For most forking out hundreds in rent month-to-month, the goal to eventually own their own home is what they cling on to. Bad news, though, because according to one entrepreneur you shouldn't be looking to buy at all. Watch what he has to say below:
Impossibly high rent forever it is, then.
Businessman-turned-moderate content making star Jon Joseph Bourgerie (YouTube: The British Entrepreneur) has taken to TikTok to advise against getting a mortgage and trying to get on the property ladder.
Advert
Why? He insists it's not really home ownership, given that you're taking money from the bank to finance it and the house can be taken back off you should you fall into debt.
He also argues recent sanctions against Russian oligarchs over Ukraine in which property was confiscated complicate the notion of whether we actually own our homes.
"I don't think buying a house is a good idea," Bourgerie says in the TikTok video. "Unless you have tonnes of money that you're buying it because it doesn't really make a difference to you."
He continues: "As far getting a loan - because a mortgage is a fancy term for a loan - you're just getting a loan.
"People go 'I own my house', what? No you don't. The bank owns it and also the government own it because if they take it off you - which they can - look at sanctions, right?
"Do you actually own your house?"
Unsurprisingly perhaps, his comments haven't gone down too well with his followers on TikTok, with many pointing out the cost of rent is far higher than a mortgage.
One TikTok user wrote: "Where I live, mortgage repayments are half that of rent. And when I retire, I will own my house. This man’s talking waffle."
Another added: "I mean why rent then cos you waste loads of money monthly when the house still ain't yours."
A third agreed, saying: "Not true. You do own it, it’s not like car finance. A mortgage is a loan against your income, secured against the house. Guy thinks he knows everything."
However, it should be pointed out that Bourgerie was offering an overview of where it might be best to spend your money in 2022, querying whether there might be better investments out there.
An avid fan of Bitcoin, the entrepreneur thinks that digital currency may well be a better way to invest your hard earned cash.
You can watch his full video here.
Simon Catling