I Like Renting Because

[Guest The_Oldie]

Renting is spiffing because...

I like cheap carpets and Ikea furniture

Not fussed actually, as long as it's functional I don't care how long it lasts.

I love the insecurity of knowing I could be turfed out with four weeks' notice

One years contract.

I get a warm fuzzy glow from paying a complete stranger's mortgage

That old rubbish again. I pay for the use of the property, if the LL has a mortgage and uses the money to pay that off, so what! I'm quids in as the money I pay in rent is substantially less than the interest I receive on the money that I would use to purchase the property (at current valuation).

I like letting someone else make all my interior design decisions for me

Yup, saves me the bother.

I can snort derisively at the "sheeple" home owners who watch their properties increase in value every month, safe in the knowledge that when I leave, my land lord will sting me for £500 to cover the cost of a small stain on the carpet

You damage something, you pay to put it right, whether you own it or not.

Edit: We viewed a house last year with an asking price of £307K. It didn't sell and the owner took it off the market, but has now put it up for sale again after some improvements and redecoration at an asking price of £285K. So much for "home owners who watch their properties increase in value every month".

[mikefluk]

What you didn't tell me (or anyone else) was you have downsized from a 4 bed detached to a 3 bed semi.

Hence the low rent.

So what you are now saying is you have traded your standard of living to clear your credit cards and take a punt on the stock market and drive around in a people carrier. Suddenly that doesn't sound as rosy as your first post.

Nope - What I am saying is that I used my get "Get out of Debt Free Card" while I still could

[mikefluk]

How can you seriously say that? if you had a £150k repayment loan in 1996 the interest on your 4 bed house would be about £480pm today.

That's £170pm LESS than you are paying rent on the 3 bed semi today.

Are you automatically programmed to get things wrong. Yes it was a £150k mortgage (ignore subsequent MEWing to compare like with like) Interest on a £150k mortgage @ 6% (you can't get these variable rates now) is £750 per month. (How do you make it £480) So actually an interest rate only mortgage is £100 per month more, or don't you want facts to get in the way of your figures

Also don't forget I cashed in the £190k surplus, paid off all debts bought a family vehicle and reinvested the gains elsewhere. Interest alone on the £190k at 5% (4% after tax) is £633 per month, i.e. I live rent free and am not exposed to property market falls

Oh, hang on, you mentioned an endowment somewhere.

Was this wise? Endowments went belly up in 1999. Who was it who mentioned financial wisdom courses?

Wrong again. I took my endowments out in 1986, they are both on course to deliver their targeted amounts. Handy hedge against deflation.

W-A-P Either raise your game or butt out..you are irritating me

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

Wrong again. I took my endowments out in 1986, they are both on course to deliver their targeted amounts. Handy hedge against deflation.

Yes endowments, took my original one out in 1970 over thirty years and added 5 more when made redundant in 1980 over 25 years, paid out hansomely even with a slight loss due to the SM downturn on the latter 5. The life part would have given the wife a better return, the reason I had a personal food taster.

Would the ground rent and service charge be included in the quoted rent, or would that be an extra charge to the tenant ?

Any answers for me on this question.

[mikefluk]

That's a coincidence — I like buying, because my new place came with ten grands worth of all-new Smeg appliances, installed and guaranteed, and "all mine (legally)"

Kettle, toaster, LOL!!

Could you tell me how much the place cost and how much it would cost you to rent

[Without_a_Paddle]

Are you automatically programmed to get things wrong. Yes it was a £150k mortgage (ignore subsequent MEWing to compare like with like) Interest on a £150k mortgage @ 6% (you can't get these variable rates now) is £750 per month. (How do you make it £480) So actually an interest rate only mortgage is £100 per month more, or don't you want facts to get in the way of your figures

W-A-P Either raise your game or butt out..you are irritating me

OK I'll raise you....

Take out a repayment loan for £150k in 1996 and by today you will have paid off a fair amount of the capital of thee loan.

YOU ONLY PAY INTEREST ON THE DEBT YOU OWE.

So your interest payments per month TODAY will be LESS. (because you owe less)

eg you would probably only owe about £110k today had you paid back the mortgage properly.

eg you could refinance today at 5% interest on that £110k for a 15yr loan and be paying £460pm in interest plus £410 in capital repayments.

So you could have been paying at least £170pm LESS in interest today compared to renting the 3 bed semi.

See what I was getting at?

Edited December 1, 2006 by Without_a_Paddle

[the_duke_of_hazzard]

Renting is spiffing because...

I like cheap carpets and Ikea furniture

Nice wooden floors, and furniture is our own.

I love the insecurity of knowing I could be turfed out with four weeks' notice

Never happened in over 10 years of renting in 5 different places. More often it's me that's had to move, giving them notice, and they wanted me to stay.

I get a warm fuzzy glow from paying a complete stranger's mortgage

They're subsidising my rent, actually.

I like letting someone else make all my interior design decisions for me

Fair enough - but I hate making interior design decisions, and live in a BTL so it's all very neutral.

I can snort derisively at the "sheeple" home owners who watch their properties increase in value every month, safe in the knowledge that when I leave, my land lord will sting me for £500 to cover the cost of a small stain on the carpet

Again, that's never happened to me - I've always had my deposit back in full. You've got to vet your landlord, just like you'd get a survey done when buying a house.

[crashmonitor]

For twenty-one years I had been a homeowner and like the person who started this thread I agree it is nice not to have the responsibilities of home ownership.I had an old cottage set in an acre of grounds in the middle of the moors with no neighbours,I was mortgage free.I now live with my girlfriend in a one bed flat she leases mortgage free,where any external repairs are covered by the lease.British people expend so much energy on their houses,I did for twenty-one years.The pound is still worth something except if you buy a house.So converting the house into currency means ,in theory ,I wouldn't have to work again.Certainly during the twenty seven years I worked full time,I didn't have the time to even switch a computer on let alone piss about on HPC.co.Now I am working about one to two days a week only.The equityI released might not be enough for some of the big shots on this site to take it easy(who often seem to have jobs that pay 100K plus but oddly only seem to have that in equity,the inference being that they must burn the readies very quickly)but it is enough for me.And yes ,I will keep an eye on the pound;the MPC has been playing fast and loose with it for years and getting away with it.

[Orbital]

Yeah renting has its plus points, the maintenance part is a real treat, I used to just phone up the LL when something went wrong and it would be fixed before I got home - great stuff! That said, I now have insurance in my new place and it covers everything from appliances to drainage, so no suprises on the way there either - only £20 a month too. The guy paying 2k a year on maintenance needs to get over to moneysavingexpert.com and learn how to manage his money!!

Financial arguments can go either way, its interesting that the OP kinda forgot to mention that actually he is paying out quite a lot of money in rent, and paying of his landlords mortgage for him. Clearly one day the landlord will sell that place and be considerably better off than our OP!

And I think you've also missed an important point, as a home owner, I dont care about markets either, I have a family home with a room each for my (future) kids - why should I care if the 'percieved' value of the house goes up or down - until I sell it this is all meaningless and I have no need to move (but would like to upsize maybe). The difference between me and OP is that in 15 years time (thanks to mortgage overpayments) I will be free from any monthly accommodation costs. Unlike OP who will be a slave to landlords for the rest of their life - assuming he doesnt hop back on the property ladder!

Will house prices go up or down, none of us know, but the press is full again today of another month of record rises, despite the increase in interest rates (http://money.guardian.co.uk/houseprices/story/0,,1960695,00.html). People seem obsessed with repeating cycles but the world is a very different place, does it really make sense to compare to 20 years ago? And then how far do you go back to compare again? War torn Britain, Victorian England - what a rediculous idea, makes no sense to me.

We are in a unique period of pressure on the worlds resources, the shortage of new homes isnt going to go away with increasing population, desire for single occupancy, immmigration and poor infrastructure. The roads cant handlt more cars, the SE is running low on water, we are heading into a gas crisis and who knows where our leccy will come from. And as we all know, building anything in Britain takes ages and costs loads.

GL to the original poster, as I started by saying, renting has some plus points, it has some cons too. You do what you like tbh, at the end of the day you have to do what appeals to your way of life. For me its more important to nest, shape a home in my own style, to provide security. If those things dont matter then yeah of course renting might be an option - isnt that just common sense though lol?! My first rented flat was noisy as hell and the constant turnover of tennants around me made life a misery, I got forced out of a rental property 2 houses ago, the one after that had a well dodgy landlord and I didnt have the time/energy/willl to struggle - life's too short for that. Fortunately I had built up a nice deposit by then and decided to buy - been total bliss, really enjoyed the rennovating, loving the security, loving overpaying my mortgage and seeing that come down each month, love the knowledge that by the time im 40 I will be debt free to - and crucially, wont be paying any rent either !

So I dont care either about markets, so renting really isnt that amazing is it - just do what you think is right and let us do what we want for crying out loud!! I really struggle to see where the con is for me, at the end of the day, if you work hard and spend carefully youll be OK - this is true for everyone. You dont need to be a financial whizz or play the markets!

Cheers.

Did they send it recorded delivery? If not, no need to move out so quickly.

There's never a 'need' to move out quickly, you can wait until it goes through the courts if that suits you, takes months. Of course if your landlord does play fair he'll find a way to get you out, or if you need a reference for future rental agreements you might find youve burnt some bridges.

Edited December 1, 2006 by Orbital

[Veronica Moser]

Paying rent is dead money. Once you get off the property ladder you will find yourself never getting back onto the property ladder ever again.

The STRs are the real losers. They should admit defeat and throw in the towel and stop bothering everyone else with their useless drivel.

The STRs can sit back and enjoy watching their STR fund money being eroded away by inflation every day.

Every day that passes further diminishes the value of their precious STR fund money.

The STRs will never get back onto the property ladder in their lifetime so they should just get used to living in rented accommodation for the rest of their miserable lives, paying dead money in rent that is helping to pay off their landlord's mortgage.

[crashmonitor]

Paying rent is dead money. Once you get off the property ladder you will find yourself never getting back onto the property ladder ever again.

The STRs are the real losers. They should admit defeat and throw in the towel and stop bothering everyone else with their useless drivel.

The STRs can sit back and enjoy watching their STR fund money being eroded away by inflation every day.

Every day that passes further diminishes the value of their precious STR fund money.

The STRs will never get back onto the property ladder in their lifetime so they should just get used to living in rented accommodation for the rest of their miserable lives, paying dead money in rent that is helping to pay off their landlord's mortgage.

Not in the area I am living now,Nottingham YOYminus 1%(Nationwide)Investment Income4.5%(net).Also rent I am paying now is less than the overheads on my former mortgage free house.Welcome to HPC,keep up the trolling.

[grey shark]

Paying rent is dead money. Once you get off the property ladder you will find yourself never getting back onto the property ladder ever again.

The STRs are the real losers. They should admit defeat and throw in the towel and stop bothering everyone else with their useless drivel.

The STRs can sit back and enjoy watching their STR fund money being eroded away by inflation every day.

Every day that passes further diminishes the value of their precious STR fund money.

The STRs will never get back onto the property ladder in their lifetime so they should just get used to living in rented accommodation for the rest of their miserable lives, paying dead money in rent that is helping to pay off their landlord's mortgage.

Ignorance is bliss , and your supposed to be a bear

[crashmonitor]

Ignorance is bliss , and your supposed to be a bear

Thanks for pointing that out.Does he/she know what a Bear is,the possibility that we could be on the same side hadn't even occurred to me.Perhaps this is a new troll tactic.Moderators beware.

Edited December 1, 2006 by crashmonitor

[grey shark]

Thanks for pointing that out.Does he/she know what a Bear is,the possibility that we could be on the same side hadn't even occurred to me.Perhaps this is a new troll tactic.Moderators beware.

I'm well happy with my posistion although totally differant to yours m8 , have a look on the " Jason pub meet arranger thread " she's having a huge rant there , don't rise to it , it's just another sado on the loose

Edit , it's already been taken down it must of taken the sado at least 10 minutes to type that tripe out .

Edited December 1, 2006 by grey shark

[Wad]

Totaly agree with duke of hazzard on this point in particular:

"Again, that's never happened to me - I've always had my deposit back in full. You've got to vet your landlord, just like you'd get a survey done when buying a house."

Absolutely right. Landlords vet tenants all the time and take credit references so why should tenants not be similalrly choosey. A tenancy is a contract and it has two parties who have to get along together for a long time. This is why we avoid private landlords who have had their house up for sale because we know that whatever they say they are really only interested in renting it out over the winter until they can flip it back on the market. They have also often moved somewhere and bought another family house so they are cash strapped and have no real desire to do any repairs if anything goes wrong.

Avoiding insecurity is a big issue for us too as we have young children but we have found that its really all about making sure that the landlord has the right circumstances and the financial wherewithall to stick with a tenancy until you want to move.

We used to rent furnished which does get you down after a while but we now have our own furniture and it really is not so bad moving into a totally empty, thoroughly clean, fresh neutral painted house with appliances that still have the plastic wrapper as we did last time. Compared to how my parents found the house thay just bought with the owner leaving a blocked sewer and a kitchen that had to be professionally degreased as well as over a year of painting and repairs I have to say I think we got the better deal by renting.

[Teddy Bear]

Going back to the original question

Firstly apologies for the bad punctuation but as usual I am on my travels and using a weird arabic keyboard [being able to afford go away reguarly is in itself a major benefit rather than worrying about the next interest rate rise]

One of the main benefits for me is being able to afford to live where I want to: All my friends with mortgages live way out in the sticks or in horrible dodgy areas: Getting into work for them involves long and expesive commuting [even the most bullish homeowner cannot deny that to be dead money if ever the was any] Straight away that shaves off a good slice of their day which for those with partners and kids if far from ideal

Likewise any sort of going out or entertainment turns into a major and expensive mission often involving ludicrously expensive trains in and obscecenly expensive cab fairs back:

As for me well a nice cycle ride into work which as avoiding throwing dead money away on public transport also avoids throwing dead money away on going to the gym to pay for exercise that you could do for free: Sraight away thats a good 130+ quid a month saving

Going out wise my friends choose to visit me to get away from their depressing suburban lives which in effect subsidises my going out in the shape of them bringing booze round or insisting on buying me drinks by way thanks for letting them crash over

Adimtedly its not for everyone and peoples circumstances are different but right now i wouldnt have it any other way

Anyway enough waffle from me, time to top up the tan in the Morrocan sunshine - hot and sunny here

[Without_a_Paddle]

Wrong again. I took my endowments out in 1986, they are both on course to deliver their targeted amounts. Handy hedge against deflation.

Yes but surely a 1986 endowment will only deliver the price of a 1986 house? (if you are one of the lucky ones)

But you no longer have a 4 bedroom detached house. You traded it for £120k and a few debts and a people carrier back in 2004.

I took out a £150k mortgate but then remortgaged along the way plus took out a heap of credit cards etc. Anyway I was paying hefty interest charges so after selling I was totally debt free we bought a people carrier for the kids and I was left with £120k.

Also, why do you say you are effectively living in the 3 bed semi rent free? You said it's £650pm. Who's pocket does this money come from if it is not yours?

Somebody is giving your LL £650pm...

Edited December 1, 2006 by Without_a_Paddle

[housestag]

I like renting ..... my spare rooms out and having my lodgers pay my mortgage.

[Guest Yeahbutnocrash]

I rented happily for some time but was even happier because I already owned some property - Otherwise I would have seen it as wasted time, money, opportunity

It is tougher for people now following the HPI so people must do what they feel is best under the circumstance - but there's no harm in having an understanding of other options

Edited December 1, 2006 by Yeahbutnocrash

[tensecs]

I hate renting.

And I hate buying into this mad mad bubble.

[Willy Weasel]

I've found this thread particularly relevant as I am in the process of STRing myself. I think it's fair to say I have the same concerns that the OP had when first renting and I'm looking forward to losing the desire to own a property

To those of you that are concerned about the 2 months notice issue, please bear in mind that the Landlord cannot force you out without a court order even if he has served the notice properly so if you have nowhere to go stay put. You run the risk of some court costs if you push your luck too far but my advice would be to find out why the Landlord wants you out. If it's to let it out at a higher rent then offer to meet him/her halfway and he'll probably go for it to avoid any further hassle.

I would appreciate advice from any renters on negotiating a tenancy. Do you offer the asking rent or can you usually get a discount?

Also any advice on how to settle two cats into their new home would be appreciated

My tank of tropical fish is another matter of course

[Without_a_Paddle]

I've found this thread particularly relevant as I am in the process of STRing myself. I think it's fair to say I have the same concerns that the OP had when first renting and I'm looking forward to losing the desire to own a property

To those of you that are concerned about the 2 months notice issue, please bear in mind that the Landlord cannot force you out without a court order even if he has served the notice properly so if you have nowhere to go stay put. You run the risk of some court costs if you push your luck too far but my advice would be to find out why the Landlord wants you out. If it's to let it out at a higher rent then offer to meet him/her halfway and he'll probably go for it to avoid any further hassle.

I would appreciate advice from any renters on negotiating a tenancy. Do you offer the asking rent or can you usually get a discount?

Also any advice on how to settle two cats into their new home would be appreciated

My tank of tropical fish is another matter of course

tell the cats they can eat the tropical fish if they promise to stay at the new home...

[Guest Yeahbutnocrash]

I hate renting.

And I hate buying into this mad mad bubble.

Yeah I get your point-of-view

I couldn't afford to buy until the 80's boom was over - Then I was into my 30's

It may not be long until there are some more realistic prices around - but I'm not convinced there'll be a full-blown crash yet without some form of trigger such as higher IR's

Next year may be a good indicator of what's going to happen so generally I'd say to FTBers not to buy until we see if IR's are going up again and how it effects the market

[Willy Weasel]

tell the cats they can eat the tropical fish if they promise to stay at the new home...

Thanks for that - what would the cats watch on 'Fish TV' if they ate them though?

Anyone else?

[whitemice]

I [like] rent[ing] because I can’t make up my mind about where I want to settle down and live for the next 10+ years (or however long it would take to justify the cost of buying).

Buying a house is an investment against your long term living costs. Much like buying a car is an investment against travel costs. Sometimes it makes sense to buy, sometimes to rent, so do the numbers for your own personal situation.

I’m currently living and working in a country where buying is cheaper than renting, I am considering buying. In the UK it currently costs more to buy than to rent, when my dad bought (a few decades ago) it was cheaper to rent than to buy.

Economic cycles will make people winners and losers, just saying that buying 6 years ago was a great decision doesn’t make it a great idea to buy now.

As for paying my landlords mortgage, we got a good deal on the rent, he went bankrupt, house got repossessed, house didn’t sell so eventually our neighbours bought the house at a huge discount. Rental contract if still fixed