Selling up and going back to renting?

[ianess]

Has anyone any advice to offer to someone who is sick to death of paying a mortgage and having to continually maintain and upgrade your property?
We're seriously thinking of moving mainly because I'm unsettled but renting instead of buying. Must admit my wife isn't 100% behind me on this one.
Any serious answers most welcome.

[agent4]

Have a good think about what you are doing

Renting the property one day will never be yours i rented for 6 months and waisted 3000 quid

With a mortgage one day it will be yours(dont know if you have children) then you pass the house on to them to sell and leave them with a half decent bank account.

Its up to you but id never rent again i know its a pain trying to pay bills and doing work on your house. But your not alone. When i decided to have a new kitchen i lived of kebab for 5 months because i couldnt afford the kitcken in one go just take it easy theres no rush. good luck with what you decide.

[horselady]

Hi, strangely enough we are thinking of doing exactly the same thing. We pay a lot on the mortgage and can live in a much nicer property with a monthly rent of less. It is hard to decide though. The days of leaving the property for your children are fast disappearing, if we went into care, the house would have to be sold to pay for it anyway, you have to live for the moment and enjoy life, if you would be happier selling then do it.

[ruthann58]

all the money you pay in rent is wasted lining someone elses pockets, stick with it in the end you will pay off the mortgage and it will be yours if you rent you will still have to pay bills and i dont think many landlords take care of the inside decorating and such like will still be down to you. you will finish paying a mortgage but you wont ever stop paying rent look upon your mortgage as saving once you have finished paying you could sell up and blow all the money travelling the world you wont ever get it back paying rent good luck it does get better

[Loosehead]

It's a much closer comparison than you think.

"all the rent is wasted" - a common enough statement but when you have a mortgage 95% is wasted. the difference is merely what you are renting, in the one case you are renting the property in the other you are renting the money. Now you only have to benefit by 5% renting to make it worth doing. So no property maintenance necessary that's good but you don't get the capital appreciation but neither do you suffer the price drops so you have to factor all that in. You may eventually own the house and thats good but at what cost, what if the values fall? you lose even the little bit you have repaid.

The 2 cases are primarily paying for somewhere to live and in that context they are very similar.

[msemma]

why not look at buying somewhere unusual, i.e. a cottage or unusual property in a unique location so you feel like you can do your own thing, stamp your identity on it and not be obliged to keep up with the jones's? Consider moving to one of those newer eco-friendly type homes? lower bills, nice and futuristic. don't know what your situation is, but if you are flexible, and really want to do without the hassle of owning somewhere for the time being how about renting in a few different areas, moving around the country? especially with summer coming up, lots of opportunities for short term work and the opportunity to see and do things you've never considered before.

[Cheekystar]

from someone who rents point of view, we feel we're wasting money each month, we can't paint the flat, we cant make holes in the wall, we know our landlord can leave his property empty and rent else where due to the price we pay for rent, we have 6 monthly inspections (ahhhhhhhhh) no pets, no garden for us (we're 3 floors up) and with 6 monthly agreements it could go pete tong at any time

On the good side (and its only a small one) the landlord is responsible for reparing things eg boiler, cooker etc, which has saved us a little

Would much rather be in a place of our own, with a mortgage

[parkesquay]

Interesting question and as a generalisation it is not a good move to rent when one can buy especially for term. Other folk have covered the obvious but, depending on your circumstances downsizing might reduce your maintenance costs.

My wife and I(plus cat) have just moved into a 2 Bed Flat in the centre of a market town(Tavistock) and love the lifestyle it offers. OK no garden but the local area is fantastic. Plenty of coffee places/tearooms which we can walk to. Immediate parking is a problem. Even our ground rent and management fees don't come to more that �350pa. Also it was a lot cheaper than our previous 3 Bed house and so we have more money in our pockets. Even if the management fee was a bit more this has been offset by the lower council tax. Just a thought for you.

So there are alternatives. It all comes down to money and lifestyle doesn't it.

[WendyS]

I can understand that you might be fed up with paying a mortgage and spending money to maintain your property but at least one day it will be yours and nobody will have the power to kick you out with three months notice. Rental money is wasted. You're just lining the pockets of a landlord. One day you will be old and your pension may be insufficient to keep you in the comfort you would like. If you own a property you can trade down and use the surplus to supplement youeeeer pension, or you can do an equity release deal. If you rent for ever, you will always have to continue finding this rent once you're on a pension. Once your mortage is paid off, your outgoings will decrease considerably. Also if you rent you will undoubtedly be subject to rental increases from time to time whereas that extra money could be spent reducing your mortgage. Also, on the law of averages your mortgage will be paying for an investment which continues to increase in value. How you use that investment when the mortgage is fully paid up is your decision. You certainly won't have that flexibility if you rent.

[noxlumos]

For goodness sakes stick with the mortgage. If you hate where you are that much, then rent it to someone else and find somewhere to rent that you like better, but you are chucking away an eventual lump sum of money if you go to renting plus putting yourself at someone else's ( your landlords ) mercy and making sure you have no security into the bargain. The longest you can rent on an assured shorthold tenancy is 3 years and no-one rents a property out for that long, I always rent on 6 month contracts so I'm free to do what I like with the property at very short notice if something better comes along.If you fancy potentially moving every six months then go ahead but personally I think it's madness and a very stressful thing to be doing.