Buying a house (and renting)

Lotus wrote:I went to view a flat today - very nice, good location in a village, countryside around, close to motorways and A roads, etc. Great inside as well.

One thing I noticed on the 'brochure' though as I was leaving was that the place has Calor gas heating.

Does anyone know if I'm right when I say this means I'd have to fill up a gas tank thing? Anyone have any experience with how much of a pain this is, and how expensive this is compared to mains gas?

We use bottled gas. Very common down here and no trouble at all to be honest. Companies just come and replace them as you need it. Not expensive for us. Tis only for cooking though so about 100 pounds per year max. Less i think really as i think we only replaced our once last year when both empty at 50 total.

Mostly we're on elec with night storage (which is now costing us over a third last than in the past since we properly insulated our house if anyone is debating doing it).

I suppose the benefit is you know exactly how much you're using.

I got my first mortgage statement through the other day. One whole year of paying off the mortgage (plus monthly overpayments) and the balance has barely shifted. People told me that you don't see the balance drop for a few years but strawberry float me it is depressing!

So, I paid my deposit and signed the contract the other day. gooseberry fool just got real.

One thing I'm slightly stressed about is the idea of the move itself/setting up utilities/ordering and delivery of furniture.

Does anyone who's done this before have any tips on how to plan and co-ordinate this? I'm so busy with work that I barely have time to think about it properly, let alone actually plan something.

You just need to sit down and churn through it all unfortunately. Making sure any existing providers know you don't owe them anything is a good start, too.

I bought a flat a few months ago, have fun trying not to damage anything and treating it like a new born baby. I already have a dent in the wall from Taiko practice, scuff marks on the white walls (thanks BT engineer) and a red wine spill on the carpet.

Set everything up via Direct Debit and don't worry about it, I don't really know how much mine costs me, just that it's within my monthly income. I hate dealing with any forms, documents or that sort of stuff.

As for moving. Box everything up now. I found it useful to put things I know I want/need in one set of boxes and the rest in another. The other boxes are still at my family home, I don't feel I need them and it's saved a lot of space in the new place.

Good luck with it all.

Lotus wrote:So, I paid my deposit and signed the contract the other day. gooseberry fool just got real.

One thing I'm slightly stressed about is the idea of the move itself/setting up utilities/ordering and delivery of furniture.

Does anyone who's done this before have any tips on how to plan and co-ordinate this? I'm so busy with work that I barely have time to think about it properly, let alone actually plan something.

For moving, just phone up a man with a van. Every town has one. Buy some boxes online and pack your stuff into them.

Setting up utilities? Get yourself a wife and make her do all that gooseberry fool, while you pretend to look busy with a paint brush. Also helps if you walk about with a tape measure and a screwdriver. Frowning seems to add to the whole "Not now woman, can't you see I'm busy" vibe.

Furniture? Ikea.

Well I moved into the new house a couple of weeks ago.

It's pretty simple. Basically, if you know the current suppliers it's pretty easy to get everything sorted. Took me about 2 hours to do it on move day.

Just a case of phoning up Electric company (they normally are your gas supplier too) and then giving them your meter readings on day of move, make sure you have a forwarding address for the previous person so they can send a final bill to them.

Council Tax is also pretty simple case of letting them know you've bought the place and moving in, if you're on your own you can get single person discount so make sure you mention this.

Water is simple enough of getting the local supplier to sort it all out and set up a direct debit.

One of the things I recommend is renting out a van for the day, mine was £45 for a whole day 9-5, I did have the bonus of getting loads of flatpacked boxes from work so it wasn't too bad but I boxed everything up in the nights after work and then on move day picked up the van and then loaded it up and did about 3 trips between new and old house.

Didn't worry about unpacking on the move day as I wanted to get the most out of the van. Ended up going to Ikea and got most stuff from there, have a look around at different things, you might find one item which is £200 but then a varaition of it which has one less draw for a £100 less IKEA are a bit wierd like that. It's what I did, also have a look at the Bargain corner these are items which are either Ex-Display or packaging has been broken got a TV display from there for 20% off only because the box was tore up, everything was still in there but for the discount I wasn't arguing.

It is a stressful thing, Im sure my mates would say I was bit of a ticking time bomb in the lead up to the move but once that move in day has been finished then its a huge relief lifted.

Not sure what you're work is like but I had to take a couple of days off for engineers to come (alot of them dont work weekends), so bare in mind this with the likes of SKY and that depending on what you're doing.

If you need any more help dont be afraid to give me a shout and I'll try and help as much as possible.

Was having a pokey about online last night for a place to move into next year. Found a few places looking like this,







In this building



Close to a train station, motorway, and the river clyde with totally awesome view. For £600ish a month. It's so freakin' fabulous.

It's in Port Glasgow. On a scale of 1-shithole it rates about 45. I don't think I have enough heroin in my blood to qualify as a resident. I suppose being a secure gated place, in it's own sort of secluded area I could survive once I learnt to drive.

Lol I was about to ask where the strawberry float it was to get that for 600pcm.

Moved in with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, graduated and jobless as of last week so realistic rent and having what we need long term was important.

Toffy Farnham in Surrey is expensive, but we managed to negotiate £50 quid off through Gascoigne Pees on a reasonable double room and studio living room / kitchen house with private parking and front garden for 700pcm, so 350pcm each, about a tenner more than my horribly studenty (fire doors!! ) 6 bedroom house share. The train station into London is literally other side of the fence and 5 minute walk to town centre/supermarket/uni library, 2m walk to our favourite pub.

Lovely little coldesac with lots of front gardens, trees, very quiet and barely notice the trains rumbling by as it's all double glazed.

We have loft access! This is so rare in my experience. It's almost all boarded up so I can store loads of art/equipment crap and keep the living area and bedroom clear of clutter. Put a couple of positionable spotlights up there so I can easily get stuff in and out.

I can't see why anyone young would want to buy in the current climate, maybe it's just my age or lifestyle or whatever but it's relatively painless to move rental and we can probably stay here unless the landlord wants to move in.. Which is unlikely for a 1 bedroom place.

It's perfect for us. Renting a house even a small one feels just like having a proper home which is a awesome after shitty student accommodation, cheap (actually not cheap at all) flats and apartments, ex council estate etc.

What benefit is there really from owning a house? I don't really get it, unless you actually manage to make a profit... After you've spent half your life paying off the mortgage etc.

It sounds like a whole lot of unnecessary hell and I'd feel so tied down.

Green Gecko wrote:Lol I was about to ask where the strawberry float it was to get that for 600pcm.

Moved in with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, graduated and jobless as of last week so realistic rent and having what we need long term was important.

Toffy Farnham in Surrey is expensive, but we managed to negotiate £50 quid off through Gascoigne Pees on a reasonable double room and studio living room / kitchen house with private parking and front garden for 700pcm, so 350pcm each, about a tenner more than my horribly studenty (fire doors!! ) 6 bedroom house share. The train station into London is literally other side of the fence and 5 minute walk to town centre/supermarket/uni library, 2m walk to our favourite pub.

Lovely little coldesac with lots of front gardens, trees, very quiet and barely notice the trains rumbling by as it's all double glazed.

We have loft access! This is so rare in my experience. It's almost all boarded up so I can store loads of art/equipment crap and keep the living area and bedroom clear of clutter. Put a couple of positionable spotlights up there so I can easily get stuff in and out.

I can't see why anyone young would want to buy in the current climate, maybe it's just my age or lifestyle or whatever but it's relatively painless to move rental and we can probably stay here unless the landlord wants to move in.. Which is unlikely for a 1 bedroom place.

It's perfect for us. Renting a house even a small one feels just like having a proper home which is a awesome after shitty student accommodation, cheap (actually not cheap at all) flats and apartments, ex council estate etc.

What benefit is there really from owning a house? I don't really get it, unless you actually manage to make a profit... After you've spent half your life paying off the mortgage etc.

That you end up owning an asset rather than just paying off someone else's mortgage.

Ecno wrote:

Green Gecko wrote:Lol I was about to ask where the strawberry float it was to get that for 600pcm.

Moved in with my girlfriend a few weeks ago, graduated and jobless as of last week so realistic rent and having what we need long term was important.

Toffy Farnham in Surrey is expensive, but we managed to negotiate £50 quid off through Gascoigne Pees on a reasonable double room and studio living room / kitchen house with private parking and front garden for 700pcm, so 350pcm each, about a tenner more than my horribly studenty (fire doors!! ) 6 bedroom house share. The train station into London is literally other side of the fence and 5 minute walk to town centre/supermarket/uni library, 2m walk to our favourite pub.

Lovely little coldesac with lots of front gardens, trees, very quiet and barely notice the trains rumbling by as it's all double glazed.

We have loft access! This is so rare in my experience. It's almost all boarded up so I can store loads of art/equipment crap and keep the living area and bedroom clear of clutter. Put a couple of positionable spotlights up there so I can easily get stuff in and out.

I can't see why anyone young would want to buy in the current climate, maybe it's just my age or lifestyle or whatever but it's relatively painless to move rental and we can probably stay here unless the landlord wants to move in.. Which is unlikely for a 1 bedroom place.

It's perfect for us. Renting a house even a small one feels just like having a proper home which is a awesome after shitty student accommodation, cheap (actually not cheap at all) flats and apartments, ex council estate etc.

What benefit is there really from owning a house? I don't really get it, unless you actually manage to make a profit... After you've spent half your life paying off the mortgage etc.

That you end up owning an asset rather than just paying off someone else's mortgage.

This, plus as prices are down if you can put up a decent deposit the mortgage is around the same price as renting. I pay 560 a month on the mortgage of a 3 bedroom Semi-Detached house. Far better than renting.

Green Gecko wrote:
What benefit is there really from owning a house? I don't really get it, unless you actually manage to make a profit... After you've spent half your life paying off the mortgage etc.

It sounds like a whole lot of unnecessary hell and I'd feel so tied down.

There are a number of benefits to owning a house (and a few drawbacks).

The first benefit would be that you are not paying off somebody elses mortgage. And the mortage is usually cheaper than rent.

Another benefit is that if you sell years down the line, you should actually have cash in hand to either go towards buying somewhere else, renting or blowing all the cash on hookers.

Once you have paid off the mortgage (20 - 25 years) you no longer have to pay to live in your home anymore. Renting means you will spend your entire life paying out money just to have somewhere to live.

Owning a home means you can make alterations without asking permission from anyone. Want to put up a shelf? Go ahead. Want to paint the walls a different colour? Go ahead. Want to knock a wall down to make a bigger room? Go ahead. Want a conservatory, attic conversion etc? Go ahead.

There are drawbacks of course. It is not as easy to just decide to pack up and go somewhere else. If you lose your job you will lose your home (if you are still paying a mortgage). If there is a property price crash, you could end up in negative equity and be unable to sell for years (or sell at a huge loss).

I'm starting to delve into this minefield myself at the moment, albeit with a flat rather than a house (babysteps and all that).

Not got much beyond perusing Rightmove before checking out some of the banks and shitting bricks at the deposit I'll need, although I have been quite a good saver since I started earning post-Uni and could probably afford a decent place. Been doing some budgeting as well and wondering where the strawberry float I'm going to find money to, you know, eat and stuff as well as paying for a damn flat.

I did consider the renting option for the flexibility, but I'm in the 'lining someone elses pockets' school of thought and don't really want to go down that road now.

Thanks for educating me as I know almost nothing about how buying a house works.

Yeah I hate not being able to put up shelves, install proper workstations etc. or even put up posters (I usually end up doing that anyway). I'm not all that bothered about decorating but I'm sure I'd do it if I could.

Obviously buying a house after graduating is impossible, that's a target for a solid career and maybe even a family. But I tend to live by my means, I don't need or really want a lot of disposable income so the savings of a mortgage, I'm not even sure that's worth being tied down by it. Who wants to be in their early twenties? I should be keeping my options open.

So of course renting is better for me. As long as I can pay my rent, I don't need or desire a lot of material things above what I already have.. And have a enough spare to travel around and get the beers in, I'm pretty happy.

I'm not even sure I want to be earning more than my means, and I'd need to earn and save a lot for a house in the future. That usually means (a) becoming a semi famous artist or (b) doing a profession I don't want to do making me unhappy.

Each to their own and all that.

Oh there is nothing wrong with renting while you are still young (or even when you are older). It all comes down to what you want to do and what you are comfortable with.

Some people like the freedom of renting, some people like the security of owning. There are no right or wrongs.

I doubt I'll be buying anytime in the next 15 years if the last 5 have been anything to go by. I actually like moving house (8 times since I first moved out, not included being shafted round halls for summer months), and experiencing new areas and lifestyles so renting suits me fine.

See, I would rather live in a box on the street than a rented house. It's dead money. At least when I've paid off my mortgage, I'll have ~150K's worth of asset to do whatever the strawberry float I want with. Plus, I like my independence. I don't like the thought of having to ask permission to do anything to the place I'm living in. I'm also terrified that a landlord would one day be like "lol you have to leave now" and I'd be strawberry floated.

Each to their own, innit.

Edit: Plus our mortgage is about £300 a month less than renting a similar sized house would be.

Yeah amen to that, the feeling once you own is strawberry floating amazing, I've gone to work feeling I do it because I want to these days, not because I have to to keep my house.

Agreed a price to buy my flat from my landlord today Guildford or life