A Desk In The Sun

If you ask me I think we Brits are a little property obsessed. Let's be absolutely clear - there is nothing wrong with renting. In fact if you have recently moved abroad, you're simply better off renting while you find your feet. Until you know your new chosen home town like the back of your hand - there's simply no point in buying.

I agree. I rented a place for my first year in Ibiza and it was definitely the best way of doing it. In fact, if I hadn't come across an absolute bargain property to buy I would probably still be renting. But, I wouldn't have found my dream home if I hadn't been living on the island.

People who buy a place when they're just over for a fortnight's holiday don't realise, for instance, that estate agents here get a standard 5% or just how much room there is for negotiation. It took us two months of negotiation to get the deal and we didn't involve an estate agent.

On the other hand, because the price of property here has risen even faster than in the UK a lot of people have made a substantial profit on property deals even though they didn't know what they were doing when they bought a place here.

I'm thinking of three reasons to buy property...

- because you've found a space in which you want to spend a long, long time.
- because you have the funds and the investment makes great sense.
- because you're feeling pressure to attain a house for status, for appearances, for conformity.

Only one of them will suck all of your earnings, lead you into having kids earlier than you thought (no money to go out so what else is there to do?) and finding that you have loads of equity just at the time when your kids are hovering around for a share of it all.

Matto

PS I didn't choose number three but the argument against it helped me avoid it..!