Jimbob247

Don't forget the transaction costs are rather higher for buying. If we had bought our house (rather than renting as we do) the stamp duty alone would have come to around two years rent.

aster

Thanks for the link/chart. This looks very interesting indeed.

CarolynUK

Thanks for the invite to the drinks LondonAndy - I'm afraid I have to pass though as I have a million and one things to do before I leave..... as well as a previous date...

Personally - I find the long distance commuting a far better experience than the trip in from Lewisham/ Blackheath. In peak hours from our local station the trains run up to varius London Stations (via London Bridge) every 10 mins or so - service is even better if you live in the Tonbridge area (next stop up the line) as there are to mainlines running through there.... I commuted daily for 6+ years and hand on heart could count the times that Notwork South East/ the French mob / Southeastern screwed up the journey on the fingers of one hand (recent shenanigans not included!). I virtually always got a seat as the trains don't really fill up until Sevenoaks, and the trains were generally nicer to travel on anyway. My commute was 42 -50 minutes from Paddock Wood to Charing Cross in a seat, compared to a 20 minute squashed into a cattle truck ride from Blackheath (so squashed that you were held upright by the sheer mass of bodies in the carriage - no need o hold on to anything!)

To be able to swap a 2 bed flat in a nice area of London (for adults) for a 5 bed detached house with garden with not too huge a mortgage was a big plus for us - hewever - we realise that we will never be able to afford to move back up to London unless we were prepared to downsize (considerably) again.

Looking back - we never really used much of the central London attractions either. We ate out occasionally, went to a West End show once in a blue moon and had a couple of pilgrimages to Harrods each year - and we still do that now.....by train - but have the attraction of the P&Q, and the countryside with a pretty good shopping/ dining/ cultural venue town about 10 mins away by car, and being 30 minutes from the Channel tunnel means that we pop over to France as often as we go to London.....

CT-UK

After moving out of the house I lived in for 12 years last April in to rental accommodation due to a change in circumstances I was convinced I wanted to jump back on to the housing ladder as soon as the (ex)wife bought me out. Now that they house sale has gone through back in September I have no interest at all at buying as I am very happy renting.

I am fortunate enough to rent a lovely barn conversion on a NT estate in a great location for a rent I am very happy with. Looking around at mortgages there is no way in the world I could afford to buy the kind of property I am in in a OK location let alone the location I am in. I don’t believe that my rent money is going down the drain at all as I have needed a few things repaired on the property such as a new boiler and the estate office have had them done very quickly and at zero cost to me.

Looking back on it owning an old property was lovely and we did make money on it over 12 years but If I could work out how much we spend on maintenance, repairs, inefficient heating etc. then I am sure it wouldn’t have nearly as much.

The only thing I need to control is my urge to spend the equity I made on wine and women, I am happy to report I am not doing very well with self control.

Yahillwe

Personally don't feel comfortable in a rental. I wouldn't feel it is mine. So I am for buying, within ones means.

But then today, I'd be very happy to be renting as I am stuck at home waiting for the repairman to come and fix my heater.

Paralytic

Er, no!

I'm not surprised this thread has brought both the bulls and (moreso) the bears out, but, in reality, despite many people stating on here with incredible certainty that such-and-such will happen (interest rates up to at least x% by y, prices down by z% etc), no-one really knows what will happen.

We've been reading for years on internet forums that house prices are on their way up or on there way down, that this is a new paradigm, that a crash of some sort is on its way, and you know what, every so often, someone can come back and say they were right. You usually won't hear from the other 90%.

So, if you're house is your home, move when you want to move, to a place you want to move to, at a price you are can afford should interest rates rise, and everything else will sort itself out.

However, if your motivation is for investment, anyone willing to take advice from anonymous people on a frequent flyer internet forum should perhaps consider that an indicator that they are not ready for that type of investment.

Yahillwe

^. Unless you are just sounding off.

Otherwise, seek the advice of your money manager, family and your own wisdom.

ajax

With all due respect, and perhaps unsurprisingly as I am the OP, I don't agree with you.

I have no family in the UK, not a single relative anywhere in this country. I cannot rely on them for advice in this situation.

I have been posting on the BA board for several years and I have come to notice that a significant portion of FTers (at least those on the BA board) tend to be professionals around my age and in my demographic, and are people with whom my situation has a lot in common. I canvass a lot of opinions from friends and colleagues, but I also love to get many points of view and I have faith that this is a wonderful forum for doing so.

Strangers they may be, but educated, helpful and knowledgeable strangers they are as well.

dark_horse

Awww, shucks!

layz

I'd not say that. I rent and last year my heating packed in during the coldest week of January. They couldn't get someone in to fix it until a week later as there was high demand due to the weather

Although I thought it should be an emergency fix completed in under 24 hours they claimed that it was not an emergency as there's a number of functioning electric heaters in the property, but they'd be expensive to run and wouldn't make much difference due to the cold outside.

So I took the easy way out and used points for a week at the CP Shoreditch - warm and comfortable (and walking distance from work) until the heating was repaired.

Yahillwe

layz thought of going to a hotel, but was too lazy to pack my stuff.

Heat fixed but I have a nagging feeling that it is up to par.

Shuttle-Bored

It's an interesting debate, and one that's relatively pertinent in the Shuttle-Bored household. We've got my one bed flat on the market at the moment, and are looking to upsize. Question for us is whether we go for a 2 bed/2 bath flat and not stretch ourselves, or opt for the 3 bedroom house in a slightly less expensive neighbourhood, knowing that we wouldn't need to move for a while.

On top of that, we're looking at spending some time overseas with work in the coming years. Thinking is that either option would be rentable, but the flat is probably more so than the house.

Our mortgage outlook shifts between the two as well. On the flat, I'm probably happy to take a base rate tracker - we'd be doubling our existing mortgage, but not stretching ourselves too much. Whereas with the house, we'd be looking at almost trebling our mortgage - and a fixed rate mortgage would definitely be preferable.

We definitely see this as a home rather than an investment. All going according to plan, we'll sell the flat for around a 50% gain. But it's not real money until you start to downsize later in life in my mind....

TBA

I kind of see where the OP is coming from, and I tend to agree that most people on this forum are of a similar demographic, and it does not hurt sounding people out. Sometimes you may come across a piece of nugget which resonates with you quite strongly.

Since a house move is such a big thing (especially if you are upsizing), we all worry whether it is the right thing to do and whether the timing is right etc, so it is only naturaly if people express that concern via forum like this.

We are in a similar situation, and looked at moving to South bucks last year with all intent so that we were in the grammer school catchment areas, however, later realised that it would have made my wife's journey to her work about 2 hours drive each way (as opposed to just about an hour now).

Now, we are looking in the Surrey area (but no grammer schools ), which would move us close to the M3 stretch, and still on a reasonably decent trainline for me to get into the wharf. Although we have literally no mortgage at the momnet on our current house, and we are both professionals, I am still worried whether this is the right thing to do or not. So I share your concerns.

Yahillwe

Shuttle-Bored If it were me, then I'd buy the 2bdrm flat, but that depends on many factors, including children now or in the future.

I'd go for the more upscale neighborhood, if the market tumbles again, those areas are rarely affected. While the less "expensive" are the first to go down. And when you move overseas you can rent it out at a very decent price to an expat/embassy staff.


And a property no matter what is an INVESTMENT.