I am only in sheffield for 2 years from now probably. I dont know how much it costs to buy a house and am wondering i it is worth it to do it just for 2 years.

How much does it typically cost (lawyers, sureveyors etc - not the actual house price!)? Will it be easy to sell in 2 years when I move on?

If you're only going to be in Sheff for 2 more years I would question your reasons for buying as the market is likely to fall slightly, and at best be fairly static.

You could find you're buying a liability not an asset!

Add to this the other related costs:

Stamp duty @1% over 120k, 3% 250k, 4% 500k
Solicitors and disbursments £400-1500
Valuation fee / survey £0-£800
Mortgage arrangement fees £0-3k
Mortgage overhang £0-a % of prop value (many 000's)
Eventual selling agents fee 0.75-2.5%
Moving costs £0-2k

There is nothing wrong with property as a long term asset class, however in the next 2 years there could be some downside as you will need a slight rise in capital values to even break even for all your aquisition costs.

.... Unless you choose to let a room out ;)

Upto £3k to arrange a mortgage! You would HAVE to be desperate. Either that or you are trying to buy the town hall with a view to convert it to a soup kitchen! Thats specialist lending figures!

I did start at £0 1 man... but yes i have heard of fees as high as 3k!

You may well decide to let out a room but I don't see how this will cover all the fees in under 2 years...Just giving my t' pennies worth as values can still go down in the short term.

Buy, if you can afford to. You can't lose.

If you rent, you're just paying somebody else's mortgage.

And who does that benefit? Not you!

You can lose a great deal if you are forced to sell in the short term, ie in 2 years or less as the original thread stated!