I know it’s only February but we have to make a couple of big decisions this year. They are rather intertwined; where to apply for Pip’s primary school place, whether to consider a sibling for Pip and whether to renew our contract on this rented place, or try and own a place ourselves.
We’ve never particularly felt any draw to own a place before, and I’ve written about (and been interviewed on the subject of) our love of renting. I know we’re paying out money towards nothing in terms of rent – well, nothing in terms of capital value – I place a lot of value on ease and peace of mind. That said, there are some limitations but in general, we’re very happy. Engineered Oak Wood Flooring? We can live with that, if someone else comes to fix the mains water leak. And the broken boiler. Wall colours I’m not keen on? I’ll take it (and, to be honest, the landlord would probably let us paint if we were really inclined).
Leaving aside the other baby considerations, housing wise, what we really need to do is work out whether we could fit another baby into this flat, and if so, for how long. Can you fit two children in a small second bedroom? Could we squeeze in a cot into our room. If not, could we afford to rent anything bigger? In a different area? (We’d have to do it soon though, as Pip’s school place needs to be applied for at the end of this year).
Inspired by our shared love of Grand Designs, we’ve also been considering recently whether the option exists to build our own place. No idea how or what, but the thing we both love about that option is that you’d actually get a place you wanted. All the joys of home ownership in the end, without having to live in an area we aren’t mad about, just so we can own the place.
We could take some of the elements we love about this old Victorian flat, mix it with some of the newer elements we really appreciate and create a work of love. I don’t think we can stretch to that right now, so it remains a pipe-dream for now.
Looking at it like that, I think the answer is clear. We’ll stay put…
Post in conjunction with Luxury Floorings & Furnishings.
Photos apropos nothing, taken by a friend at the Tate last week
I’ve rented all my live and although I love the ease of it I have been having urges lately to own somewhere and have that feeling of belonging somewhere for a long time. I must be getting old!
I must admit, one of the hardest things I found when we bought after 10+ years of renting was that when stuff went wrong, it was up to us!! Having the freedom to make your home your own is obviously ace, but then if you have itchy feet such as I, then growing roots when you don’t really want to, is hard!
Swings & Roundabouts….!!
Sometimes you know the answer but you just have to reason it out. A new baby wouldn’t mind where you are either. P.S. I really like those shots of you xx
We have these same arguments with ourselves over and over again – we like renting, and have been lucky in that our landlords have always let us do pretty much what we want. But then, there’s always the lure of buying somewhere so that you never have to move again!