Renting or Buying

[otokonomidori]

I first bought a house back in the early 80's and have, over the years, moved to bigger and better places.

The mortgage was paid off long ago and I make quite a bit of tax free money from renting the spare rooms to [attractive female with cooking skills and a good sense of humour] European students.

It's hard to see the economic sense in renting a home if you can afford to buy one

[amantpoche]

I rented Still, I too need to go elsewhere to buy,
enough to have lived in several countries

[pierrelm]

The big 'if' is finding somewhere to afford - I live nearly 20 miles from where I work as I simply can't afford a family home in the city where I'm employed. The upside is I/we have my own 100 yr old modernised cottage surrounded by woodland and grazing pasture, with skylarks and yellowhammers singing their little socks off all around plus acres of countryside to roam around. I'm also lucky enough to be able to do the majority of my own building/repair work and have a decent garden where I grow fruit and veg as well as a 'cottage' garden planted to attract birds, bees and butterflies. And f'ing rabbits; I also own a gun.

When I was younger, I loved living in shared bedsit housing - parties all the time and the idea of settling down was an anathema, but as soon as I could afford to I got my own flat and moved up (and further out) from there.The value of property:wages is always increasing - there's no better time to buy than today...I'd hate to rent again.

[LadyLuck]

I was a homeowner. Watched the value of the property ramp up in the early 2000s. All the while there was this guy on the radio who owned a mortgage company predicting a real estate crash coming. Betting that he was right I sold my property in spring 2007. We know what happened a year later. I got top dollar for it and some really sweet paper equity that I converted to $$$. I am still in contact with the buyer. They love the house but are hopelessly under water on that home. It will be a while before it even becomes worth what they paid me. They won't be selling any time soon.

I currently rent. There are advantages to both sides but currently I really am digging not having to deal with the day to day headaches of home ownership.

[billybunter]

I bought my house 20 years ago for £8000 well £4000 for the house and the other 4k to gut it. Mortgage long since paid off.

[royalphoenix]

Own with a mortgage in the US. Mortgage rate has been under 3% for the past 36 months.

[SanteeFats]

If you can afford it I believe you should buy, at least in the U.S. There are income tax advantages plus you are not paying some one else's house payment for them. Your monthly payment will not go up unless something like property taxes change. You can also do as you like, within reason, to your property unlike a rental where you either can not do anything or must ask first. Yes you are responsible for maintenance and repairs if you own but it is still the best way to go in my opinion. If you can do as I was fortunate to do you can buy more than one unit on your property. I now get enough rent from my front house that covers everything on both houses with money left over.

[karloschaos]

I did own a small 2 bedroom terraced house in one of the less desirable parts of my city which, whilst pleasant enough, I would never have been able to sell due to it's location. The council were completely redeveloping the whole street so they bought everyone out. I was thus able to completely clear myself of all of my debts, pay off all of my credit cards, give my mum £3500 to do whatever she wanted, treat myself to a Rickenbacker & a Roland synth, have a bloody good time & then found a flat in the most desirable part of the city which is half the distance to my work, 1 minute away from my favourite pub &, most importantly, £60 a week cheaper to rent than my mortgage was!! The only downside is the landlord & landlady occupy the bottom floor of the house so no Motorhead at 2 in the morning. A small price to pay I'd say.

[penfold007]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

If you can afford it I believe you should buy, at least in the U.S. There are income tax advantages plus you are not paying some one else's house payment for them. Your monthly payment will not go up unless something like property taxes change.

Whereas the situation is rather different in the UK. No income tax advantages and our mortgages are typically variable rate, so if the base rate rises then the mortgage rate rises a similar amount. Fixes are available, but typically 2-3 years only, if you want to fix for 5 or 10 years then the choices are very limited and you will pay a substantial interest rate premium. Fixes for the term of the mortgage are almost unheard of.

We used to have something called MIRAS which gave you tax relief on mortgage interest, but that was abolished almost 20 years ago.

[old alal]

Owned & mortgage free.

Have rental property as well.

Used to have a place in Spain until the local mayor used the proximity to the sea rules to force us out and re-possess the land. Thought we were all in the same European Union!

Wonders if those who used right to buy (in the UK) actually vote Conservative (as it was they who introduced this right), as my mother is law got hers this way but refuses to vote anything other than Labour. (hypocritical biach, and she says she is blighted by "the scrotes and scroungers" who live near her keeping her house value down)