Buy v Rent

[ratewhore]

Thought I'd reignite the fire. Good article from DailyReckoning discussing the options...

http://www.dailyreckoning.co.uk/article/260620064.html

[DimPrawn]

Load of old tosh.

Renting short term, good idea or if you intend to move lots of times. Buying over the long term gives you a house and a large lump of equity at the end to help you in old age, give to family or (if your tax planning is poor), give to Gordon.

HTH

[ratewhore]

Seemingly the continentals dont share that view...

[AtW]

Seemingly the continentals dont share that view...

Yes but they can't borrow £1 trillion of debt because they rent...

[sunnysan]

Great

Certain adds weight to the articles argument by placing an advert directly afterwards stating that you can earn £20000 a month from property.... wtf?

[DimPrawn]

Seemingly the continentals dont share that view...

Have they bought a 3 bed house for £50K and then sold it for £500K after 15 years like many Londoners have, and then retired to France or Spain and bought a villa cash with the equity?

No, they will be paying rent at age 20 and paying rent at age 70.

[shaunbhoy]

Seemingly the continentals dont share that view...

So go and be a continental then and stop pissing against the wind here in Blighty!

[AtW]

Dim, at 70 your priority will be not to piss in your bed overnight rather than think about how good it is to own property. AFAIK pensions are much better in the rest of Europe, its only here people pay all their life only to get screwed by the State at the end, so owning house is essential to have half decent living because otherwise rent will take all the pension money and there will be nothing to eat: high ownership of houses in this country is not something that is special or very good, its just a symptom of big issue of retirement.

[DimPrawn]

At the end of the day, renting gives you more mobility and buying usually means you'll have a largish pot of cash later in life. Most IT contractors will have paid off their mortgage in their 40's and hence will be living "rent free" and at the same time have equity in their homes to use as they see fit.

Renters will be shelling out rent forever and as you say, pensions in the UK are pathetic (unless you are a public sector worker in which case you are laughing) so you can't be paying rent in retirement.

So long term you have no choice but to buy or live in poverty later in life.

[shaunbhoy]

so owning house is essential to have half decent living because otherwise rent will take all the pension money and there will be nothing to eat

The problem there AtW is that if you own a house when you reach retirement age then need health care, the government here will simply take your house and all its equity to pay for it. No, what you need to be thinking about now as a retirement plan is selling up around retirement age, stuffing the money into a high interest account, and buying a narrow boat to live on. Low cost and low maintenance with very few bills involved. Potter around the burgeoning canals system from pub to pub having a whale of a time until you finally shuffle off your mortal coils. Lovely!