Man. There’s a house for rent over on the other side of this housing estate. It’s 4 bedrooms with two reception rooms, a quite good kitchen with a surprising number of cupboards, and a fairly wonderful, sizeable garden with a shaded sitting area. The whole of it has got the most gorgeous view (it overlooks this and this and this, for example). It’s closer to the train station, and will be closer yet when the new footpath opens up from literally twenty steps away from the front door over the hill and down toward the station. It’s easily the most beautiful place we’ve ever contemplated renting. It’s also almost half again what we’re paying in rent currently, and we cannot decide what to do.
There are several things feeding into trying to make a decision. One is that our landlord’s announced her intention to sell the house we’re renting when our current lease is up (in September). She gave us what amounts to the right of first refusal on the house; we can buy it if we want to (and if we could come up with the money). It’s a fine 3 bedroom house, but if it were mine I would want to put a lot of work into it. That would be okay, but we’re not *entirely* sure we want to buy a house anyway, because it looks like the rest of the family is moving to Bray, and Ted’s new job is with a hotel chain that has hotels in the Dublin area, at least, so maybe in a few years we’ll want to move up there, and buying a house appears to be a great deal of work (and expense) here, so we don’t know that we want to do it twice. Another is that financially this is an absolute crap time to move, because we’re waiting for me to get paid (have I written a post about the vagueries of finances as a writer? should I do that?), but of course if we wait very long somebody else is going to snatch it up. Another is that work-wise this is an absolute crap time to move, since I have a book due in six weeks, but hey, that didn’t stop me from selling a house and moving to the other side of the planet a couple years ago, right?
The somewhat aggravating thing is that if we were buying that place, we’d absolutely jump on a mortgage of the size the monthly rent is. But then, of course, we’d be buying it, and would be free to do what we wanted with it (the decor is very nicely appointed, but it’s not what I’d put in my house), and that’s unquestionably the bitch about renting.
So on the one hand, logic dictates that it would not be a good move to make, but on the other hand, if we’re going to be renting for a while, living somewhere that beautiful would just rock.
*puts on enabler’s hat*
Well, if you’re happy in your surroundings, you’re more productive at work, or so the saying goes. And the views alone could inspire you to new heights of craftsmanship :)
The more of your photos I see, the more I want to visit/move to Ireland. Not a drop of Irish blood in me, but if I brought cookies would they take me anyway?
For up to six months at least, yes! :)
Wouldn’t it be lovely?
I haven’t been to Ireland since my bike trip in 1996, but I’m often tempted. Especially when I see things like Anam Cara Writers’ Retreat.
Now, see, if we got the four bedroom place I could put *both* of you up at the same time when you came to visit! :)
Okay, you’ve sold me. Where do we sign up?
Go for it and rent the 4-bdrm house–even tho it’s as much as a mortgage. It’ll be easier to get out of when (if) you move in the future.
Counterargument: buying a house is awesome, financially. All the money you pay in mortgage pretty much comes back when you sell, unlike rent, and houses actually go up in value, which is profit! I don’t know Irish tax laws, but in the USA, the interest you pay is all tax deductible. Buying a house for two or three years and then selling it when you move is generally a lot better financially than throwing money down the rent well for two years.
Plus, you can do crazy things like paint lizards on the walls and install writing nook hardware, or whatever.
The downsides are if you can’t sell it quickly, if you can’t stretch to make the mortgage payments, nobody to help if things break down. And a little less flexibility to just pack up and move.
The laws tend to be written by people who own property, no matter where you are, to be beneficial to people with property. Join the man!
Oh man, you live in Cobh? I’m officially green with envy. I visited Ireland for the first time last year and we visited Cobh. Walked up the hill to see the church, and had some wickedly awesome seafood chowder at a place on the water. Can’t wait to go back. Good luck with the houses (whatever you decide).
Ann
Isn’t that cathedral ridiculous and amazing? I love Cobh. Let me know if you’re ever in the area! :)
Garden with shaded sitting area… Oh, I’d kill for that! In fact, I’d have to, long as I insist on living in the most expensive city in the world :D Living somewhere beautiful sounds all right by me.
Er, with property taxes, closing costs, etc., in the US it’s generally better financially to rent than to buy if you’re going to move within five-seven years. See the end of this article from the New York Times, for example: “We often tell people that they need to stay in a house five to six years for it to make sense,” she said.
Can’t speak for Ireland, though – could be completely different.
Ooh, house choices. It sounds like a big jump in rent, but sometimes it’s worth the stretch for the payoff. I wouldn’t buy right now, as the SSIA thing is wrapping up this month for many people (money coming back into the economy) and the housing market has slowed dramatically in the last 6-12 months. I think there’s more cooling off to come in the house market, so it might be safest to wait and see, but it’s definitely more of a buyers’ market now, so you might benefit by buying soon.
Anecdote time! There’s a house very like ours just down the road from us advertised at €310,000. A year ago it would have disappeared quickly, even at that price. Now it’s not selling.
Instinctively I’m Irish on the matter of rent: we hate paying rent and we love owning LAND.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
(And don’t go to Dublin! It’s full of people and cars, etc.)