Council house to buy now or wait

littleTilly

We are in our 50s and have a chance to buy our council house for £144,000 after the discount , would it be better to save £25,000 a year for 5 years or take out a mortgage 

Mark_d

If you've generally been saving £25k per year, why do you need a mortgage to buy the property?

born_again

littleTilly said:

We are in our 50s and have a chance to buy our council house for £144,000 after the discount , would it be better to save £25,000 a year for 5 years or take out a mortgage 

Could you be sure that you could still buy it in 5 years?

If you can save £2K a month, then the mortgage will be no where near that amount.

AlexMac

I’d go for it now. A mortgage with say, Nationwide (who have been a brilliantly helpful lender to us over many years) would be well under £1,000 per month over a 20 year term, assuming a modest deposit.  So look at their excellent online guide for first time homebuyers, check their mortgage calculator then run a quick forecast of how that compares with rent and savings over coming years. 

If you can buy the freehold that’s good, but if leasehold, there may be some annual service charges; I pay £1,500 a year on an ex-council maisonette for communal repairs, grounds, caretaking, etc, plus the occasional bigger one/off sum for things like window replacements. So check the “tenure”. 

Good luck. 

gwynlas

To  secure the discount it is best to buy it now otherwise you might be hit by changes in goverment. You will also need to continue to pay rent which could be offset against the mortgage. Many will think that if you are able to save £2000 per month that you could buy  anywhere and leave your social tenancy for soomeone else  who needs it.

theartfullodger

Many hope that right to buy is abolished soon so in your shoes probably earlier .

As long as you can prove income legitimate to lenders, confident you can.