Hi again CharlotteB2B

I live in Devon, yeah the best part buy/ part rent places do go fast you have to get in there quick.
I'm 24 my children are 5 and 11 months, we're hoping to have a third child once we're settled in the new house. Thought my broodiness would wear off once i had my second baby but it hasn't!
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
xx

[Modified by: Melmo on November 01, 2009 10:52 PM]

Oh honey i wouldnt worry at all. We are living somewhere different for h2bs job and so we're renting and i would not bat an eyelid if we had a baby now. We're even on a short lease (one year), its also super expensive where we are now (Aberdeen),so we couldnt put anything down at the moment anyway!!

I honestly wouldnt worry at all about renting.

x

Hi Charlotte B2B, just a word of warning, if you are thinking of buying a part buy part rent - be very careful, make sure you get good advice from and INDEPENDANT advisor, not one who is paid by the estate agents, and a decent advisor will not charge you, they make their money from seeling the product, We bought a part buy part rent back in 2002 when I was also 21, unfortunately it was one of the worst things we ever did, but it's ok saying that, looking back in retrospect. We are in housing association now, but it has been a long hard slog - three years of it!
We bought 50% of our house, which at the time was valued at 100% at £116,000, on that we were paying a mortgage of £350 a month and rent of £300 a month, we were allowed to decorate but we still had to ask permission to be able to do other things, such as owning an animal, putting up a shed in the garden, changing any fixtures and fittings, such as the kitchens and bathrooms, once I had my daughter and realised it wasn't going to be possible for me to return to work full time na on the wage I was, we had to put the house back on the market, we sold it and it fell through four times over the space of a year, it eventually sold on the fifth buyer at a reduced rate. Most of the buyers had problems obtaining a mortgage as at the time only two banks/building societies would provide a mortgage for only a share in the house and they just didn't meet the financial side that these baks requested, I think some of them also realised that maybe it wasn't the best thing to get into once they had received all the paperwork and questionaires from the landlords. We were not made aware when we saw the financial advisor what the costs would be, we had no deposit and he told us to go and get a loan, the stamp duty was also tricky, so if you do go ahead try and keep below the stamp duty level (think it's £160,000?) because you then either have to pay stamp duty of 1% on the WHOLE value of the house or pay the 1% on your half and then make a payment to top this up each year! We were not told how much our rent would be once we moved in, and this caused major problems for us, when we sold the house I was going through paperwork and I found the original advertisment for the house, I was gutted, when we looked through and realised that three beds, 100% were selling for £125,000 at the time, and we had both been working, so would have been able to get a mortgage for that amount, as even when working part time we could still get a mortgage higher than that now! We had to move back to my mum and dads when we left there and went to the housing association as we couldn't really afford to rent at the prices around here, and even they said that they think the 50% schemes are a bad idea, shame they've just started doing them in our area! As my (fairly well off) father in law and my mom say, they would never buy a house again, they would go back to renting as for the duration of your mortgage you are still only effectively renting the property from the bank, and you spend in the region twice the amount of the original house value by the time you have paid it off! If you are in rented your landlord is stil responsible for any repairs and redecoration that need doing and they are tied to this by law, as we did end up going into a private rent and we ended up having to get housing standards involved, and what needed doing had to be done in two weeks otherwise the council would have taken him to court, all repairs are your responsibility in a part buy/rent house.
I'm not saying don't go for it, just make sure you have looked at all the pros and cons and weighed up all the costs and really done your research, ask around for a good financial advisor, and don't just jump into it because you love the house!
Sorry I have gone on a bit, hope you have followed it all!

I've rented since before dd was born and she is now 5. Its only now I can afford to buy, and it has taken me years to save for a deposit. The only reason I can afford to buy is because house prices have dropped so much. I have never had a problem with renting. I think mustBmad has given you fab advice, as I also looked at the rent to buy properties. I am paying half for this mortgage than what I would have been rent + part mortgage for one of those schemes.

Rosemary and Charlotte, you may be surprised at your mums reactions. I had to go and tell my mum I was pregnant at 16!! Now that was scary!! I'm 22 and planning my 2nd, so you two are in a much better position than what I was at 16, and I have turned out fine, so stuff what everyone else thinks and go for it xx

I've rented since before dd was born and she is now 5. Its only now I can afford to buy, and it has taken me years to save for a deposit. The only reason I can afford to buy is because house prices have dropped so much. I have never had a problem with renting. I think mustBmad has given you fab advice, as I also looked at the rent to buy properties. I am paying half for this mortgage than what I would have been rent + part mortgage for one of those schemes.

Rosemary and Charlotte, you may be surprised at your mums reactions. I had to go and tell my mum I was pregnant at 16!! Now that was scary!! I'm 22 and planning my 2nd, so you two are in a much better position than what I was at 16, and I have turned out fine, so stuff what everyone else thinks and go for it xx

Melmo that is so nice you live in Devon, such a nice place! I really want to move there! Hehe, I can see why you are still broody, I love children and seeing them grow must be amazing.

Wow THANK YOU mustBmad, I did follow and that was very good advice, thank you so much, I will consider that and have a good chat with my Fiance later on! Phew I am so glad I posted this topic! Renting does have its benefits!

Mrs Fancy shoes, glad you can buy your house now, good time as you said the prices have dropped a bit :) There are bargains out there and you could put in a good offer too. Yes, I like what you say, stuff everyone else, it's your life and in the end you are the one having the baby!

Thanks, MrsMcD- It's nice to hear people saying they don't mind renting- my family go on and on about how we shouldn't rent as we are chucking our money away but its our money! hehe X