DEspairing about buying

[brian]

Ideally, we were looking at the possibility of buying a nice house around Inverness - move to an area we really liked the feel of.

However, renting while house prices are still rising just seems to be a complete waste of money - I couldn't sleep last night thinking about the moving situation.

Anyway, I figure we should be looking to just buy a cheaper property where we are, even though it's not ideal, just to ensure that we do at least have a foot on the property ladder.

It feels like the easier decision, even if it's less ideal - will even ask the people we're renting from if that option is on the table.

Would make me feel more relaxed, too - I was really concerned about the financial risks of trying to move to a bigger property - and I'm still concerned about risks to the property market.

But still...I don't know - seems like the safer thing to do at present.

[hand]

I use to look at things like this the same way. For almost 20 years we rented then decided to buy. For me "sake of mind" of renting made it tolerable. The unknown of the market such as could we sell if need be and things like that made the fact of renting easier. I know when I rented sleeping at nite was never an issue..

[brian]

Hi hand, and welcome to PW.

I think a big problem is that I don't even know what my final allowable lending budget will be - but I'm getting my personal and company accounts prepared over the next couple of months, and that should give me plenty of information to take to a bank or broker for a proper Mortgage in Principle.

[BarryM]

^ so did you buy?

[brian]

Yep - within about 2 weeks signed up for my first property - a 4 bedroom detached in Nairn, not far from Inverness. A little remote from city life, but all amenities here, and very safe for the kids.