Took the plunge...

We did it on monday morning!  I know renting is sort of dead money but it gives us our own space and gets us out of the inlaws house, AND saves us 500GBP a month in petrol with both of us commuting!  We put the bond/deposit down on a flat right in the center of Harrogate on monday morning!

This place is amazing fully renovated AND its 100 yards from my work, so I wont have a petrol bill or be paying company car tax anymore, also its about 3 miles from my partners new job!

Exciting times!!!

Renting is never dead money when you are buying your sanity and privacy with it! 

Congrats!!!

Great news!

Yay!!  Well done.  I love Harrogate.  Hope you enjoy your new place. 

Congrats!  Fab news!!

Renting is never dead money when you are buying your sanity and privacy with it! 

Congrats!!!

I couldnt agree more!

In a lot of areas, it makes a lot more economic sense to rent instead of own! And for younger people who aren't definitely staying put for 5+ years it usually makes sense to rent, anyway.

I don't consider renting to be a dead end -I consider it giving you somewhere to live!

Congrats!

In a lot of areas, it makes a lot more economic sense to rent instead of own! And for younger people who aren't definitely staying put for 5+ years it usually makes sense to rent, anyway.

That actually one of the reasons why we are renting.  One reason is of course because of my Visa and not being able to get a mortgage yet, and two, we want to move to Newcastle in a few years...

Renting has a bad rap. It can also be financially beneficial, especially in a weak market like we have now.

A few years ago I read an amazing article (I wish I still had the link!) that analyzed the financial benefits of renting vs owning. It really opened my eyes. In about 90% of the cases renting won out over owning in total ecomonic terms.

The results could be a little skewed because it was looking at the American property market. U.S. homeowners pay property tax (in most states anyway) and renters don't. In the U.K. all residents, whether renters or owners, pay council tax.

But in America most homeowners use the rent to pay the mortage and property tax whenever possible so, in effect, the renter still pays it.

Getting back to the topic, don't feel like you're financially disadvantaged by renting. There are a lot of hidden costs in owning property and you're surely saving money and not just on petrol.

Yay, congratulations on the move! 

A few years ago I read an amazing article (I wish I still had the link!) that analyzed the financial benefits of renting vs owning. It really opened my eyes. In about 90% of the cases renting won out over owning in total ecomonic terms.

I think I read the same article.  A few years ago I had a really similar discussion with my brother, saying I felt bad renting, and he showed me that in general, if you live somewhere for 5 years or less it's actually cheaper to rent than to buy. It's American calculations, but here are the links to the article and a rent vs. buy calculator:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/business/economy/21leonhardt.html

We've been renting for 2 years and don't feel bad at all. Economically it's cheaper for us because we've changed apartments a couple times, the landlord fixes all repairs so we never have to foot unexpected repair bills, and we have the freedom to consider more job and life opportunities since it'd be easy for us to relocate. A friend at work just moved house with his family, and the actual move part (like solicitors' fees, stamp duty, etc.) cost them £8,000!!! And they were moving between two average size houses in two average areas. So we're a bit hesitant to buy anywhere when we know we'll probably move quite soon. DH and I think that in 3 to 5 years we might know where we want to settle down permanently, so we'll happily rent until then.