Amount of rent paid

barnaby-bear

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Hi Lynzpower,

Have you just bought a home? or are you still renting?
Looking at your post I feel so sorry for you as it would not appear that you could afford to buy a house.

If your still renting, then roughly I guess you are looking for a 50% house price reduction in order for a property to be the same as your rent.

Do you think the house price of that property will drop from 330K to 165K?

She owned a flat and chose to sell it and rent, took the equity and reduced he expenditure by renting.

barnaby-bear

King_Of_Fools wrote: »

I am currently renting a 2 bed house for £600 per month. If I had a mortgage on the same type of house in my road I would be paying £1100 a month in interest. So I am currently saving £500 a month towards a bigger deposit.

Also I read that house prices have fallen 5% in the past month in Cambridge so in the last month alone I have got £11500 closer to buying my house!

Same here but two bed ex-council on a sh1te estate is still over £200k here (Cambridge) - £600 rent is cheap in these parts cheap for a 1 bed let alone 2.

becky_rtw

Yeah where are you renting in Cambs for that money?

I pay £670 for a one bed house, about to move to a 2 bed flat for £895 (but shared with OH).

Wish I could afford to buy, but Cambridge is so expensive, renting is definitely cheaper.

King_Of_Fools

becky_rtw wrote: »

Yeah where are you renting in Cambs for that money?

Cherry Hinton

wisbech_lad

I rent a place for 3900 a month in HK (but converting figures to UKP). The place is now worth about 1.7-1.8m. For various tax/ compensation reasons at the moment it is better for me to rent (the rent is picked up by the company I work for) but when the lease comes to an end we will re-evaluate, as I am likely to be in same city for next 3 years. I love this place, but they hardly ever come for sale - plus couldn't afford it! Max budget if we bought would be around a million, with 400,000 deposit, and 600,000 is largest mortgage I would be comfortable with. And actually, I wouldn't be comfortable at all with a mortgage that big, so will either have to "downsize" big time if we buy, or continue renting. Still, we are very lucky/ blessed to be in the position we are in (and some good life choices/ hard work helped as well) But moving countries every few years for my career means I am biased to rent, not buy - and build up savings in other ways (shares/ bonds etc)

neverdespairgirl

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Congrats on being a mum, my wife an I are planning to join that club.
It seems really scary that you have been renting for 10 years.
May I ask how much you have paid in rent over those 10 years?

I remember renting for 3 1.2 years and that seemed way too long.
I'm actually back renting now, but my company pays for that

I'm happy for you. Well done. I hope you find a really good place for you and your family to live.

Why scary? We've lived in the same place, quite happily, and it's our home, nothing scary about that.

For the first 7 years, we shared (it's a 3 bed flat) with first one mate of mine, then another mate of OH's. So it's only since May 2005 we've had the flat to ourselves and shared.

Since September 2007, we've paid a total of £63,800 in rent (not including what flatmates paid, obviously)..

I hope you and your wife have the baby you want soon - I can higher recommend it! My darling bundle of trouble is 2 years and 8 months old, and it's absolutely wonderful. When I got pregnant, it was more of a happy surprise than a planned joy, if you follow me, but definintely the best "accident" ever!

IveSeenTheLight

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Why scary? We've lived in the same place, quite happily, and it's our home, nothing scary about that.

For the first 7 years, we shared (it's a 3 bed flat) with first one mate of mine, then another mate of OH's. So it's only since May 2005 we've had the flat to ourselves and shared.

Since September 2007, we've paid a total of £63,800 in rent (not including what flatmates paid, obviously)..

When I said scary, I personally would have thought the amount of rent paid for 10 years would have been scary.
Fortunately you have had the good forsight to offset this by sharing your accomodation.

I wonder if you managed to buy a property 10 years ago, if you would be much better off now.
You would almost be half way through your mortgage, with many nowadays realising that they can pay their mortgage off early and save thousands in interest (See the MFW board)

I rented for 3 1/2 years and bought my first place 7 years ago, so this is a similar 10 year period. I am now looking to be mortgage free possibly this year but more likely to be next year.

I guess the scary thing for me was thinking if I was still renting today, 10 1/2 years later, with the prospect of still having to buy a place and start a mortgage when I am so close to being mortgage free.

Things work out differently for everyone and we make the choices accordingly.
You have been blessed with a child which we have not yet.

I really do hope that everything works out for you and your family

IveSeenTheLight

wisbech_lad wrote: »

I rent a place for 3900 a month in HK (but converting figures to UKP). The place is now worth about 1.7-1.8m. For various tax/ compensation reasons at the moment it is better for me to rent (the rent is picked up by the company I work for) but when the lease comes to an end we will re-evaluate, as I am likely to be in same city for next 3 years. I love this place, but they hardly ever come for sale - plus couldn't afford it! Max budget if we bought would be around a million, with 400,000 deposit, and 600,000 is largest mortgage I would be comfortable with. And actually, I wouldn't be comfortable at all with a mortgage that big, so will either have to "downsize" big time if we buy, or continue renting. Still, we are very lucky/ blessed to be in the position we are in (and some good life choices/ hard work helped as well) But moving countries every few years for my career means I am biased to rent, not buy - and build up savings in other ways (shares/ bonds etc)

I am in a similar position to you, working abraod with company picking up the rent, although I do not have as much savings as you. Your deposit could definately buy outright a nice 4/5 bedroom place.

I looked to buy where I am based but considered it too much of a risk to do so so opted to rent.
I do however have two properties in the UK making a nice rental income.
All profits I have plowed back into the property to reduce the mortgages thereby reducing the LTV and savining on interest paid.

Not been to HK yet, but looking to visit shortly.
Maybe you could recommend a good hotel that will not burst the bank balance in the centre for our visit.
Maybe also recommend some good pub / clubs to visit.

wisbech_lad

YMCA - don't laugh, it is a three star hotel in the best location - next to the Penninsula...

Pubs/ clubs - well, by area, Lan Kwai Fong/ Soho for the yuppie scene, Wanchai for the blue collar/ red light scene, Tsim Sha Tsui for the teenager rave scene

neverdespairgirl

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

I wonder if you managed to buy a property 10 years ago, if you would be much better off now.
You would almost be half way through your mortgage, with many nowadays realising that they can pay their mortgage off early and save thousands in interest (See the MFW board)

10 years ago, however, OH and I were both in our 2nd year at university, and after that year I did my 3rd year at uni, masters degree, bar school, and pupillage. I wasn't in a position to take on a mortgage by any means.