Still Renting in my 30s

rebel without a clue

Hi, im 31 year old single female. I have accepted that i'll be renting forever at this!!! Just wondering are there any other males or females around my age that rent and are happy to rent?? I couldnt afford to rent a place on my own so sharing is my only option. The problem is that im finding it hard to find people around my age that rent/share houses. Anybody else think the same????

Jehuty42

rebel without a clue wrote: »

Hi, im 31 year old single female. I have accepted that i'll be renting forever at this!!! Just wondering are there any other males or females around my age that rent and are happy to rent?? I couldnt afford to rent a place on my own so sharing is my only option. The problem is that im finding it hard to find people around my age that rent/share houses. Anybody else think the same????

Most people your age probably took out huge mortgages back in their early twenties and while they may now have a house, they are straddled with debt and negative equity. You have the freedom to move if you have to, if your house develops a structural fault or some other problem, you have a landlord legally required to amend it for you, without you having to worry about it and organise workmen and such.

Your post is indicative though of a problem in Ireland, that renting is seen as something only for students and young people, an attitude that is damaging to the rental market and is not, I think, seen abroad. It's the old (nonsensical) "renting is dead money" argument.

Cuddlesworth

Jehuty42 wrote: »

It's the old (nonsensical) "renting is dead money" argument.

If the rent is high enough to disable your ability to save and a morgage works out at far cheaper, then why wouldn't it be dead money.

That being said, I'm 27 and have no intention of buying for a long long time. I earn a fair chunk and like the idea of bailing on this country when and how I want to.

Zamboni

rebel without a clue wrote: »

Hi, im 31 year old single female. I have accepted that i'll be renting forever at this!!! Just wondering are there any other males or females around my age that rent and are happy to rent?? I couldnt afford to rent a place on my own so sharing is my only option. The problem is that im finding it hard to find people around my age that rent/share houses. Anybody else think the same????

Hook up.

rebel without a clue

ya i realised a few years ago that ill never afford a property on my own as my wages aren't great, but you know im happy with that, as you pointed out that when something breaks or goes wrong i just need to get the landlord/agency to sort it. i think renting is widely accepted in europe?
its just the age thing! people from 29 to 40 would suit me. but i wouldnt move in with the owner of house though! tried it, it didnt work for me.

rebel without a clue

Zamboni wrote: »

Hook up.

unfortunetly im tied into a lease for another few months! im just putting it out there at the moment so when the time does come i might have some options.

spider77

I am male and in my 30s and still renting and I know plenty that are also. To be honest it did not bother me until recently but there comes a time when you have had enough of the sharing etc. I have travelled a bit and in Australia and NZ lots of people rent at our age without anyone batting an eyelid, even on their own. Its just an Irish thing that we must all own our own gaff. I am looking at buying now as I think the time is right for me but I will not be rushing into it unless I feel I am paying the right price and can meet repayments into the future. If I were you, I would continue to rent if you are happy and ignore what others think. You will know when the time is right.

carlosvan

jeez most people would kill to be in your position!!!! my mate is 36 and is still living with his mum and dad, worse still he has a sister and 3 brothers and there all married with kids and left the nest over 10 years ago, he's the oldest , you got nooooo problem girl ...noooo problem at all

rebel without a clue

carlosvan wrote: »

jeez most people would kill to be in your position!!!! my mate is 36 and is still living with his mum and dad, worse still he has a sister and 3 brothers and there all married with kids and left the nest over 10 years ago, he's the oldest , you got nooooo problem girl ...noooo problem at all

is your mate too lazy to move out??he'll probably get the house in the end. sure he company for his parents. its finding people my age to move in with. when the time comes im gonna do some proper searching, prefer mixed or even males. sweet joysus i cant live in all female house again. ever.

carlosvan

rebel without a clue wrote: »

is your mate too lazy to move out??he'll probably get the house in the end. sure he company for his parents. its finding people my age to move in with. when the time comes im gonna do some proper searching, prefer mixed or even males. sweet joysus i cant live in all female house again. ever.

yes i think life is going the way he intended, he loves buying apple products, and top of range cars, your right tho, he'll get house , a load of women living in house together is always gona be tough!!! your better with men . you might even cop off with one of them and buy a house together !!

Lex_Diamonds

I'm nearly 32 and I rent by myself in the CC. Largely cool with not owning a home, just have a few problems with Dublin's mutant rental market...

alexonhisown

People worry too much about buying a property. I wish I was still renting and not paying a mortgage. Few reasons for that. When renting if your rent goes up a lot and you cant affort it you can move somewhere cheaper. If you dont get on with your neighbours you can move. If the estate becomes scumbag land, you can move. If you want to move abroad to work, no problem. Lots of other reasons.

Colonel Panic

I'm in my 30s and renting in Dublin 10 mins from the city center. Almost bought a 2 bed house in Malahide back in 2007 but felt I would be spending too much on payments to actually have a life so I skipped it.

Most of my friends bought earlier so they're not too badly off in terms of mortgage payments but I'd be in serious negative equity if I'd bought then.

I'm fine with renting although I don't think I'd like to be renting in 40 years time on a pension.

noxqs

A mortgage, for me, would be a ball and chain around my ankle I would be extremely reluctant to get. Maybe in a healthy market where it could be disposed of within a reasonable time - but now? I would feel burdened just by the mere thought of it.

I am pretty happy renting - always have been. Get a one-bed rental in your area, and you don't have to share with anyone. Much the same as owning except you havent become a serf to a bank. It'll never be as cheap as a room of course, but to the best of my knowledge, rent relief is still available ? If that it still not an option, owning surely isn't either but I'll get to that

The continent and many other places - 60% or more will rent, for life. And quite happily so - Ireland is just .. a bit behind the times in terms of regulation. To say the least. But I feel that this will change to be more in line with the continent.

By the way, no one owns their house/apt before the last payment to the bank has been paid. They're just paying rent to a different landlord.


I'd say a lot of people would love to be in your position, given that they're up to their ears in debt and negative equity. Property prices have returned to 1999 levels at present and are accelerating. 12+ years of equity wiped out - and even at 3% per year gains from this day, it would take 47 years to recover (without factoring in inflation). Don't worry - you haven't missed out on anything.

P.S: I am surprised theres very few co-op rentals in Ireland - it's all mostly private. However an interesting construct seen on the continent is co-op housing where a cooperative owns appartments and runs it, the loan to the bank, being paid back out of the rent of each renter over x periods of years - the co-op is non-profit and serves only the current tenants. I think perhaps all the apts in NAMA may end up in a government like scheme sort of like this. We will see, but I expect being a renter will only get better here.

carlosvan

i remember years ago renting a nice house with 2 /3 others over the 4 years i was in there, there was one guy there the whole time, he was a nightmare, peole wouldnt stay long because he was very awkward, i just ignored him, anyway in the end it all got to much and i found a 1 bedroom flat just outside the town, the rent was half as much and it wasnt nearly as nice as the house id been in, i was worried about this, after the 1st week livin g in the 1 bedroom flat i'd realised id been MUG!!! it was great, i wish id made that move years ago,

LordSutch

Jehuty42 wrote: »

Most people your age probably took out huge mortgages back in their early twenties and while they may now have a house, they are straddled with debt and negative equity. You have the freedom to move if you have to, if your house develops a structural fault or some other problem, you have a landlord legally required to amend it for you, without you having to worry about it and organise workmen and such.

Your post is indicative though of a problem in Ireland, that renting is seen as something only for students and young people, an attitude that is damaging to the rental market and is not, I think, seen abroad. It's the old (nonsensical) "renting is dead money" argument.

Good post that, and very true^

I have friends & family on the continent, all professionals, all renting, as they always have done, and always will do (through choice)!

inforfun

OP,

I am somewhat older than you and still renting.

But then again, i am from a country where it is normal to rent, where there is no obsession to own a house (or better, have a mortgage) before you have pubes.

Buying a home is something you do when you know you are "stuck" in life. I dont mean "stuck" in a negative way. But more i nthe sense of being married, having school going kids et cetera.

And to add, i dont mind renting but sharing with strangers is a nightmare.
Fortunately i can afford to rent solo otherwise i would be sharing a prison cel by now

syklops

OP, you said you can't afford to rent a place on your own. When your lease is up I would say look good and hard, because there are some great rental bargains out there at the minute. My sister, albeit not in cork, just started renting a 2-bed appartment on her own for 80 euros a week. It is way nicer than what I had 5-6 years ago in Dublin at half the price for what i was paying to share.

An empty flat actually costs a landlord money, be it security, heating, taxes and charges, so some landlords(the ones who live on the planet earth) are willing to ask for very small rents, enough to cover their costs and no more, so you should be able to get a bargain on a nice small apartment. There comes a time in your life when you don't want to live with other people. No matter how laid back they are.

jobless

OP have a look here... you might find someone in the age range you'd like to share with

http://www.daft.ie/searchteamup.daft?s[browse]=1&s[search]=1

chris_ie

The good old "rent is dead money" vs "no its not" debate

There are pros and cons to both owning and renting. I'm approaching my 30's, myself and my fiancee are buying a house now. We have been looking to buy for the last 4 or 5 years and had planned last year on waiting until around 2013 but a house that we had our eye on dropped in price significantly and also accepted below the asking price so the time and price was right for us. The mortgage repayments will not be much more than our current rent for a bigger house and nicer area (more privacy etc).

The thing I liked about renting was that we could move when we wanted, get landlord to fix any issues with house etc. as many people have pointed out. But I didn't like the idea that nearing the end of a lease the landlord could easily decide that you had to move out. This all depends on the situation of the landlord though and probably isn't that common.

With our own house we will be able to do what we want with the house also. There is nothing wrong with renting in the same way as there is nothing wrong with owning a house. There are alot of people that say rent is dead money and alot that are completely against that idea. However, some people against this idea like to make owning out to be a bad thing too!

Ray Palmer

Just make sure you have a good pension so you can afford to rent when you are retired.

One of the biggest problems building up in Ireland is when people get old and can't afford to take care of themselves and there will be less young people to support them.

noxqs

Ray Palmer:

That is a policy problem the government could solve with a penstroke when they decide to emulate 50+ years of continental policy to housing and elderly.

Ritchi

noxqs wrote: »

and even at 3% per year gains from this day, it would take 47 years to recover (without factoring in inflation).

How are you working this out? At 3% increases per year, something will quadruple in value over 47 years. Is there something I haven't factored in?

By my calculations, it would take about 25 years for things to double at 3% a year, which would make up for the approx 50% drop. Still a long time though.

Ray Palmer

noxqs wrote: »

Ray Palmer:

That is a policy problem the government could solve with a penstroke when they decide to emulate 50+ years of continental policy to housing and elderly.

Your own personal finances are always your own personal problem.

I'd love to know what penstroke you think will solve this problem. It's not like you can suddenly tell all the LL in Ireland to offer cheap accomadation to over 65 at some point in the future.

The people who provide accomadation in this country are radically different to the large companies that do it on the continent. They can not emulate what exists elsewhere becasue the market is so radically different.

noxqs

Sorry that figure was from an earlier argument and I realize it's out of its original context and doesn't make sense. Here's an alternative calculation.

Assuming we bottom out around 60% drop from peak, and prices flat line for a number of years - say 5, with a doubling time of 23.5 at 3% - the time for prices to return to peak will be:

It'll take 31 years at 3% interest to go from 40 to 100 or 36 years based on a period of no growth. My previous figure I realize now was based on a 70% drop from peak (such as appartments) which stands at 45 years and 9 months and so on.

My argument is simply; People who bought in 2006/2007 will never have equity as cost of interest versus inflation will have cost significantly more than any equity left at the end of term. This argument extends all the way back to 1999 currently and may even go back to 1996 or further at the end of this crisis. These people will have paid twice the amount or more for an asset worth half the price at face value and a fraction post-inflation.

noxqs

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Your own personal finances are always your own personal problem.

I'd love to know what penstroke you think will solve this problem. It's not like you can suddenly tell all the LL in Ireland to offer cheap accomadation to over 65 at some point in the future.

The people who provide accomadation in this country are radically different to the large companies that do it on the continent. They can not emulate what exists elsewhere becasue the market is so radically different.

Did you miss the memo on who owns most property in the country? It's the taxpayers stake in NAMA. The government, that's us by extension, decides they could very well emulate the continent.

Private LLs may always exist - but the idea that they alone should be providing rentals can be challenged. No one said LLs should provide below market rents for elderly - simply providing a scheme like rent allowance/relief for elderly to subsidize cost of housing would do. You seem to have a very narrow and limited world view in the sense that you seem to assume status quo rather than changes will be made. We don't live in a vacuum - we don't owe LLs in Ireland anything especially not with so many amateur LLs and bad quality houses being offered currently with too lax regulation. This can, and will, change.

A generation of Irish are growing up having watched what happened with property and I doubt they'll be falling over themselves to bid on houses.

(that won't stop vested interests from desperately trying though).

Ritchi

noxqs wrote: »

Sorry that figure was from an earlier argument and I realize it's out of its original context and doesn't make sense. Here's an alternative calculation.

Assuming we bottom out around 60% drop from peak, and prices flat line for a number of years - say 5, with a doubling time of 23.5 at 3% - the time for prices to return to peak will be:

It'll take 31 years at 3% interest to go from 40 to 100 or 36 years based on a period of no growth. My previous figure I realize now was based on a 70% drop from peak (such as appartments) which stands at 45 years and 9 months and so on.

My argument is simply; People who bought in 2006/2007 will never have equity as cost of interest versus inflation will have cost significantly more than any equity left at the end of term. This argument extends all the way back to 1999 currently and may even go back to 1996 or further at the end of this crisis. These people will have paid twice the amount or more for an asset worth half the price at face value and a fraction post-inflation.

I didn't mean to be picky, just wondering if I was doing something wrong. That all makes sense. Thanks.

p

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Just make sure you have a good pension so you can afford to rent when you are retired.

Yea, I see that here. People who don't intend to buy, do put that extra money in to pensions etc...
The nice thing here too though, is that if you rent a place, you can paint walls, redecorate a kitchen/bathroom etc.. so you have a lot of flexibility to make a rental place your own.

Ray Palmer wrote: »

One of the biggest problems building up in Ireland is when people get old and can't afford to take care of themselves and there will be less young people to support them.

Actually, we're not in such a bad position compared to other EU countries, as our population is just leveling off and stabilising.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2011/0628/1224299677508.html

Ray Palmer

noxqs wrote: »

Did you miss the memo on who owns most property in the country? It's the taxpayers stake in NAMA. The government, that's us by extension, decides they could very well emulate the continent.

Private LLs may always exist - but the idea that they alone should be providing rentals can be challenged. No one said LLs should provide below market rents for elderly - simply providing a scheme like rent allowance/relief for elderly to subsidize cost of housing would do. You seem to have a very narrow and limited world view in the sense that you seem to assume status quo rather than changes will be made. We don't live in a vacuum - we don't owe LLs in Ireland anything especially not with so many amateur LLs and bad quality houses being offered currently with too lax regulation. This can, and will, change.

A generation of Irish are growing up having watched what happened with property and I doubt they'll be falling over themselves to bid on houses.

(that won't stop vested interests from desperately trying though).

Oh I see now you think that the governement should hold on to the property and wait till it's needed and then use. That is a ridiculous idea as it ignores cost of maintence and current problems.

While you think LL are owed nothing you think being old means the state should subsidise the people who didn't plan for their future. Things will change but how you think the state will be able to afford to pay for accomadation for so many people in the future. There is a limit to what the restrictions they can and will put on LLs.

The government owe LL a hell of lot. They provide accomadation so the state doesn't have to and they pay a lot of taxes. a lot of LLs exist as they bought for retirement funds. You seem to suggest robbing from them to pay for those who didn't plan for their future. Unlikely to happen especially with the EU watching.

A lot of the NAMA property is useless as nobody wants to live there. It's not like they have a mass of prime properties. I can uy an appartment in Donegal tomorrow they are so cheap but there is no body who wants to live there.

noxqs

Ray;

Your point of view seems to be property is a pension fund of sorts. I find several problems with that view;

Property is an illiquid asset - you can't extract money from it unless you sell it outright (Assuming its a family home) or rent out a room (which may not be ideal for elderly). Now, you can live in it at old age but old age pensioners still require money to live. Cost of maintenance, property taxes etc would take out a few thousand per year as well at the very least.

You seem to ignore the alternative scenario:

Renting while saving in a private pension scheme.

With this scenario you wouldn't need a house necessarily - your private and state pension may very well provide the money needed to continue renting and living without dependency on others.

I just fail to see how a house is a necessity as you get older - providing that the person in question has planned for their future with savings, pension scheme and so on. I certainly won't be relying on family, kids or state to help me out as I get older - I've planned for that - and it doesn't require me to pay a mortgage - necessarily. I may buy a house if my situation changes but I would still keep adding to my private pension and other savings.


Another thing which we have already frequently discussed is that a property is a pretty poor performing asset relative to stocks and bonds and using it as a pension scheme as you point out and becoming a landlord thinking tenants will eventually provide their pension in the form of a house - that's really gambling with ones personal finances as it dramatically increases ones debt to assets/income ratio assuming of course that one already has a primary residence. It is bad financial advice as it is gearing. And as pointed out in the calculations above its very likely to under perform the market especially relative to inflation for those who bet on that horse in the last decade.

There's perfectly viable alternatives.

Ash.J.Williams

rebel without a clue wrote: »

Hi, im 31 year old single female. I have accepted that i'll be renting forever at this!!! Just wondering are there any other males or females around my age that rent and are happy to rent?? I couldnt afford to rent a place on my own so sharing is my only option. The problem is that im finding it hard to find people around my age that rent/share houses. Anybody else think the same????

35 and renting..thought it stupid to buy in a boom and thought i'd wait it out until the crash, I thought being debt and negative equity free would be enough to get me a morgtage....would love my own place but happy enough being free of the burden!