It depends on your situation... (Buying vs Renting)

Member Name: herbie__53

Product:	Buying vs Renting
Date:	25/03/09 (23 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Renting a house is easier than buying one!

Disadvantages: When you rent, your house is never your own...

We currently rent our 3 bedroom house with garage at a cost of £550 per month. I believe that renting is better than buying for us as in a couple of years we plan to go travelling. When the time comes for us to leave we don't have to worry about selling our house or finding someone to rent it off us so we can pay the mortgage each month, we can just pack up our things and go. Also I believe renting has been the better option during the recent economic climate as with the changes in interest rates some people's mortgages went through the roof and they were left struggling, whereas our rent will remain a constant amount. The other added bonus of renting is that you don't have to pay for the repairs! If the boiler goes wrong, I don't have to worry about the cost as it will be covered by the landlord.
I think there are a lot of people out there renting who would like to buy, but as mortgage lending is so scarce now unless you have a huge deposit it's just not an option for most people.
There are of course downsides to renting - we could get kicked out of our house at any time with four months notice. You live with that always hanging over your head, and we have had it happen before us four weeks before we were due to get married. Not only were we busy with the wedding but we had to find somewhere else to live and pack up our stuff before going away on honeymoon. Not fun! Also the house is never really your own, unless you are lucky you don't get to decorate the place, so you always get that feeling of living in someone else's house.
So for us renting is perfect as we don't plan on being in the country for many more years, but if we were planning on staying in the UK long term I think buying is the better option in the long run as you are effectively paying out your rental money for nothing when you could be paying that off against the purchase of your very own pad.

Summary: A tough one.