Be Excellent To Each Other

As mentioned somewhere else, GJ has a new job, somewhere in the Nottingham area, I, meanwhile work somewhere around the Coventry area, so we need somewhere new to live, somewhere in the middle. That middle would appear to be Leicester somewhere in the vicinity of Leicester.

In an ideal world, we'd buy somewhere in a few months time when GJ has her new salary and I (hopefully) have had a pay rise, but due to it currently being something like a 3 hour round trip for her at the moment, we need to get something before she starts in a couple of months time, but we'd then like to get something a bit nicer in around 6-12 months time (ideally closer to 6).

Originally, we were going to buy, because rent is dead money. But if we buy a place with the intention of selling it in 6 months, will we even have made the slightest dent in the mortgage for that not to have effectively been dead money anyway. My concern is that if we buy, we're looking to buy somewhere that we don't particularly want to live, and gambling that we can sell it for enough of a profit to give us a decent deposit, whereas we could be renting for the same monthly outlay, but without any of the buying costs (the first time round), or the cost/hassle of selling.

So, what say you, hive mind?

PS I've forgotten what all the thread dimlies mean, so if the pipe one means serious thread, no jokes please, then feel free to ignore the no jokes please stipulation.

Will you get somewhere under £125K? If not, then you're paying stamp duty, so that's already £1250+ thrown away. Plus estate agents and conveyancing fees. I'd say rent.

The way things are at the moment, this property will be my mortgage alone, so will definitely be less than £125k, the next one would be a joint purchase and almost certainly above £125k.

Yes, we're only buying on Joans' wages to begin with, so less than £100k

ETA: That's a good point though, so thanks for making it.

Rent for sure, or even stay where you are for now. I assume your 3 hour round trip means 90 minutes each way, not 3 hours each way? I know it's hard to believe for you northern types, but that is perfectly doable, even quite usual for the London area

If it's short term: rent. To me buying, with all the bullshit and hassle and risk that goes with it, just seems mental if you're only doing it for six months.

I know some people who've tried to buy places and it's taken six months just to exchange fricking contracts.

That's assuming I don't hit traffic/bad weather, it's taken me nearly three hours in the past. That's unacceptable when I have to be in for 8am.

Also, we don't get London weighting in our pay, it would cost an absolute fortune!

There's a way to solve that problem, you know

Then it would be an even longer commute.

yeah, all the bullshit that goes with buying, you might not even make it to the exchange date in 6 months, I say rent.

Just rent. As everyone else says, buying can take absolutely ages. And if you're only living there for 6 months, you're not going to see any sort of increase in value to give you a meaningful profit. Certainly, anything you do make will be wiped out by all of the miscellaneous expenses you incur buying a house.

There's also selling the thing in the first place, which could take months again.

If you're renting, whilst you're essentially throwing money away, at least you have a stable base from which to make an informed house purchase once you can combine your wages, especially if you're renting around the area you wish to buy. Suss it all out a bit first. Surely you'd be rushing things a tad anyway if you need a house lickety split?

No question: rent. You don't want to be stuck with a white elephant of a house that you can't sell. Also renting is a good way to get to know the area

For example, where I live is beautiful on paper. A York suburb with a lovely pub, a cricket pitch and a gorgeous communal green surrounded by quaint houses. If we'd bought a house here, we'd be stuck, and I'd probably fucking top myself. It's horrible. The picturesque green, it turns out, is a chav hangout and an anti-social behaviour hot spot. Definitely better to rent first if you're unfamiliar with an area.

Fine, but you're having the side under the window, it's a bit too drafty for me.

Don't buy a house in Leicester, for fuck's sake.

So we should rent one then?

Or pitch a tent somewhere.

Rent, and keep renting until you die.

Fucking houses.

Done!

And doubled, as it's one of many reasons why it isn't dead money. It really isn't. You either live somewhere nicer for the same amount you'd be paying in rent, or you have more money to save (well, you know) if you pay less rent than you would in a mortgage. Value your time - if buying takes an extra 25 hours to look round, places, organise finance etc, that's a dead 25 hours, in which theoretically you could have been working, resting, whatever. Plus if anything breaks or needs redoing, it's all your cost. Never ceases to stagger me that people forget these things, and that's if you're buying somewhere for years. For a question of months I don't think there's any contest, plus it then gives you a base a bit closer to more easily explore where you might want to live longer term without being committed.

Never mind 6 months, pick a timescale. Seriously, there are lots of landlords, at least the amateur or accidental ones who look at their paper profit of xk and wonder why they don't have x. Because you don't actually make that much. Just as a kickoff, if you buy a house with a 25 year mortgage, you're giving piles of money to the mortgage provider, so your house *has* to double in value over that time in order for you not to lose money, and that's assuming you've spent nothing on maintenance etc. With the latter, perhaps take it up to the house tripling in value. And that's to stand still.

The unanimous opinion appears to be to rent then, which brings me on to part two...

"Stupid questions about renting"

It would appear that we now have to go through a (potentially) lengthy vetting process with whichever letting agent we choose. So the question is, how do we choose? Do we find one that has a property (or ideally more than one) that we like, and go with them and hope they still have something available when we've been vetted? Or is it basically just pot luck?

Find the property you want. The 'vetting' process can be done while you wait to move in, unless you're an axe murderer.

This is what I'd assumed, given that you can credit check someone in the blink of an eye.

They may need work references, but I've never had trouble renting anywhere fairly promptly, and I've loved in about 8 different places in London.

That was more information than was required, thanks.

You may need to pay for references

Take all pictures off Facebook ( or at least make private ) of you lighting camp fires in your front room / smashing furniture up with an axe / running dog fights from your kitchen / experimenting in your loft with thermite. A relative who works in the business says plenty of landlords use it as a cheap, quick "reference" system.

Probably should get rid of the indoor bowling ones from the Cottage, too.

Change that to you will (and probably for both of you) when we moved last year that was around £160 (and there are various other fees that they will add in - and remember you'll need a deposit which will probably be either 1.5x or 2x monthly rent.



Remove all references to ceiling fans

Paying for references is a chump's game. Just turn up and bung them the deposit and first month's rent and that's you done.

Source: me. Twice.

The 3 places we've rented from 'insisted' on references and charging us for them , it wasnt a 'do you want to do this' it was a 'you have to do this or we wont rent to you' so i guess your mileage may vary

Why would they charge you to get references for them?

I have no idea. If they didn't insist on them, my fucking house would probably be rented by now.

In all seriousness, you need legal references to validate the landlord's insurance.

I've never heard of being charged for references either.

They charge you for them to go out and get references on you , so they contact your employer / previous landlord etc (with pretty stock questions) and they charge you for the privileged.

As I've only ever rented in this area (Hampshire) it may vary around the country but we've been charged each time

PDF from citizens advice

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... ms&cad=rja

Ooh! Turns out from looking at http://www.shelter.org.uk that letting agents can charge for silly shit like that down south, but up here the laws say naw.