Working away - buying first home to stay in through week

Getting_greyer

Be better of lodging a room with bills included.  Assuming it's cheaper than the daily commute. But even then there's an extra set of household consumption, such as food.

saajan_12

willow2022 said:

Hubby commutes around an hour to work each way and with rising fuel costs is costing £400 a month. 

We currently live in beautiful rented accommodation and although we have savings we cannot afford to buy a similar property and don’t want to leave the area we are in (children settled, my business is here)

We have discussed the option of us buying a cheaper property (around 70-80k) where hubby works and him living in it through the week. The mortgage repayments would actually be less than he is paying in fuel (I’m aware there are obviously other costs such as bills but we are looking at this as an investment as interest on savings is limited anyway) - I'd suggest looking at it the other way, ie fuel vs bills + mortgage interest, as that's the money thats 'lost'. The mortgage capital repayments is just building equity in the property. Also there's a lot more in upfront / one off costs to consider, while you don't know how long the fuel price spike will last.. eg solicitors, furniture, future SDLT (as you use up your FTB status on this one), etc. 

it also has added benefits that he can work longer hours, is closer if he needs to go in unexpectedly etc. 

How would this work in terms of lenders and mortgages? Is it something they are likely to allow us to do even though it’s not our permanent residence? We can prove we have enough excess income to cover the mortgage and bills etc. - debatable whether he can consider it a residential home , given its near his work, he's there a large part of the week, etc. Not impossible to argue either way.. 

To add, we are both self employed but hubby will be working in that location for at least the next three years (has contracts to prove) and probably longer term than that. One additional option is that he also rents out a room in the property to other people he works with who currently commute. If we did that would we need a buy to let mortgage? (we are happy not to do this if it makes things more complex as I understand it’s difficult to get a buy to let without first owning your own home but on the other hand having a lodger might prove we can cover the extra payments easier) - A lodger (not a tenant) wouldn't inherently require a BTL mortgage assuming you can get over the main residence issue above. The rental income from a lodger wouldn't be taken into account for mortgage affordability, but would defray your costs, so worth doing even if its just a Mon-Fri lodger so they're not there when husband isn't.  

Also, I don’t know if it will have an impact but to add, we live in Scotland but would be looking at buying in England. 

Two main aspects to this:
1) Possible or not as a main residence - speak to a broker, but I can see there is an argument whereby this would work. 

2) Do the numbers stack up?
Make sure you include all the bills + mortgage interest + upfront costs when comparing vs fuel costs, rather than just thinking of it as "plus a bit for bills". The mortgage capital repayment portion is almost less relevant as that's building equity. There's also one off costs in the future eg the second home you buy will have higher SDLT because its not your first home. 

Sistergold

SuseOrm said:

 We did this in 2011 unfortunately it ended with my husband finding himself a new girlfriend Monday to Friday as well and we got divorced in 2013 

This is exactly what I thought too. It’s a recipe for a broken relationship. Whenever my X worked away (while we were married) he would be seeing someone else. It’s the loneliness I guess? 

oystercatcher

Sistergold said:

SuseOrm said:

 We did this in 2011 unfortunately it ended with my husband finding himself a new girlfriend Monday to Friday as well and we got divorced in 2013 

This is exactly what I thought too. It’s a recipe for a broken relationship. Whenever my X worked away (while we were married) he would be seeing someone else. It’s the loneliness I guess? 

Similar story with my Ex. He thought he was being so clever !!  

Sweetnut

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

Sweetnut said:

If he's communting by car it sounds like you need an electric vehicle?

The cost per day for a 100 mile commute would be around £2 for me in my electric car (£40 a month)  - appreciate electric prices are going up but even if it doubled to £4 that would be £80 a month.

What's the lease on your electric vehicle out of interest?

I'm going to hazard a guess that said hours commute is 100 miles a day, 25k a year (taking into account husband doesn't use it at weekends) so 25k.

Cheapest EV I can find based on that mileage is an e208 for just short of £500 a month on a 9+36 (so £4.5k deposit).

Alternatively, it's £28k OTR. After 4 years, it'll be worthless with 100k on the clock.

I personally have a company car so no lease or mileage allowance. But I was assuming that the OP's husband already has a diesel or petrol car so it would be a case of replacing. Just an idea.

gingercordial

oystercatcher said:

Sistergold said:

SuseOrm said:

 We did this in 2011 unfortunately it ended with my husband finding himself a new girlfriend Monday to Friday as well and we got divorced in 2013 

This is exactly what I thought too. It’s a recipe for a broken relationship. Whenever my X worked away (while we were married) he would be seeing someone else. It’s the loneliness I guess? 

Similar story with my Ex. He thought he was being so clever !!  

People are obviously quite capable of having affairs while still living with their partner, and I wouldn't immediately say that anyone with a M-F lodging is definitely going to cheat, BUT I used to work in a firm where many of the partners had London pads and a family home in the countryside and let's say it wasn't at all uncommon...  (Equally plenty of cases where the spouse left back at the family home took advantage of similar opportunities their end.)

propertyhunter

In this instance, let's put the question of extra-marital affairs to bed (pun intended). 

Sistergold

gingercordial said:

oystercatcher said:

Sistergold said:

SuseOrm said:

 We did this in 2011 unfortunately it ended with my husband finding himself a new girlfriend Monday to Friday as well and we got divorced in 2013 

This is exactly what I thought too. It’s a recipe for a broken relationship. Whenever my X worked away (while we were married) he would be seeing someone else. It’s the loneliness I guess? 

Similar story with my Ex. He thought he was being so clever !!  

People are obviously quite capable of having affairs while still living with their partner, and I wouldn't immediately say that anyone with a M-F lodging is definitely going to cheat, BUT I used to work in a firm where many of the partners had London pads and a family home in the countryside and let's say it wasn't at all uncommon...  (Equally plenty of cases where the spouse left back at the family home took advantage of similar opportunities their end.)

True anyone anywhere can have an affair. Staying away from each other for 5 days a week just becomes so enabling especially for the one who does not have the children with them. New environment, no family duties, new woman/man. I personally commented so that the OP does not forget to think of this possibility. It could also help OP to be more open minded and more forgiving when it happens. 

MEM62

user1977 said:

MEM62 said:

willow2022 said:

We have discussed the option of us buying a cheaper property (around 70-80k) where hubby works and him living in it through the week. The mortgage repayments would actually be less than he is paying in fuel (I’m aware there are obviously other costs such as bills but we are looking at this as an investment as interest on savings is limited anyway) it also has added benefits that he can work longer hours, is closer if he needs to go in unexpectedly etc. 

Sounds like a plan.  

willow2022 said:

How would this work in terms of lenders and mortgages? Is it something they are likely to allow us to do even though it’s not our permanent residence? 

But it will be his primary, permanent residence as he will be spending more time there than at your rented residence.  What makes you think that it would not be?

Because the number of days spent there isn't the only consideration. You can retain a primary residence even if you're spending Mon-Fri staying in digs for work. You need to look at other things too - where does the rest of his usual household stay, where is most of his stuff kept, where does his mail go, where does he vote, where do the kids go to school, where does he spend any days off work, etc. It might be a fine distinction depending on the facts.

It will need to be his primary residence or they will struggle to get a residential mortgage.  Any other type of mortgage would probably make the plan unworkable.   

steve866

Sounds like a good idea to allow you to get into the property ladder and get some equity built up. I guess they’d still be one trip back and forth in the car he’d still be paying around £80 on fuel.