Rent and invest or cash buy?

pbjelly101

I inherited a lump sum of money. I found this very overwhelming and invested it all in property. I am currently in the process of selling this proprrty and investing in a slightly larger property that has a lower value due to its location. The idea was to have this property and take on a lodger. However, the process of buying and selling is taking much longer than expected and home ownership in general has been something ive found stressful, given time to think, I am now unsure weather property investment is the best option, given the ongoing costs and unpredictability of having a lodger / tennants. Investing etc is all really new to me, I have seen an IFA and this did seem like something that would be potentially less stress.

I am currently working in a sort of stop-gap job and have been negativley impacted by the cost of living crisis so if I chose to rent I would be using the lump some of money to pay rent in the short term. Is it better to rent and invest for a little bit till I am more settled in work  etc or cash buy? Thoughts greatly appreciated. 

gwynlas

It makes more sense to invest in a property than pay rent which goes to somebody else and you are unlkely to get a payback on an investment  that covers the cost of rent. To lower your stress levels you could look into different properties such as flats in well managed blocks or relatively new built homes that have gone through the snagging process, If you were to give a lodger an en suite bedroom or take this for yourself and give them a room set up as a bedsit then you only need share the kitchen. If you were renting you would still have all utilities and council tax to pay, have little security and be at the mercy of a managing agent or landlord to remedy any repairs needed.

Hedgepigs

Do you need a larger property? Would potentially something smaller in the cheaper area avoiding the need for a lodger, remove one element of stress?

But if you don't like home ownership and prefer renting, there's nothing wrong with that either. It's perhaps likely to be a less good investment financially over the long term, but you can never really know until you have the benefit of hindsight, by which point it's too late either way!