Hoping to buy dilemmas…

Abitskint

Hi, I’ve not posted on here for absolutely years but was wondering if I could have some thoughts from others to help me.

We live in a rented house right now and will hopefully be receiving some early inheritance through a property trust. 

I’m late 40s and DH is early 50s. We have a decent income but with past debt and current climate we don’t have savings, which is why the money we receive will be wonderful.

Ideally, we’d like to buy the house we rent now. Our landlord has always said he’d sell it to us. The house is worth approximately £300k (possibly less as there is work that needs doing so potential to haggle) and our inheritance will be £100-150k. 

Our options are if we get the £150k…

a) put the whole 150k into the house 
b) put £120k or similar and put some into savings or pensions 
c) keep renting and but somewhere cheaper as an Airbnb/rental…?

I’m interested to hear what you’d do?

And also are we going to struggle to get a mortgage at our age.

This is a really big deal for us after lots of struggles over the years and really hoping for a bit of security and a home of our own so I’d love some supportive comments.

Tjanks

Brie

I would ask the LL if you can buy the house.  Ask him how much?  Point out that there will be no need to dress it up or pay for an estate agent.  And that there would be no chain - just you and him.  

Assuming you get passed this point and when you know the money is on it's way start to think about the mortgage.  Take the time available to check both your credit records for anything nasty.  CCJs for unknown parking charge notices are a common thing.  But also ensure it shows you are registered to vote.  Have all the debt problems fallen off?

I would personally not put the whole windfall into the house.  If you retain £20-30k you can have that money to do any little upgrades that you might need or to "make it your own" if you know what I mean.  Also you'll need some money for those silly things like solicitor's fees.  Anything you don't need out of this pot can be added to your savings or pension pot for later.  

Personally I don't think your ages will count against you if you've got at least a 30% deposit.  We bought our first place when I was in my mid 40s, OH was a couple of years younger.  We moved and remortgaged when I was 61 and our mortgage runs until I'm 70.  

And we have discussed getting a property to rent out.  I have always said I would only do so if it was all handled by an agency and that it was one of those deals where they guarantee the rent.  I'm even more reluctant to do something like that now as I saw how bad tenants caused so much aggravation for my parents who had a number of properties.  No way would I want to be contacted at 3 am because the heating isn't working or there's a sudden leak somewhere.  Also you'll find a number of seasoned LLs on here that will warn you against renting due to the recent increases in regulations - this being the reason that a lot of LLs are selling up. 

Best of luck with it!!  

ACG

I would rule C out straight away. Being a landlord is a job/business - do you want the headache of running a business that the councils/government are turning on? 

A or B sounds fine. 

Age wont be a factor in making it any more or less difficult. It might affect the affordability, but it depends on your incomes and debt etc. Difficult to say without more information but nothing you have said makes me think you will have a problem. 

Abitskint

Thanks both of you. Yes just to do A or B will be so great. I’m also pleased to hear that the ages shouldn’t be a problem.