Mystic

datlex wrote: »

I totally know this feeling. But the thought of having to pay rent once I am retired scares me more.

Same here. Never could motivate myself enough to do all the shenanigans of buying a property. Can't really understand the obsession with it.

But still paying rent in retirement is proving to be a great motivator. I am lucky that I live modestly and I am quite well paid, so I reckon I could save up enough to buy a small flat within a few years, totally in cash, or mostly in cash with a small mortgage.

pkmid

Also I think you will feel differently when you have completed. I was scared at first but I don't think anything of it now.

westernpromise

Where, oh where, is Crashy when you need him? He's been scared of buying for 22 years! Weigh in with your perspective Crashy!

To the OP: the alternative to 25 years of a mortgage is a lifetime of rent. Do the maths, the latter is a much bigger number and unlike a mortgage you can't fix it.