How important to you is it to own a house?

[Pearls18]

Just curious for opinions.

 

[fxmummyduck]

I used to think it's important, we own an apartment in the UK but are renting in the US and we are seriously thinking of selling it. We'll then be off the property ladder and it does feel a bit daunting. But it will give us some flexibility for a while and take a bit of financial pressure off for a bit. We just had a water leak and the ac broke and it was nice not worrying about the bill that could show up, we just rang our realtor to get it fixed end of story.

I think it's a cultural expectation and a huge pressure which doesn't suit everyone at certain times in their life. The only time I would worry about it is at retirement, no way a pension will cover rent. And inheritance for my children. But I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with renting and people shouldn't feel pressured to buy straight away, I think we will buy again at some point in the future but for now we don't need the hassle!

 

[loeylo]

For me it is massively important and was a bigger deal for me than other life goals like being married.

My reasoning was that when renting we were lining someone else's pockets, building up their equity, maintaining their property etc, whereas when owning we were building our own equity. Our mortgage worked out the same as our rent. Currently our house is valued at 20% more than we purchased it for. Even if the property market dips before we sell, so long as we can cover the remainder of our loan then we haven't lost out, even if it sells for less than we paid as we would be paying rent anyway.

Having the freedom to decorate as we wish, not having to worry too much about damage being done to the property (more an issue when we first got the dog tbh!) and knowing that the property is ours regardless of the landlord moving on was important. Especially since having the wee one, we couldn't get a rented property in a nice area for pur monthly payments, and getting her into a good school is important to me.

The homes around us are all owned by owner occupiers and having long term neighbours is another massive advantage, in mixed tenure areas such as the one we previously lived we had neighbours moving in and out regularly and had a few bad experiences. Obviously someone could buy to let but the rental market isn't particularly great here, which is maybe a disadvantage if we wanted to rent our property out in future.

Another disadvantage is the responsibility for repairs, for example the shower has just broken and we cant just call the landlord to fix it, but we factor unexpected repairs into our budgeting. Its just a part of adult life imo, like car repairs.

If we stay where we are, a three bed home with front and rear garden in a nice area, we can comfortably be mortgage free by our mid 30s. We then have the option to buy a second home, yo maybe buy a holiday home, or to make other choices we couldn't make if we were renting.

I should also add that our mortgage payments are quite low and would be affordable ob even one salary, so it isn't like we are mega rich or anything, right now we do have additional payments such as a fitted kitchen and money we borrowed to but furniture and renovate ethe place, but those will be paid off in 2 years. We chose to pay them off seperatwly and have a few years of frugal living instead of having a larger mortgage.

 

[fxmummyduck]

For me it is massively important and was a bigger deal for me than other life goals like being married.

My reasoning was that when renting we were lining someone else's pockets, building up their equity, maintaining their property etc, whereas when owning we were building our own equity. Our mortgage worked out the same as our rent. Currently our house is valued at 20% more than we purchased it for. Even if the property market dips before we sell, so long as we can cover the remainder of our loan then we haven't lost out, even if it sells for less than we paid as we would be paying rent anyway.

Having the freedom to decorate as we wish, not having to worry too much about damage being done to the property (more an issue when we first got the dog tbh!) and knowing that the property is ours regardless of the landlord moving on was important. Especially since having the wee one, we couldn't get a rented property in a nice area for pur monthly payments, and getting her into a good school is important to me.

The homes around us are all owned by owner occupiers and having long term neighbours is another massive advantage, in mixed tenure areas such as the one we previously lived we had neighbours moving in and out regularly and had a few bad experiences. Obviously someone could buy to let but the rental market isn't particularly great here, which is maybe a disadvantage if we wanted to rent our property out in future.

Another disadvantage is the responsibility for repairs, for example the shower has just broken and we cant just call the landlord to fix it, but we factor unexpected repairs into our budgeting. Its just a part of adult life imo, like car repairs.

If we stay where we are, a three bed home with front and rear garden in a nice area, we can comfortably be mortgage free by our mid 30s. We then have the option to buy a second home, yo maybe buy a holiday home, or to make other choices we couldn't make if we were renting.

I should also add that our mortgage payments are quite low and would be affordable ob even one salary, so it isn't like we are mega rich or anything, right now we do have additional payments such as a fitted kitchen and money we borrowed to but furniture and renovate ethe place, but those will be paid off in 2 years. We chose to pay them off seperatwly and have a few years of frugal living instead of having a larger mortgage.

Wow I don't know where you live but it's either affordable or you're absolutely loaded lol!! Mortgage free by mid thirties, excuse me while i fall off my chair laughing!! A 3 bed house where I'm from you're looking at nearly half a million pounds. I honestly think buying or renting might depend on property values where you live.

 

[rhdr9193..x]

Not important at all. I like the flexibility of being able to move around as and when I want, and the benefits of renting outweigh the negatives for me

 

[lindseymw]

I have always been for owning rather than renting. I have just seen renting as dead money.

We own our home outright so we are in a very good position. DH lost his job last year and by not having a mortgage/rent to pay, he was able to take time off work to retrain into something he wanted rather than rush into another job (or try since 6000+ others were made redundant within the space of a month)

 

[loeylo]

For me it is massively important and was a bigger deal for me than other life goals like being married.

My reasoning was that when renting we were lining someone else's pockets, building up their equity, maintaining their property etc, whereas when owning we were building our own equity. Our mortgage worked out the same as our rent. Currently our house is valued at 20% more than we purchased it for. Even if the property market dips before we sell, so long as we can cover the remainder of our loan then we haven't lost out, even if it sells for less than we paid as we would be paying rent anyway.

Having the freedom to decorate as we wish, not having to worry too much about damage being done to the property (more an issue when we first got the dog tbh!) and knowing that the property is ours regardless of the landlord moving on was important. Especially since having the wee one, we couldn't get a rented property in a nice area for pur monthly payments, and getting her into a good school is important to me.

The homes around us are all owned by owner occupiers and having long term neighbours is another massive advantage, in mixed tenure areas such as the one we previously lived we had neighbours moving in and out regularly and had a few bad experiences. Obviously someone could buy to let but the rental market isn't particularly great here, which is maybe a disadvantage if we wanted to rent our property out in future.

Another disadvantage is the responsibility for repairs, for example the shower has just broken and we cant just call the landlord to fix it, but we factor unexpected repairs into our budgeting. Its just a part of adult life imo, like car repairs.

If we stay where we are, a three bed home with front and rear garden in a nice area, we can comfortably be mortgage free by our mid 30s. We then have the option to buy a second home, yo maybe buy a holiday home, or to make other choices we couldn't make if we were renting.

I should also add that our mortgage payments are quite low and would be affordable ob even one salary, so it isn't like we are mega rich or anything, right now we do have additional payments such as a fitted kitchen and money we borrowed to but furniture and renovate ethe place, but those will be paid off in 2 years. We chose to pay them off seperatwly and have a few years of frugal living instead of having a larger mortgage.

Wow I don't know where you live but it's either affordable or you're absolutely loaded lol!! Mortgage free by mid thirties, excuse me while i fall off my chair laughing!! A 3 bed house where I'm from you're looking at nearly half a million pounds. I honestly think buying or renting might depend on property values where you live.

For a new build three bed here you are maybe £150,000 - £300,000 depending on the area and standard of finish. Older houses vary massively. We definitely aren't loaded, we are probably slightly above average income but not massively so (jointly around £56,000 which is fairly even between us) but we bought our house at a fantastic price and spent a fair bit doing it up. Right now nearly half our income goes on mortgage and loan repayments. We also make large overpayments when we can.

We cut back in other areas - we don't have cable tv (freeview) and we minimise food costs by cooking from scratch. We have no childcare costs and only run one older car.

I'm personally willing to make lots of sacrifices so we can own. I have a friend who owns by herself, bought at 23 and only earns £18,000 per year but will be mortgage free by her mid thirties too. Ij our area, not many young people do own.

 

[LoraLoo]

Very important to me, its stability for my family. Weve also a fair bit of equity in the house now which has opened up other options to us.

 

[Tasha]

I'd love to, purely for the stability but it's just not affordable here. The cheapest three bed in my area on right move is £475,000 and that's on a "not great" estate.

 

[LoveCakes]

Loeylo the average U.K. Household income is £23k, so you are in the loaded box lol

My hubby is adamant buying was the only option for us but I'd have happily rented for a few years.
Ultimately though we chose to buy so we could use it to save essentially and buy somewhere bigger at some point. Considering over the total term we'll pay back 2.5 times the house due to interest a lot of it lines the bank managers pockets. Like others have said we wanted to be in a permanent home and be able to do what we wanted with it. We've put a lot of money into our house but due to when we bought it we'd only break even if we sold now I reckon so it's not always an investment.
I like in NI so houses are cheaper here which helped.

 

[Pearls18]

Loeylo the average U.K. Household income is £23k, so you are in the loaded box lol

My hubby is adamant buying was the only option for us but I'd have happily rented for a few years.
Ultimately though we chose to buy so we could use it to save essentially and buy somewhere bigger at some point. Considering over the total term we'll pay back 2.5 times the house due to interest a lot of it lines the bank managers pockets. Like others have said we wanted to be in a permanent home and be able to do what we wanted with it. We've put a lot of money into our house but due to when we bought it we'd only break even if we sold now I reckon so it's not always an investment.
I like in NI so houses are cheaper here which helped.

Seriously the UK average household income is £23k?? That's so low?

 

[catty]

23k between 2 adults? That is very low??

It is very important to us! We rented before and i felt very uncomfortable. Our landlord would pop up alot, we couldnt decorate and if there was so much as a small mark on the wall he would notice.

We have taken our mortgage out over 35 years so if we were to stick to that we wouldnt be mortgage free until 60, however we will likely change to a lower term mortgage when our wages increase.

 

[Tasha]

Just found this;

The 2013/14 HBAI report gave median household income (2 adults) as £23,556. The provisional results from the April 2014 ASHE report gives median gross annual earnings of £22,044 for all employees and £27,195 for full-time employees.

 

[Pearls18]

Just found this;

The 2013/14 HBAI report gave median household income (2 adults) as £23,556. The provisional results from the April 2014 ASHE report gives median gross annual earnings of £22,044 for all employees and £27,195 for full-time employees.

Gosh that really surprises me, I can't imagine anyone I know living on that little, I suppose tax credits would bulk it up a bit.

 

[catty]

That would be 2 full time workers on less than minimum wage! I suppose alot of couples are not both working full time though so would average it out

 

[fxmummyduck]

My dh was earning over 50k when we had our flat, my earnings were sporadic, supply teacher so weren't counted in, I was the full time child care when lo arrived so no costs there, no fancy car and we cook our own meals etc, and yet a 3 bed house in the area we grew up in is well beyond our means.

My dh earns more now we've moved, but were abroad so not thinking about owning again for a while.

 

[Quartz]

It means the average income of a household containing 2 adults - both adults do not need to work and it could be a mix of part and full time work. Even then it seems low I earn nearly that in my 3 days a week.

Owning a home is vital to me I think its one of those things that you need particularly with pensions being what they are - we hope to pay off the mortgage by our 50s spend 10 years saving before retiring and then potentially downsizing to live off that income as well. I dont trust being able to live off a pension at all.

 

[loeylo]

Just found this;

The 2013/14 HBAI report gave median household income (2 adults) as £23,556. The provisional results from the April 2014 ASHE report gives median gross annual earnings of £22,044 for all employees and £27,195 for full-time employees.

As others have mentioned that is based on all two adult households, so could even include single parents with older children, retirees, families with SAH parents, etc.

I earn 30k, my oh earns 26k (both full time) so in fact for full time workers we are almost bang on average. My earnings to go up a fair amount for the next few years so each year does seem a bit easier.

 

[cupcake23]

Very important, so much so we even moved back in with the in laws to save up for 18 months for a deposit, it was hard work but we saved like crazy and was able to buy a 3 bed house in London. We previously owed a shared ownership property which was great as the housing association did any works/ improvements without even asking and we could decorate as we pleased but owning only 30% meant are outgoing are practically the same now and we get to own our home and reap the benefits of already having 60k in equity in one year.

 

[Lucasmum]

Just found this;

The 2013/14 HBAI report gave median household income (2 adults) as £23,556. The provisional results from the April 2014 ASHE report gives median gross annual earnings of £22,044 for all employees and £27,195 for full-time employees.

Gosh that really surprises me, I can't imagine anyone I know living on that little, I suppose tax credits would bulk it up a bit.

We dont live on much more than that as do most people I know

We cant afford to buy simple as we need to pay rent to have a roof over our heads whilst we pay rent there is no way we can save the £10-20,000 needed for a deposit, we live in an area of the country that isnt cheap to rent or buy, we have to rent private so this means even more money going out each month as we will be waiting years for social housing to home us, I would love to be able to buy our own home but unless our land lady wants to gives a few years free rent its not going to happen