Should we buy or rent?

YoungBlueEyes

People always say renting is dead money but renting has it's place, and this is that.

You haven't lived together (?) before so renting would be a great practice run. Plus if he got a job quickly it'd give him chance to build up some savings and bank statements so yous are in a better joint position when you do find a home to buy. 

Where does he live now? Does he have somewhere to sell?

flamingo123

MobileSaver said:

RHemmings said:

MobileSaver said:

flamingo123 said:

we would struggle to get a mortgage for our ideal 3 bed home.

Why do you need a 3 bed as your first home if it's just the two of you?!?! The obvious answer is surely to buy a smaller and cheaper home that wouldn't be such a struggle for a mortgage?

If they plan to have children, then buying a smaller place might be a false economy if they have two children in two years time. And, they described the three bed home as 'ideal', not what they need. Personally I find an unused box room incredibly useful, and it can be used in a variety of ways. 

Yes, of course, I can see lots of reasons why a 3 bed would be preferable, it just seems odd to be the main contender when it's clear they can't afford it.

Even if they have two children in two years time then they still don't need a three bed house for many, many more years! (My parents raised five of us in a one bed home... )

3 bed would be ideal as I would like a spare bedroom for my partners family to be able to stay as they will be visiting often and then we would ideally have a home office to work remote. If we used both our income we could actually afford a 3 bedroom home comfortably but I am unsure on how it works if my partner is leaving his job to move up here and if he needs to have been in it a few months before getting a mortgage which is why we came up with the idea of buying something smaller on my income alone as I am in a well paying job and would be able to do so. I would rather not raise a family in a 1 bedroom house when we can afford something bigger on our combined income. 

RHemmings

MobileSaver said:

RHemmings said:

MobileSaver said:

flamingo123 said:

we would struggle to get a mortgage for our ideal 3 bed home.

Why do you need a 3 bed as your first home if it's just the two of you?!?! The obvious answer is surely to buy a smaller and cheaper home that wouldn't be such a struggle for a mortgage?

If they plan to have children, then buying a smaller place might be a false economy if they have two children in two years time. And, they described the three bed home as 'ideal', not what they need. Personally I find an unused box room incredibly useful, and it can be used in a variety of ways. 

Yes, of course, I can see lots of reasons why a 3 bed would be preferable, it just seems odd to be the main contender when it's clear they can't afford it.

Even if they have two children in two years time then they still don't need a three bed house for many, many more years! (My parents raised five of us in a one bed home... )

It's going to depend a lot on where they are. Around my way the extra cost for a three bed over a two bed is about £30k or perhaps about 15% more. For houses. (Very very rough estimate). To me it looks like downgrading to a smaller property doesn't save much money. Though, with a high LTV mortgage that £30k difference gets multiplied. 

My parents moved four (children) of us into a three bed single story home. Within a short time it was converted to a two story home with six bedrooms (by lifting the wooden house and building a new story underneath). Still only four of us. Hence, my formative life experience is more focussed on having to expand accommodation rather than making do with less. 

flamingo123 said:

MobileSaver said:

RHemmings said:

MobileSaver said:

flamingo123 said:

we would struggle to get a mortgage for our ideal 3 bed home.

Why do you need a 3 bed as your first home if it's just the two of you?!?! The obvious answer is surely to buy a smaller and cheaper home that wouldn't be such a struggle for a mortgage?

If they plan to have children, then buying a smaller place might be a false economy if they have two children in two years time. And, they described the three bed home as 'ideal', not what they need. Personally I find an unused box room incredibly useful, and it can be used in a variety of ways. 

Yes, of course, I can see lots of reasons why a 3 bed would be preferable, it just seems odd to be the main contender when it's clear they can't afford it.

Even if they have two children in two years time then they still don't need a three bed house for many, many more years! (My parents raised five of us in a one bed home... )

3 bed would be ideal as I would like a spare bedroom for my partners family to be able to stay as they will be visiting often and then we would ideally have a home office to work remote. If we used both our income we could actually afford a 3 bedroom home comfortably but I am unsure on how it works if my partner is leaving his job to move up here and if he needs to have been in it a few months before getting a mortgage which is why we came up with the idea of buying something smaller on my income alone as I am in a well paying job and would be able to do so. I would rather not raise a family in a 1 bedroom house when we can afford something bigger on our combined income. 

Like others above, this again makes me think that you could rent for a year, and then buy once your partner is established where you are. Rent is expensive, but buying a house even more so in the short term. If you have to stretch yourself less and have a lower LTV with two salaries and after one year, then the rent may come back to you over time with less interest paid. 

Albermarle

From a purely financial point of view, the best thing would be in to move into your parents house whilst he gets settled in a new job/area etc. and you can then both build up more savings and eventually get a joint mortgage.

Also from a practical point of view finding suitable homes to rent or buy is easier said than done. You only need to read through this forum about all the landlord problems, lease problems, estate agent issues, dodgy buyers/sellers/neighbours, chains collapsing, bad surveys, queues outside rental properties for viewings, rents going up etc etc.
Probably a lot easier to wait, and then go straight to buying the 3 bed.

p00hsticks

lika_86 said:

People say renting is dead money, but it isn't really in the short term, it's a convenient way to have a roof over your heads while you work out what is right for you as a couple moving forward together. It's also a good way to try out living together (assuming you haven't before) without a power imbalance and means that you're in an excellent position to buy if you decide to as you'll be chain free.

I'd second this - the OP doesn't say if they've lived with their partner before, but even if they have, he's now relocating to a different area and having to find a new job, so there's quite a bit of potential there for things not to work out.

In those circumstances, I'd rent rather than buy for a while just until you are sure you're both happy with the situation. It's far easier and cheaper to end a rental than it is a property purchase  

Yorkie1

You mentioned that your partner has a HTB ISA - if you initially bought a house in your sole name, then sold it to buy jointly with your partner, would that mean he couldn't use it?

daveyjp

If renting enables you to save to buy your ideal home do so.

Renting is no more dead money than the interest on your mortgage, which pays the bank staff mortgages!

Hedgepigs

I agree this seems like the sort of situation where renting for a short while is a good option. A short term rental to trial how living together works out and work out what you both really want in a house together. That plus being in a better financial position, I think by renting for a year you will ultimately buy better when you do buy. Think it less of dead money and more as an investment in a means to achieve a longer term goal.

Renting is expensive, but buying and selling is too!

BobT36

MobileSaver said:

RHemmings said:

MobileSaver said:

flamingo123 said:

we would struggle to get a mortgage for our ideal 3 bed home.

Why do you need a 3 bed as your first home if it's just the two of you?!?! The obvious answer is surely to buy a smaller and cheaper home that wouldn't be such a struggle for a mortgage?

If they plan to have children, then buying a smaller place might be a false economy if they have two children in two years time. And, they described the three bed home as 'ideal', not what they need. Personally I find an unused box room incredibly useful, and it can be used in a variety of ways. 

Yes, of course, I can see lots of reasons why a 3 bed would be preferable, it just seems odd to be the main contender when it's clear they can't afford it.

Even if they have two children in two years time then they still don't need a three bed house for many, many more years! (My parents raised five of us in a one bed home... )

Working from home is common nowadays, and bedrooms are often used for that, so just because there's only two of them, it doesn't mean they only need one room. If both of the couple work from home, that's a lot of space needed! 

MobileSaver

BobT36 said:

MobileSaver said:

RHemmings said:

MobileSaver said:

flamingo123 said:

we would struggle to get a mortgage for our ideal 3 bed home.

Why do you need a 3 bed as your first home if it's just the two of you?!?! The obvious answer is surely to buy a smaller and cheaper home that wouldn't be such a struggle for a mortgage?

If they plan to have children, then buying a smaller place might be a false economy if they have two children in two years time. And, they described the three bed home as 'ideal', not what they need. Personally I find an unused box room incredibly useful, and it can be used in a variety of ways. 

Yes, of course, I can see lots of reasons why a 3 bed would be preferable, it just seems odd to be the main contender when it's clear they can't afford it.

Even if they have two children in two years time then they still don't need a three bed house for many, many more years! (My parents raised five of us in a one bed home... )

 it doesn't mean they only need one room.

Oh, but it does!

As I said, I can see lots of reasons why a three bed would be preferable but an extra bedroom for family to occasionally stay and another extra room for working from home are WIBNIF, not needs.

Five years from now I can see the next generation complaining how easy it was in 2024 to buy a house and how unfair it is in 2029 that starter homes for FTBs are so expensive; we'll then dig into the details to discover that the expectation for a new starter home is now minimum three bedrooms so they can both work from home and a drive and garage so they can charge their two electric cars...