Great quote!

A colleague always told me to buy where you can afford and rent where you want to live.

They are many times at very different locations.

It really is a question of priorities.

Rent money is not necessarily dead money though. Everything has an opportunity cost. What about the interest you pay on a mortgage, how about the maintenance costs that renters don't pay, but owners do?

There is no straightforward answer, it really comes down to preference. You have far more "liquidity" as a renter than an owner, but you also have less control.

The main benefit of a mortgage is that it is forced saving. The main benefit of renting is flexibility.

It becomes a lifestyle question - do I want the ability to live where I want, and move when I want (but be limited in what changes I can make to my place)?

Or do I want to live somewhere for 15-20 years, have the ability to make changes to the property (but be locked in to the location for the long term, and have more restrictions on where that location is compared to a renter)?

There is no right or wrong answer - the key thing is to make an informed decision, not sleepwalk into buying or renting without a conscious decision.

Exactly, I would encourage anybody who wants to build to expand their reach and look to the "country" . If I drive from my new house I can go from the front door to my aami park seat in around 1 hour and 30mins. Sound's like a lot but it is not that far. Too have a mortgage under 310,000 is a great achievement. Considering the town before our one you get land for 200,000+.

And this is the crux of it.

People want their favourite cafes and artiste bars but don't want to have to pay the money to live near them.

-PB

Thank you all for keeping the demand in the property market =d> :lol:

Buy

Why pay someone elses mortgage.

I have built my first home this will be the first home I ever own. People always say it is impossible too do it. Maybe if you want to buy land or house in the city area.

I purchased land 90KM out from the city (Melbourne) it has a direct train line with regular train services, Has everything a small town should have but only a 10min drive to the main town.

Land was 120,000 for a 1000SQ meter block - deposit needed was 10,000 we negotiated the deposit

Then a year later we saved and put a 10 grand deposit to the builder and are now 2 weeks away from moving in to our brand new home.

and god bless these people =d>

Yes I agree it takes a lot of discipline and I know that personally I don't have that (and definitely my wife doesn't). Property definitely isn't making the gains that it used to.

As I alluded to, there are other reasons outside capital gains to purchase your own home. For us, not having to worry about leases and getting kicked out at the landlords whim and the ability to pretty much set up the house exactly the way we want to were of greater importance to us.

Just in the throws of selecting our house for a block we've found on the Bellarine peninsula because renting is way too fucking expensive here. $360 for a mortgage compared to around $450 to rent. The worst part of this area is the 8 month leases so they can rent houses over summer for 2-3k a week.

Like Draups says, Sydney is fucking crazy. I certainly won't be buying a house anytime soon; but if I had the money I would. Definitely preferable to renting.

From one incest capital to another.

Years ago they said take the difference between rent and a mortgage you'd be better off in the long run IF you invested the difference.

That's a big IF that takes a lot of discipline.



Edited by munrubenmuz: 15/11/2015 09:56:27 PM

Partner and I are starting to look at buying. At 21 we have roughly 70k between us, admittedly we are still living with our parents but after five years together and Our undergrads finished a 230k house in Ballarat in achievable for us.

I rent now at $150/week with plenty saved. I plan on buying in Tassie when I work a job opportunity out, very cheap and sparsely populated down there

Based on my current circumstances living in and looking at inner suburb apartments, rent seems the much smarter option.

The difference in mortgage repayments compared to rent is somewhere around $700 per month, have to pay around $3,000 in body corporate, and there's been no capital growth (that I've seen) over the last few years. Add in all the other taxes and fees when buying and selling, and from an investment perspective anyone that has bought an apartment around here would have to be looking at a very long-term strategy to hope for any return on investment.

Buying in the outer suburbs might be different. I don't really care what is happening there though.

Rent and price is going up in Germany at a quick rate in some cities. Renting here is still a much smaller percentage of your pay compared to Sydney but the pay is very stagnant. Buying seems like it'll take forever and all the extra costs for maintainance and repair can add up quickly. In a nation of renters it's still the preferred way to go.

As for OZ both look like a financial challenge but like anything I'd be able to adapt with lifestyle changes.

Edited by MrBrisbane: 17/3/2016 09:59:41 PM

Well any houses in a dodgy/bogan area is gonna be cheap

Edited by MrBrisbane: 17/3/2016 09:59:33 PM

I had a pretty decent pile saved for a deposit, but I really want this new camera, only US$10,000. :D

In Sydney? Mate, the average house price is above $1 million :lol:

A one bedroom apartment near the city? $500 a week minimum.

Average house price in Adelaide is below $500k. I'd jump on that shit.

Edited by Draupnir: 15/11/2015 12:22:13 AM

Leaving home would you rent or buy?

Very true, but Melbourne and especially Sydney are out of control. It is almost literally impossible for young people to buy a house in Sydney, let alone rent a place that isn't either a) with 4 other people which makes it virtually impossible to have a family life or b) live in the ghetto or a shithole like Macquarie Fields.

And thinking about people whose family don't have equity or liquidity, well, they are simply fucked for the foreseeable future.

Edited by Draupnir: 14/11/2015 11:54:13 PM

Definitely a lot of old school thinking in this thread.

I have a mortgage but I don't think it's for everyone. When rents are significantly lower than mortgages you may be better off accruing capital by investing the difference elsewhere. That's if you're looking at it as an investment, there are other reasons that you might want to own your own home.

Pretty much! So fucked haha.

We thankfully own our home. But for 3 years we rented as no bank would touch us due to us having at the time a young child. It took one broker to have the guts to take us on and get us a mortgage. 275 isnt much but we got a house we call our own and it may be small but it suits us

Can't do either in Melb or Sydney :lol:

-PB

It's clearly better to buy than rent. Here in Brisbane rent and mortgage prices are nearly the same, clearly it's better to borrow from your current self to give to your future self than to give to some one else's future self. I don't get how people can default on their mortgages and lose their homes, clearly if you can't afford to meet the repayments cut your losses and sell the thing before the bank takes it away. Better yet don't commit yourself to repayments you can't afford to make.

Thanks mate.

Good idea. I'm sure people didn't understand your vision. Some people seem to think they'll move into the perfect house. It doesn't work like that, people find that out eventually!