Is renting a waste of money?

[Twister]

Well me and oh currently live with my parents and have done for about a year and a half now. He moved in because his parents moved away. We are looking to move out soon now that oh has a stable job finally. Unless we win the lottery we are going to be renting, because there's no way we'd be able to afford to buy. We lack space with my parents as it is and I don't think we would be able to stay there another couple of years and save for a deposit to buy either, it just wouldn't work out. We have argued enough because of the situation as it is, getting riled up at each other because sometimes we just feel so on top of each other. We are relishing the prospect of having more than one room.

Anyway my question is, as the title says, is renting a waste of money? All I ever seem to hear from people is that it's just throwing money away and whilst I can understand where they are coming from I also feel that its the best thing for us. We can't live like we are for as long as two years or more especially if we want to bring a LO into the world. Oh would rather buy and so would I but it just isn't feasible. It would be nice to hear from ladies who do rent or have rented, and what your opinions on it are?

 

[moomin_troll]

alot of people need to rent so no i dont see it as a waste of money at all. you need somewhere to live and we cant all afford to buy a house.

personaly i could not live with my mum raising children...we had to move in with my mum when zane was 3 months old for 2 months and it was hell! she was charging us rediculas rent anyway so we couldnt of saved much money living there anyway.

i think if u live on a budget so u can try and start savings that would be a good thing to do

 

[tinkerbelle93]

I guess renting is a bit of a waste of money but at the end of the day, buying just isn't an option for most of us so it's the only way to have a home.

Me and the OH currently are living with my mum and dad but are going to move out before LO arrives. We're going to have to rent as are not in a position to buy a house. The only way to save money would be to carry on living with the parents for yearss and who wants to do that? Life's too short lol. xx

 

[alocin22]

Renting is really a waste of money and i sure as hell would prefer to be paying off a mortgage instead of lining someone elses pocket for their retirement fund... but unfortunately we have to do what we have to do to keep a roof over our head as we just do not have the horrendous amount that is needed for a deposit to buy.

 

[Twister]

Yeah the way I see it is we need a roof over our heads and space, we also need the independence and we need it asap.

I really think the government needs to do something to make it easier for first time buyers to actually be able to buy somewhere, us owning our own place seems lightyears away to be honest.

 

[starangel27]

i agree we have been renting a few years now i didnt mind at first but now eith a baby i find it so frustrating we cant do what we want to the house but unless a miracle comes along we will be renting for quite a while yet, while renting we just dont have any spare money to save for a deposit on a house.

 

[kirst1805]

I rent, haven't got any other choice.. there's no way i'd be able to afford to buy anywhere so don't see it as a waste of money.

if you could afford to buy though and still rented i'd probably say it is a waste, personally.

xx

 

[tinkerbelle93]

Yeah the way I see it is we need a roof over our heads and space, we also need the independence and we need it asap.

I really think the government needs to do something to make it easier for first time buyers to actually be able to buy somewhere, us owning our own place seems lightyears away to be honest.

I know what you mean. As much as I love my mum and dad to pieces, I really need me and my OH to have our own place asap. My dad works night shift which is horrible as means tip-toeing around when I'm in the house during the day (definitely not ideal when LO comes along) and I do feel a bit guilty as me and OH don't really pay a huge amount of rent to them and we do get through a lot of food and obviously contribute to bills.

It's sad that living costs so much They were talking about this earlier on Loose Women (lol I've become hooked on bad daytime television, can't wait to be back at work) and it's too true. Ah well, I'm happy enough to rent for the time-being. It's just not having the security there and the fact you could be told to leave whenever :/ xx

 

[Claire1]

I rent and have done for 8 years. I'd love to buy a house but cant afford the deposite and worry about maintanence costs if we owned. Plus, on the upside to renting, if you have problem you phone someone and they fix it. Wew have done many times and I know its not been cheap! A mortgage is the same price as renting, poss cheaper, but maintaining the house costs a fortune.
Lots of people have to rent these days, its a roof over your head at the end of the day!

 

[Twister]

I rent, haven't got any other choice.. there's no way i'd be able to afford to buy anywhere so don't see it as a waste of money.

if you could afford to buy though and still rented i'd probably say it is a waste, personally.

xx

That's a really good way of looking at it.

Yeah the way I see it is we need a roof over our heads and space, we also need the independence and we need it asap.

I really think the government needs to do something to make it easier for first time buyers to actually be able to buy somewhere, us owning our own place seems lightyears away to be honest.

I know what you mean. As much as I love my mum and dad to pieces, I really need me and my OH to have our own place asap. My dad works night shift which is horrible as means tip-toeing around when I'm in the house during the day (definitely not ideal when LO comes along) and I do feel a bit guilty as me and OH don't really pay a huge amount of rent to them and we do get through a lot of food and obviously contribute to bills.

It's sad that living costs so much They were talking about this earlier on Loose Women (lol I've become hooked on bad daytime television, can't wait to be back at work) and it's too true. Ah well, I'm happy enough to rent for the time-being. It's just not having the security there and the fact you could be told to leave whenever :/ xx

Oh yes we are the same, my mom never asked for rent money initially as we were both out of work, I've had a couple of jobs over the time me and oh have been living here so we've contributed when we can. My mom's terrible though she just won't accept any money from us so we physically have to put it in her purse though. I do feel bad and I am always worrying that my parents are getting sick of us being there, but I am determined that we will repay them one day with a nice holiday or something.

And I also worry about being asked to leave as well, just hope that our landlord is easygoing and won't mind us living there long term.

And I was watching loose women earlier too that's what gave me the idea for this thread lol!

 

[jadenblu]

Personally, I'm a fan of renting. It takes a long time to be better off financially owning a home as opposed to renting, when you factor in maintenance costs. I rent and don't have to lift a finger when anything goes wrong. Pretty sure my landlord would even change the lightbulbs if I asked.

My DH and I have moved house due to circumstances 7 times in 6 years - VERY hard to do if you own your home. The only reason we want to buy would be so we could have dogs without having to struggle to find a pet friendly rental. But if it wasn't for that, I would honestly be happy renting forever!

 

[suzib76]

i i wouldnt say renting is a waste of money as such, but buying does offer security that renting never ever will

i have a freind who has just relocated 300 miles and has been in her house less than a year and the landlord has decided to sell it when the years tennancy is up

buying your own place offers piece of mind that you would never get with rental

 

[rubydoo1]

We rent as we dont have a choice, theres no way we could pay however many thousands for a deposit right now, so at the moment we have to rent! Have a look at nationwide though, they do a savings account where if you save with them for so long ( not sure exactly) then they may offer your a 95% mortgage. So maybe you could rent and try to save gradually for a deposit whilst you are renting. Hope that helps and you are definatley not alone in this position!

 

[Pixoletta]

I'm having trouble with my partner over this. He says renting is dead money and will not rent unless it's a council property (as it's not too much) so we are saving up for a mortgage so we can buy something instead. The thing is it's going to take us a long time and we already have a son and live with parents so in kind of the same situation as you guys. I want our own place so much, i've been in tears over this. I hope you find your solution.

Also have a look about homebuy www.homebuy.co.uk it's a shared ownership website.

 

[Twister]

Me and oh have come to an understanding that we need to move out for the sake of our relationship. Sorry to hear that you and your oh can't agree, Pixoletta I hope you come a solution soon (maybe a lottery win ).

 

[clairealfie]

Renting isn't as bad as people think.

I have a mortgage, 60% of which is just interest to the bank and 40% pays off the actual mortgage and this is pretty much normal. So if you think about it I'm basically paying rent to the bank, it's just dead money. If your rent is cheaper than the bank interest then actually it's cheaper to rent.

 

[MustangGTgirl]

In my opinion renting is a waste of money. I am not sure how it is in the UK but here in the states and especially in Texas, you can buy a home for cheaper monthly payments than you can rent. I currently own 2 homes right now, one I live in and the other I am selling on payments. The first place only costed me 169$ a month to rent to buy. The place I am in now only costed 365$ a month to rent to buy on a 10 year note! Needless to say we paid it off in 2.5 years just to save the extra interest money (we made triple payments each month than gave a lump sum of 17,000$ last year). The average rent here is 800-900$ for the type of home I live in.

Ofcourse if your situation does not permit leasing to own a home than you have no other options but to rent but I would save up enough for a small 20% down payment for a modest home and try to find an owner financed home.

 

[Claire1]

My gosh, buying is much cheaper in the US. Renting is prob cheaper then buying.

 

[ellismum]

I believe that before the issue with purchasing your first house and it's cost is addressed the rental system in the UK needs a serious overhaul. In Europe secure tenancys of 10+ years are common place unlike the poxy 6 months here. If you rent through an agency the fee's are atrocious, not only when entering but at renewal and exit too.

This countries so material and money obsessed, isn't the most important thing that there is a sage and secure roof over your head?

 

[Claire1]

I believe that before the issue with purchasing your first house and it's cost is addressed the rental system in the UK needs a serious overhaul. In Europe secure tenancys of 10+ years are common place unlike the poxy 6 months here. If you rent through an agency the fee's are atrocious, not only when entering but at renewal and exit too.

This countries so material and money obsessed, isn't the most important thing that there is a sage and secure roof over your head?

Totally agree with that. Thats one of our fav sayings "at least we have a roof over our heads"