The Student Room Group

After university, should I rent, try buying a flat or live with my parents?

what would you do? i dont have much in savings so buying might not be an option but i hear that you can get 5% deposits which could work out well.

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Reply 1
It depends really if you're working or have an income coming in [i.e Any Benefits].
Reply 2
I've discussed this with my parents and they've said that I can stay with them for a few years so that I can save as much of my salary as possible to be able to place a deposit in a few years. Sounds like the best option for me considering I'll have to start repaying my student loan once I start earning £21K+ per annum.
Reply 3
Depends financially. Do you already have a full time job firstly? Have you looked at the housing market lately, the prices of houses have increased.

Are you planning to buy alone? have you looked into mortgage rates?

You have asked a question without providing enough information on your circumstances. I couldn't possibly give you a definitive answer.

Having said that, personally, I would continue to save money and just live with your parents for the time being. Prices of houses have shot up and you will get little for money.



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(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by BANS2012
Depends financially. Do you already have a full time job firstly? Have you looked at the housing market lately, the prices of houses have increased.

Are you planning to buy alone? have you looked into mortgage rates?

You have asked a question without providing enough information on your circumstances. I couldn't possibly give you a definitive answer.

Having said that, personally, I would continue to save money and just live with your parents for the time being. Prices of houses have shot up and you will get little for money.



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I would like to know what do you think would be a good amount to have before you decide to buy a flat.
Reply 5
Original post by Joker :)
I would like to know what do you think would be a good amount to have before you decide to buy a flat.


It depends how much the deposit it. Personally, I would save the amount for the deposit + a few thousand if possible.
Original post by Rish7
I've discussed this with my parents and they've said that I can stay with them for a few years so that I can save as much of my salary as possible to be able to place a deposit in a few years. Sounds like the best option for me considering I'll have to start repaying my student loan once I start earning £21K+ per annum.


You're in first year, and you're planning far too far ahead - you might get onto a grad scheme that necessitates living away from home, for instance, or you might live with a partner etc etc.

There are a lot of factors that are completely unpredictable

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Reply 7
Buy and rent a room?

That's what I'm doing for second year
Reply 8
Original post by Origami Bullets
You're in first year, and you're planning far too far ahead - you might get onto a grad scheme that necessitates living away from home, for instance, or you might live with a partner etc etc.

There are a lot of factors that are completely unpredictable

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I'm in my penultimate year aha! Only one more to go!
Reply 9
buying is better if you have the money and you have a plan for it in the future.
Original post by Joker :)
I would like to know what do you think would be a good amount to have before you decide to buy a flat.


well im pretty sure you need around 10% deposit normally. You also need to pay for lawyers fees etc which can be quite costly. I also have to pay factors fees which can be quite expensive (thats when you've bought the flat) and you won't get a mortgage if you don't have a salary. I'd say you would need at least 10K anyway, depends on the cost of your flat.
Original post by Rish7
I'm in my penultimate year aha! Only one more to go!


In that case (I'm assuming you started in 2011 or before) you will have to start paying back your loan when you earn over £15 and a bit k

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Reply 12
i'm just finishing uni. planning to live with my parents until about January, then going to part buy/part rent with a friend, :smile: i do already have a full time job though, so have some savings and a regular income. :smile:
Reply 13
Rent...you will have more fun. Just pay your mortgage off when you're older and earning lots, spend your youth spending what little money you have on enjoying yourself.

Saving a £100 a month isn't that hard either...do that for a few years and then just before you decide to finally get a mortgage make a real push for a few months to save more and it is easily done. I don't do this by the way, I blow all my money.
Reply 14
Original post by McHumpy92
Rent...you will have more fun. Just pay your mortgage off when you're older and earning lots, spend your youth spending what little money you have on enjoying yourself.


Mortgage payments aren't necessarily more expensive than rent. I have a one bedroom flat, renting somewhere like that would cost more than I pay towards the mortgage. It's saving up for the deposit that's the difficult bit.

Although sharing with other people could be cheaper. But probably not by a whole lot.

I think the best thing to do really depends. At this point you don't know where you will end up after uni. I was planning on staying at home for a bit after uni, but then I ended up getting a job that was too far away to do that. I rented for a few months (shared with some random people) and then figured out I could afford to buy.
Original post by Joker :)
what would you do? i dont have much in savings so buying might not be an option but i hear that you can get 5% deposits which could work out well.

I wouldn't want to live with my parents, it depends on how you would feel living with them again.
If you get on well with your parents and have a friendly, equal relationship with them (too many people in their 20's are still willing to let their parents treat them like a child - which is seriously NOT good for your personal development) then staying with them whilst you save up money and work on building a solid credit rating is the most sensible option. Remember it's not just about the deposit. If you have a poor credit rating - which doesn't just mean "red marks" on your report, having not much of a credit history is still "poor" - you won't be offered decent mortgage terms anyway. You possibly won't be offered one at all. A lot of young people find themselves in that position - a friend of mine currently has a five-figure sum sitting in an account waiting to be used as a deposit, but he's never had so much as a credit card and so no bank will offer him a mortgage. Sucks.

It's also worth remembering that it's a good idea to save a fair bit more than just a deposit - when you buy a property, there can be all sorts of unforeseen expenses, such as the boiler packing in days after you move in, and other general repairs that will crop up. It would be sensible to save a deposit AND a "pot" of money for things like that, if you're buying.

The benefits of renting? Umm... well, it makes it easy to move around, I suppose. You also don't have to worry about repairs or faults as you just pay your rent, and the rest is the landlord's responsibility. Just make sure you get a decent landlord. Other than that, renting is rubbish. It's money down the drain every month. I personally don't have much choice, as I'm engaged and have 2 children, so living with family isn't an option (we need our own family home) and my "situation" arose before the end of University so there was never time to save any real money.

There's also the fact that my parents are separated, my dad doesn't have a spare room for me and if I lived with my mum I'd kill myself within 3 days :lol:. SO I guess I'd have been renting anyway. But it does suck balls.


But yeah I say if you get on with them, live at home for a few years and save every penny you can, get a few credit cards etc (and use them WELL, don't accumulate debt!) to build a credit history, and then have a look at jumping on the ladder.


Would also mention that I have multiple friends of a similar age to me (28) who bought cheap, not-so-desirable flats straight out of Uni and are now stuck in negative equity with no way of moving or selling even if they wanted to... so, be sensible. Don't buy somewhere just because it's cheap and "gets you on the ladder". Make sure it's somewhere you actually want to live for at least a decade. And on the same note, make sure that your career is going to keep you where you are... if you suddenly find yourself needing to relocate with your career, but you're a homeowner, it can get very complicated.
Reply 17
Original post by Psyk
Mortgage payments aren't necessarily more expensive than rent. I have a one bedroom flat, renting somewhere like that would cost more than I pay towards the mortgage. It's saving up for the deposit that's the difficult bit.

Although sharing with other people could be cheaper. But probably not by a whole lot.

I think the best thing to do really depends. At this point you don't know where you will end up after uni. I was planning on staying at home for a bit after uni, but then I ended up getting a job that was too far away to do that. I rented for a few months (shared with some random people) and then figured out I could afford to buy.


Why would anyone want to live in one bedroom flat when young...that is fairly anti-social.

I live with 6 other people and I still get bored of not having enough people around...they are mainly boring though, apart from the only other guy.
Reply 18
Original post by McHumpy92
Why would anyone want to live in one bedroom flat when young...that is fairly anti-social.


I can go out and see friends any time I want. I don't have to live with them to be social. I don't feel the need to be around other people 24/7.
Reply 19
Original post by Psyk
I can go out and see friends any time I want. I don't have to live with them to be social. I don't feel the need to be around other people 24/7.


It is really easy just to sit on your own though and not bothering to socialise when you're on your own....Takes motivation when you're on your own, when not you just kind of go with the flow and are forced to socialise.

I think I could easily become a hermit living on my own....too risky for me.

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