I often get asked about the advantages of being a homeowner, and, given the current housing crisis that is engulfing the UK, it certainly is a topical issue. As someone who has experience in both, I will say that the benefits of renting are often forgotten, and the flexibility that comes with it, along with the lack of financial burden when things break or need fixing, seem to be understated as we all race to get onto the property ladder as quickly as we can.
However, that’s not to undermine the obvious advantages to owning your own place too. Paying off your own mortgage is certainly far more preferable to paying off someone else’s, and for us as a young family, it feels good to know that we are building up an asset with our repayments.
For those who have just made the plunge into home ownership, or are in the process of signing on the dotted line, congratulations! It’s an exciting time, and I remember how thrilled we were the day we moved into our first-ever home. Being handed the keys is a time to be enjoyed, and nothing should detract from that.
However, having gone through the experience myself, there is one memory that lingers in the back of my mind – cost, cost, cost! I thought we were nearly there once we’d made our first down payment, but unfortunately, there was a lot more to come. By the time we’d finished stumping up for moving costs, legal fees, agency fees, stamp duty and a survey, it felt as though we’d been sucked dry.
Our place needed work in the way of improvements. Having already come as far as we had, we weren’t going to skimp on the big and small jobs that were needed, and I wanted our house to look every bit as nice as we could possibly afford. We got there in the end, but it really put some strain on our budget at what was already a stressful time.
A helping hand for home improvements
The point here is not to put the fear in you, but merely to point out that making your house into the home you imagined can be an expensive process. But you shouldn’t let money be the thing to get in your way. Obviously, prize number one is if you have the funds to cover the costs of renovations and improvements. However, there is also no shame in looking into home improvement loans if you need a helping hand to take the pressure off.
Bear in mind too that, according to the National Association of Estate Agents, an average extension of living space can increase property value by 10%, while even smaller projects such as kitchen refurbishments can add 6%.
In this sense, a loan like this is more an investment than an indulgence, and nothing to feel guilty about. One thing I noted when perusing through price comparison sites was how diverse and competitive the personal loans market has become. No longer are banks the dominant force, and providers of alternative finance in particular seemed to be offering the best value.
Take peer-to-peer lending for example, whereby platforms match the funds from consumers willing to lend money directly with those looking for a loan. In this case, there is no middleman, and money is allocated on a pound-for-pound basis in what is a very streamlined model which is geared towards providing value to both the lender (who gets a good return) and the borrower (who gets a low-cost personal loan).
Representative APRs seem to hover around 6%, and borrowers have the flexibility to choose both the amount they wish to borrow (£1,000 to £25,000) and the period over which to make repayments (1-5 years). And it’s all done quickly and easily, with a two-minute application process, and the subsequent approval time usually just a solitary working day.
Have that palace you always wanted
Then again, there might be other lenders out there offering something better, and therein lies the point. In the online age, and at these times of record-low interest rates, it isn’t a bad time at all to be a borrower, and affordable personal loans are actually rather abundant.
Of course, debt in general is something to ideally avoid if possible, but when it comes to making improvements – either just after you buy or further down the line – money need not be the thing to stand in the way of converting your abode into your dream home. So if you need a bit of good-value financial help in getting there, don’t be shy to look around for it.
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