Buy a house now OR rent one, and buy in a year or two?

twitwoo

Gavin83 said:

It's all guesswork.

Personally I expect house prices in a few years will be higher than they are now but not significantly so. Either way I think you'll be financially worse off by renting.

However I do agree it's a good idea to rent in a new area before buying. We were looking at buying in a town having not lived there before that a lot of people say is lovely. It regularly features on those 'best places to live' lists and I've seen it recommended on here a few times. We considered just buying straight off but decided to rent first to get a feel for the place. Turns out we hated the town and we have since bought elsewhere. It was made worse by the fact that the people who lived there were extremely defensive of their town and wouldn't hear a bad word said about it.

In your shoes I'd probably be looking for a year rental, or at least one with a break clause that allowed me to be out within a year with the aim of buying after that year.

Regarding house prices - it's always guesswork - but I think you could be right. I hadn't considered that with inflation running so hot, nominal house prices will likely rise by less than inflation - hence a price drop in real terms.

Interesting story about the town you rented in - England can be a funny place in terms of people's perceptions of where they live. I'm pretty sure we'll rent first to get to know the area better. We'll then be able to view some properties in different places, without the pressure of having to find something by a set date. 

Hopefully we can find a rental on a fixed term basis initially then a rolling contract - though I understand that letting agents may not be so keen on the latter.

twitwoo

MFWannabe said:

I agree it’s best to rent in a new area first before buying so you can decide if you like it or not 
as for areas, where in West Midlands? West Midlands is a very big area 

We're looking for good transport links to Birmingham (ideally by train), with easy access to M5 (or M42). Somewhere SW of Brum in Worcestershire would probably fit the bill.

robatwork

That's exactly the problem - timing the market when to buy property is like timing when to invest. Random, and generally speaking you'll get it wrong.

If it's somewhere you will use to live then it's not so important. As and when it's time to move, the house you want to move to will in general have moved up or down in line with yours. If you're ready to buy and have cash but don't know the area at all, I'd probably go for a short term AirBnB or similar for a month.

gwynlas

We rented for nine months thinking that we would be buying in that area but it was far too rural in many aspects despite being in sight of a motorway and we returned to the village we had left, Still like area where we rented but glad to be back and have many facilities within walking distance and the remainder with a short drive

imnothappy

would you ever live in a caravan if it was £25k to start...

Sapindus

twitwoo said:

1. If you were moving to this area, where would you choose to live, and why?

Penkridge is nice.

MFWannabe

twitwoo said:

MFWannabe said:

I agree it’s best to rent in a new area first before buying so you can decide if you like it or not 
as for areas, where in West Midlands? West Midlands is a very big area 

We're looking for good transport links to Birmingham (ideally by train), with easy access to M5 (or M42). Somewhere SW of Brum in Worcestershire would probably fit the bill.

Still too vague and big an area for people to give options and opinions 
do you want town? Rural? Etc 

Gavin83

twitwoo said:

MFWannabe said:

I agree it’s best to rent in a new area first before buying so you can decide if you like it or not 
as for areas, where in West Midlands? West Midlands is a very big area 

We're looking for good transport links to Birmingham (ideally by train), with easy access to M5 (or M42). Somewhere SW of Brum in Worcestershire would probably fit the bill.

I don't know this area at all so can't advise. The closest we got in our search was Milton Keynes and I definitely wouldn't be recommending that. 

However I second the poster who mentioned Mumsnet. I'm not a user either and you probably wouldn't even need to register. If you google 'What is it like to live in X' they'll almost certainly be a Mumsnet post for it already. I found these useful although naturally given the nature of the forum the comments are generally a little child focused.

lookstraightahead

Always rented first to get to know a new area, and then made money back for all rent on purchase as don't have a property to sell and in a good buying position.

it's not a waste of money to rent if you can make it back on your purchase. What is a waste of money is buying something you don't like and then moving again too quickly.

Claire89_

Hi, have a look at Alvechurch. It has the best of both worlds. Train station into Bham takes 40 mins, 5 mins to the M42. 4 pubs, plenty of nice walks and overall a lovely place to live. There is a house up for renting at the mo too on rightmove. Redditch which is just up the road has all the supermarkets and a shopping centre.