Buy or rent?

sweetcatomine

Looking for some advice.
Me and the missus bought a house about an hour and a half drive from Dublin a few years ago (at the time we were working close by so it made sense)

However, we now both work in Dublin (and looking likely that we'll be working there for the rest of our working lives, only place for the industry we're in realistically)

We were commuting up and down to Dublin for a while but it was costing us close to €800 in total between a train ticket, petrol and tolls so we said we'd rent a room (€450) during the week up there and come back to our home at the weekends.
We have a room rented out in the house down the country but it only covers a quarter of the mortgage.

We're now looking to the long-term and have 2 options to decide from, any advice would be appreciated:

Option A) Buy another house in Dublin
Keep renting a room in Dublin (obviously we'd like to rent our own place in Dublin but renting a 1-bed would be at least €800, the equivalent of a mortgage)

djimi

If it were me I would be in no hurry to jump into a second mortgage, especially given that you are already covering most of the one that you have. If you are prepared to spend 800 in Dublin then rent a property for a while first and see how you get on. Would there be much of a rental market for your own house if you were to rent it out?

sweetcatomine

djimi wrote: »

If it were me I would be in no hurry to jump into a second mortgage, especially given that you are already covering most of the one that you have. If you are prepared to spend 800 in Dublin then rent a property for a while first and see how you get on. Would there be much of a rental market for your own house if you were to rent it out?

There is a rental market but it would take afew months, but could get the whole house rented out but only make around 400 on it (mortgage is around 800), and then we'd lose our mortgage interest relief.
We think its better to try and rent 2 rooms in the house and make nearly the same money and keep the 3rd small bedroom and still be owner occupier. If we rented the whole house we would have to rent a bigger place in Dublin as we'd have to move all our personal stuff out.
Although maybe be worth it so not living between two places all the time.

AlanG

Remember if you rent out the whole place you will have to start paying marginal rate tax on your income – even if it doesn’t cover your costs. Under the rent a room scheme you don’t have to if its only one room in your house.
As for buying in Dublin that should probably be avoided until repossessions kick in and BTL properties start coming onto the market, prices are likely to fall further.