Nice House vs nice Car? Which takes priority?

[Gaspode]

House before car every time, and a crap house in a good area rather than a nice house in a crap area.

[confused_buyer]

You can easily be a car enthusiast, drive and own a very wide variety of cars and never spend more than £1,000 on one.

[Matt UK]

BritishRacinGrin said:

House all the way, largely because you can get fun cars for very little money in this country whereas houses are universally expensive and unlikely to lose much value (if any).

Totally agree

[zoom star]

I walk past a council estate on the way to work, probably the biggest house on the estate, on the end, in a largr corner plot, sat on the drive, massive modern motor home, and an Aston Martin.

[MrsF]

House every time for me.

A car is a depreciating asset and unless you really get the House Purchase wrong (Like Buying one on the edge of a North Yorkshire cliff) then a house shouldn't depreciate.

[jet_noise]

Dear ILM,

young= car, mature= house

I made that choice when I was in my 20s. Citroen Visa GT bought new with bank loan.
As soon as that was paid off I bought a house...


...4 years later!

regards,
Jet

[foliedouce]

For me it's been the house, spent a fair chunk of change on a project in the garden that could have been spent on a supercar, but I'm not complaining about my car history either, it juts could have been much much better.....one day.

[kiethton]

Save from my salary and pay the mortgage off with that, my bonus will be spent on a noble....or a holiday or to lump sum the mortgage in all honesty

[ChilliWhizz]

House - no brainer in my opinion

[loafer123]

I had to make this choice about 10 years ago. I had agreed to buy a 1973 911T

Two days later we spotted a fantastic house which was at least 3 steps up the ladder and so I pulled out of the car purchase and bought the house.

10 years and 3 houses later, I have a 928 and a nice house.

[Driver101]

It looks a bit wrong when you see a flash car in a rough area. I feel nervous leaving my car parked there, so they must feel uncomfortable living there.

I think you have to have a balancing act.

I'm sure many young people will regret splashing too much money of cars when they are young whilst staying with their parents. That knocks them back years for getting on the property ladder and getting themselves on a sure footing.

[andrewparker]

At the moment my children's nursery fees are more than my mortgage. I figure I'll get something nicer than my MK7 GTD when I'm relieved of them.

But to answer the question, I'd always prioritise a house over a car.

[siovey]

No brainer, house every time. When we bought our current house we really stretched ourselves. I always had nice company cars but took the cash allowance instead and bought a crappy old corsa while using the rest of the allowance to pay for the house etc. We wanted to trade up again after a few years but unfortunately 4 redundancies between us in the last 4 years has put paid to those plans!!

[Patch888]

Appears there is only one consensus on here.

I remember being younger saying I would always take a nice car over a nice house.

Now a bit older with a house and cars I have to admit the house takes priority, as already mentioned a lot of fun can be had in cars costing a very small amount now.

I didn't stretch myself with the mortgage, taking one out that was really affordable, that way I can continue to enjoy the motors.

[AlexHat]

I sold my first car a couple of years ago to part fund a newer and more powerful car. Now I'm saving for a house I do sometimes regret it, I'd have almost double the amount of money I have had I not bought the car. Oh well.

[Mercury00]

I'd go for the house personally. Every fker on my street has one or more Audi. I checked on Zoopla last week and the average value of houses on our street is apparently £78000 - £82000.

I'm exempt from criticism as I'm just a temporary lodger

[turboteeth]

Driver101 said:

It looks a bit wrong when you see a flash car in a rough area. I feel nervous leaving my car parked there, so they must feel uncomfortable living there.

I think you have to have a balancing act.

Also works the other way as well though - really nice house and "crap" car is a bit odd...but if you look at all the really nice houses you don't tend to see too many flash cars, it tends to be aged land rovers etc on the drive whilst the 911RS sits in the garage never to be seen!

[otolith]

Depends on your housing needs versus income, surely? No point in a single bloke buying a five bedroom pile, and no point in him paying a fortune for a city centre apartment if he's a rural kind of guy.

[ChasW]

Original Porsche 911 savings pot ended up in big loft conversion. Often threatened to put a Porsche badge on my door to my daughter's massive bedroom as a reminder. The next pot, downgraded to Boxster, went on a masters degree course. Kids have all left home now so maybe there is a chance.

[X5TUU]

swerni said:

Define "really nice"

Where I live most people have large houses but drive normal cars.
The vast majority of the population just see it as a method of transport.

This is exactly it, a close friend recently built a very nice house on a great plot just outside Durham city centre and it's beautiful and his perfect house, and is "really nice" by his definition, but for me not so much as yes it has a massive driveway and run up but no garage provision at all ... The term is too subjective to use here really