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We ended up watching "Location Location" (Channel 4) last night on TV. It's not a programme we watch regularly, just when we want a stare & don't really want to make too much effort. A few thoughts struck me.

Firstly, a couple were looking for their first home together. They talked about buying somewhere to live for 5-10 years. Undoubtedly I don't think it's worth the expense of buying unless you intend to stay for years rather than weeks. I suppose we've always bought in thought of living in a place for the foreseeable future. The flat we had in Arnside was bought with the thought we'd live there until it became impractical when the children came along. The children never came along & we stayed put - for 23 years! Our present home we bought as a place to live probably for the rest of our lives, or at least until we become so infirm or one of us dies with the result the place becomes just too much. 5-10 years seems so short to me - we've already been here longer than that & I feel we've only just moved in - but I suppose for young 20-somethings it must seem a long time, half a lifetime.


The other thing that struck me was when Kirstie despaired when a single young man questioned whether it was really such a good idea for him to buy rather than rent. A house is an investment she assured him. It can be a nightmare, though. Most people have to start with huge mortgages but as time goes on & property prices change, they can find themselves in a negative equity situation, burdened with huge debt & unable to move house or to afford to upkeep the property. At least renting the landlord is responsible for most of the major maintenance costs, not the tenant. You can easily move into alternative, possibly cheaper property if you need to at a later date. 

The other great thing about renting is that it gives you flexibility. This young man doesn't know where life is going to take him (admittedly it's debatable if anyone knows that except God!). He may well need to move with work. He may find a partner who hates any property he buys now. That partner may already have a property so one will need to be sold, possibly before the costs of buying & doing up are re-cooped.

Meanwhile so much capital is tied up in property which you never release until you downsize (though that isn't always the case), enter a care home or die. If you just move house, you usually end up buying a similar priced, if not more expensive, house to move to. You still don't have the use of that capital for other things, possibly other investments.


I suppose, above all, I can't help thinking you are buying a home, a place to live, to put roots down in, not an investment. It is only incidentally the latter in most cases & over a long time.


And just at the moment I'm still revelling at being home, with the Fox. It's great.