If you limit yourself to buying then you’ll have to settle for longer commutes, perhaps a worse area, perhaps less space. But if you are willing to rent you can get a bigger place in a better location for cheaper than buying a smaller place in a worse location.
Now, you may say that there are no “cheap” housing options in Ireland, and you could well be right. Even affordable housing schemes seem like crazy money to me. The location and quality of some of the builds also seems ridiculous. I refuse point blank to pay more each month for the privilage of spending longer commuting. I only pay more to get something, not to lose something.
However…I’m happy where I’m living. It takes me 20-30 mins to get to work. I have two different kinds of public transport on my doorstep, a corner shop and postbox outside my door. I’m walking distance from the city center. There’s no apartment building directly outside my window looking back at me. The place is clean, quiet and the walls are thick enough that when we met out neighbour he didn’t believe us when we told him how long we’d been living there.
The cost for me to live here is less than the mortgage that some people in commuter towns are paying for smaller places they’ve bought. Sure I’d love to pay less rent. Sure I’d love to be able to buy this place for something close to the rent I’m paying.
But if neither of those things happen, I’m not unhappy with the deal I’ve got. And if my rent goes up at the next review, the number of choices in the same area has increased dramatically in the last few months, so I’m not fretting.
“Cheaper” options are out there, if you are open to them.
“Cheap Enough” will depend on what you get and what you are willing to spend. You’ll never get anywhere that you won’t wish could be cheaper.
People are not buying at current prices now. What makes anyone think they will buy at higher prices next year? Are we expecting something like 145000 immigrants next year to push rents into the stratosphere and make a one bed apartment at 350K look good or something? Cos goddamn it I don’t see the jobs that will pay astronomical rents being created in too high a number.
I don’t disagree with you daltonr. I just think the watch analogy isn’t quite the best fit.
The thing that bothers me most about AH is the fact that you are rooted to the same spot for decades and that’s no good if you need to move. With the choppy waters the economy is moving into, mobility is going to become a very valuable commodity for workers.
must say I agree 100% with this. I remember having this type of discussion with somebody on boards.ie. His ‘opinion’ was that anyone bearish who rents was just a bitter young person trying to justify their ‘hopeless situation’. Iasked his how my situation was ‘hopeless’:
26 yrs old
high income (will be far higher this time next yr fingers crossed if I pass my final professional exams)
pile of savings for someone my age
paying cheapish rent for my location (well ‘cheap’ in irish terms!!)
living close to work/town center
don’t care if I ever own a house (not bitternes, just not obsessed with property)
could get a mortgage tomorrow if I wanted one
however would have to sacrifice location and pay a lot more than my rent for the ‘privilege’ of a longer commute, hassle of maintaining the wear and tear of a house, inflexibility (still might go abroad for a year) etc
needless to say, despite contributing further to the thread he choose not to reply to me and tell me how this was ‘hopeless’
Sadly those kind of unfounded assumptions are all too common in discussions on property, whether on the net or elsewhere.
It’s not only in Ireland. I recently read a discussion on “Buying V Renting” on a US-based forum. One poster made a Thatcher-esque comment insisting that “anyone over 30 who rents is a failure”. Despite everything that has happened in the US property market in recent times, the majority agreed with him. There’s simply no convincing that kind of person.
The complete inconsistency of many of those shills who trumpet the great time to buy is that they see no contradiction between promoting that everybody in the country buy a gaff and that nobody should Rent because renting is a sign of failure and stupidity and at the same time they would also have everybody buy as many investment properties as they can so that we all have two gaffs one to rent out and one to live in.
They don’t seem to see the contradiction between trying to minimise the rental market by ensuring that everybody buys and at the same time maximising supply to the same market they are trying to destroy.
If I owned 2 Gaffs, instead of spending my time on Daft .ie trying to persuade everybody that the property market is flying and it’s a great time to buy and own your own gaff I’d be persuading everyone it’s a great time to rent!!!
The truth is out Lads.
If you own an investment Gaff where the rental isn’t covering the Mortgage (and I don’t mean IO) then day by day you are losing money.
Yeah you’re right. It’s not a great analogy, it’s really just an attempt to draw attention to the primary and secondary goals idea. If your primary goal is a place to live, shelter etc, then that’s one thing.
If you place more importance on a secondary goal like ownership as a status symbol perhaps even to the point of it becoming a primary goal, then you move into a whole different kind of problem.
I still know people for whom ownership at any price is essential, non negotiable. They only thing that would hold them back from buying is not being given a big enough mortgage. Borrow now, worry about repayment later. And fair enough, it’s their right to have whatever goals they want.