We keep having this discussion

At the minute we are in a house with a mortgage.The repayments are approximately £65 a week more than rent in a council house.Its only a terrace we live in.Not a palace

Should we move into rented and have more available funds each week to enjoy life a little more..............

or should we stick with mortgages and by the time we are 50 have a mortgage,rent free life?

Its so frustrating to have all our money go on the mortgage each week and you see people in rented,on approximately our income,being able to do some many more things because they have more pennies in their pockets

We've been debating this for months now and can't seem to decide what to do.One week its sell up,the next its stay put and make do

We have recently been looking into buying a house as we pay £900 a month in rent, a mortgage would be cheaper for us.

We are waiting to see if we get a mortgage agreed in principle.

I would say to stick with the mortgage, that way you get less to pay out in your "golden years"

Have you looked at any mortgage offers that are available or are you locked in for a certain amount of time?

I would stick with the mortgage payments as ok its cheaper to rent council but whats the chances of getting a council house? if anything like here slim esp if youve made yourself homeless by selling up (how they see it here). Private rent would probably be the same if not more than your mortgage payments.

We pay less than £250 a month rent, there's no way we would get anywhere with a mortgage for anywhere near that!

Private renting won't give you extra cash as the rent pays the mortgage for the landlord plus they'll want to make a bit of money out of it too.

Trying for a council house is hard. Look how long Gillian waited for hers. Council houses are like gold dust in certain areas of the country thanks to Mrs T letting people buy them, but not replenishing the stock with the money that was made by selling them.

You need to do your homework weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of both. Do you know how much private renting is in your area? I know a house in our street, the same as ours private rents for £450 a month, over £200 more than the council rent and probably the same if not more than a mortgage for a similar property.

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I agree with Yvonne hun write it all down the pros and cons for private renting and paying a mortgage.

We never wanted to buy here as we never knew if we were staying but once we settled and then all the babies came we were unable to afford a mortgage even though we are paying £600 a month in rent.

Its taken us 3 years and lots of heartache and fighting to get this house. We were told 3 years ago we would never get a house in the village and fingers crosssed we will get keys tomorrow.

I think if you were to get a council house then I would say Rent but if your only option is private rent I cant see it being that much of a saving so I would say stay as you are

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I agree with the other girls hun. If you privately rent will it still cost less? Round here its about the same as mortgage payments. Also its really hard to get a council house (well it is round here anyway!). I would do a list too & see what will benefit you most xxx

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Stay where you are if you can manage to pay your mortgage without getting into horrendous debt. You have stability for your children which is something those of us stuck renting privately don't have.....we are literally living at the whim of our landlord and letting agents. If either of them decide they want us out of the house them we are homeless. Council houses aren't ten a penny. We first went on the council housing list when our oldest was 12 months old....he's left home now and at university (19) and we are still waiting. I'd give my right arm to be able to afford a mortgage, 10 months after we moved house Oliver is still a nervous wreck, scared that someone's going to come along and take our home off of us.......are you sure your kids won't be the same?

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I know my floor isn't clean enough to eat off, but then.....why would you want to?

hi i say if you can struggle by stick to your morgage there is pros and cons in renting but at least you know when your kiddies are grown the house will be paid for.

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I would also agree in sticking with a mortgage, have you tried searching around to see if you can get a better deal (try the Martin Lewis webiste for some great money saving tips hes a god in my life at the moment and has saved me soooo much money you wouldnt believe LOL www .moneysavingexpert.com)

I reviewed all my insurance policies this year on his suggested comparison sights and have saved myself £150 per month just on various insurances alone. I have a mortgage with my husband, i had to go back to full time work mind you to be able to continue having the life we had before little one arrived, albeit most of my money goes straight to the nursery but its still more than i would get if i didnt work so is worth it.

As i say try Martins website if you havent already and see if there are any areas in your life that you could save on, at least if you own your own home when your retired you will have a home to call your own with no rent to pay and you will have something to pass down to your children to help improve their lives when the old gates in the sky come a calling!!

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you need to put a space in the address as were not allowed to post links