Buying a house?

[Kiki1993]

Any advice. Me and the husband never really cared about buying a house but now i'm getting closer to baby coming i'm starting to consider it and so is other half.
We would only be able to afford soemthing cheap but found a house thats 20000 under the valuation, we would only need a 2850 deposit (5% as first time buyers) and then the legal fees and moving fees (about 1000 as we have a van for all the moving) ... i just don't know, if we buy we wont be able to afford a holiday anytime soon but feel like whats the point in me wasting money decorating our rented house for baby coming when we could buy the house and decorate. If we were to save we would save the deposit by the time i go on maternity leave, the mortgage repayments would be 40 pound cheaper than our rent.
I'm just really unsure its a huge commitment financially. Plus this house is 40 minute drive from where we are now, closer to other halfs work but further from my family and friends but the houses in our town are so much more expensive.
Do you think we should wait to buy or take the plunge?

 

[bumble b]

Take the plunge. Once you are homeowners, every penny you pay goes towards owning that house, not payinv someone elses mortgage. Our house has over doubled it's value in nearly 4 years, we couldn't of dreamed of owning 70% when we bought it. Property is never a wasted investment.

Good luck xx

 

[Mrsmac02]

Do it! As pp says - you're paying towards your own house not someone else's!

We are selling our flat just now so we can move to a house, we need a garden for DS1 and baby when he arrives x

 

[weepolly]

Yes do it. We have just bought a bigger house as we were only in a 2 bedroom and our mortgage is less than my sisters rent on a house much much smaller. Like said above you will own the property and is a great asset for the future x

 

[LoraLoo]

Do it and get on the ladder, you can always have a holiday next year. House prices are on the up again so best to buy now imo.

 

[wish4baby]

It's the smart choice for long term financial stability!! Think of your house as a savings account / retirement funds. And "you make your money when you buy" which means find a good deal (sounds like you have!) and you will have instant equity.

We've owned a home since 2000. We started with about what you are putting down, and now we sold our current house - we've owned 4 since then always making some money when selling, and now we have enough money to buy outright (small-ish for us at 2600 sq ft, but in a great area). Most importantly now we have NO monthly mortgage payment at all!

We made $60,000 in just 4 years buying under market value and then selling at a hot time!

We move into our last (hopefully, I am tired of moving lol) house May 19...and it's perfect! (Also bought it more than $10/sq ft cheaper than the going rate in that area)
When our kids are grown & gone off, we will sell and move into something smaller and cheaper, and hopefully have plenty of cash on hand to add to retirement.

Hope this helps!!

 

[vaniilla]

I would also say take the plunge provided that the area is one you'd be happy to live in and that for now the local schools good/ones you'd be happy to send your children to as you have to consider potentially staying in the area for a good few years to come.

We're buying just after christmas (part of our deposit is in a fixed term savings account till then) and I can't wait, our rent went up when we renewed a few months ago and it may well continue to rise, the landlord may decide to sell etc and we just want the security of our place and be able to fix/do things without permission or nagging the estate agents. DH is a mortgage advisor so he pretty much knows which mortgage we'll be getting


P.S don't forget to take advantage of the help to buy ISA.

 

[campn]

If it's a nice house and seems affordable I would say go ahead and buy. I find that owning a house once you have kids just gave me a sense of calmness that this is where they'll grow up and I can do whatever I want with the house instead of work on someone else's house/apartment.

Being close to your OH work is great too, especially with having a baby, I found having DH close by so great in case anything comes up!

 

[Rhiannon137]

The others make very good points, BUT I'm going to say that you should also weigh in how much of a cash cushion you will be left with if you decide to buy. Babies can bring a host of unexpected expenses. So can houses. If the fridge, water heater, furnace etc. in your rental dies, it's someone else's problem. If you buy, will you have the money to deal with minor-moderate unexpected repairs without going into credit card debt?

The long term financial benefits of home ownership are important, but not important enough to disregard comfort and security in the short term. My DH and I rented a very small apartment for 9 years. During this time, we enjoyed holidays and meals out, but also saved up enough money to make a large down payment and still have money in the bank. I ended up very unexpectedly losing my job right before our son was born - less than a year after we bought our house. It would have been a disaster if we had only JUST been able to afford the house.

 

[loeylo]

Id personally buy too. We only lived together for 9 months when we bought our flat. Like you we got a too-good-to-miss offer.


We bought our house for £65,000 two years ago, we only had a 10 year mortgage, our payments are the same as our rent was, its in a good area, although we did spend around £10,000 doing the place up and furnishing it. Our flat is lower and is extended, a non extended upper flat of the same style round the corner sold within a week for offers over £80,000.

Its been so nice to have the security, we have had a few out of pocket expenses however we continued to save the money which we were saving for our deposit so we always had a buffer.

I cant believe I will own this house outright in 7.5 years. Its definitely not our forever home but our payments are affordable so we aren't going to sell it, instead we will just apply for a second mortgage and keep this as a rental (probably renting to family members) so it really did work well for us!

 

[Kmx]

I would absolutely buy. Yes there is a financial commitment but realistically you will always need to pay to live somewhere. There is really no better feeling than making your own yours and having the security that you can't be told to leave.

 

[campn]

Exactly like Kmx said, you are building an equity for yourself too, unlike money you are basically throwing away in a rental. We lived in our last house for 2.5 years and we made $15,000! It let us buy an even nicer house when we moved to another state.

But look at your numbers and take the plunge if they make sense. Best of luck and congrats in advance for baby and potential house!

 

[catty]

I would also say buying is a good idea BUT don't just jump into buying any old house, make sure it's one you love or at least like as it's much more of a tie than renting not as easy to just get out of the contract etc.

We had our first flat 2.5 years and made £22,000 profit so it's definitely good to get on the ladder

 

[Scout]

If you can afford to buy, then I'd buy. I've paid my house off and it's nice having the security of a house and the equity. I would make sure that I had enough left over monthly to go in to a savings account for things that might come up. Owning a home, the responsibility to fix everything is on you and not on a landlord. Some things can be quite expensive. But I love owning. My property to do with whatever I please. Good luck!

 

[Kiki1993]

Thanks for all the replies, the house we have seen i think we will consider it but would have to figure out if we could in that area, its 45 mins from home town where i work, its 20 mins to other halfs work but 45 from mines and family so realisitcally we would need two cars and the school catchments aren't great.
However, my sisters friend has been approved to have her new house built and it should be completed between 1-2 years meaning she will sell her 2 bedroom house in the next 1-2 years. IT is a a lovely house and location would be perfect in terms of good schools, close to family and a 30 minute walk or ten minute bus to my work. She said she would sell it to us under the valuation and it would mean not having to worry about someone giving a counter offer etc. plus we know its well looked after. BUT i don't know if we can wait that long, we would have to waste money to decorate babies room here and that just to move a year later. We are considering asking other halfs parents if they would consider giving us a loan and we just pay them back because theres a house we like in our town just now but we would take a year to save the deposit for this house.
We are pretty set on buying and just waiting to have nice holidays again (really baby wont remember holidays until she is like 4/5 anyway)

 

[Christina86]

My husband and I bought a house 4yrs ago. We rented for so long. Because of the housing market we got an amazing rate. Our mortgage payments are $75 cheaper than our rent payments were. We love the freedom to do what we want and when we want. Does it suck when something breaks,unexpectedly, yes. But we make it work. We don't go crazy on things we don't need. We both work, our 1yr old is in daycare, we eat out and go on a yearly vacation. We have to save a bit longer for bigger items but it just makes us plan ahead.

Now we will re decorate (again- literally just finished in November) to get ready for our surprise #2 baby.