Buy now and upgrade in 5/6 years or wait 5/6 years to buy?

Hi all,

My husband and I live in Dublin, we are hoping to move back west in about three years and realistically expect it to take 2/3 years to both get permanent jobs and can apply for a mortgage. We are both teachers.
We are wondering would it be financially better for us to buy to let down home now, move into that house when we move home and stay there until we get the permanency we will need to get another mortgage to upgrade to a better house.
Or would we hold off, rent a house when we move home until we can get a mortgage and just buy our dream house then.
We would not be expecting to make any money off the first house while it's being rented, ideally it would just break even. It would being cheaper for us to pay mortgage repayments on it than rent when we move home.
Would we be able to use the first house/sale of it as deposit for the second or would we need to save up an entirely new deposit?
Lots of questions I know!
Any help/advice appreciated!

Do you own a house in Dublin at present?

How much do you have now for a deposit?

When you move down West, how much do you expect your dream house to cost?

What ages are you?

I would have thought that you would be better off waiting to buy a house when you know where exactly you will be working permanently.

Brendan

Thanks for the reply Brendan.

We don't own at the moment, we are renting.

We have around 40k saved at present, this would give us enough for a 120k house using a BTL mortgage I believe.

Dream house won't cost more than 275k (ideally, this is based off current market values)

We are both turning 30 this year.

Tbh at the moment the only major plus I can see is having somewhere to live for the first few years we move back where repayments will be less than €500/month where as rent would cost €800/month.
Major drawback being what if we couldn't sell the first house when we wanted to buy the second.

There are a lot of drawbacks.

You might buy in the wrong place.
For the upgrade you would be limited to 80% LTV as a second time buyer. As a FTB you can borrow 90% LTV.
From time to time, there are incentives for First Time Buyers. You would lose them.
You might well lose money over the short-term on a property - either you pay too much for it, or you sell it for too little in a hurry.

With €40k, you will be able to afford a house of up to €400k - depending on your salaries.

So it won't be a problem getting the deposit together.

Wait.

Brendan

West is a very vague term. Do you mean Galway city? How do you know you'll be able to transfer. I know a teacher working in Mayo while commuting from Galway. The roads in most of Connaught are awful. What if one of you is in Sligo and the other in Clare.

Thanks for the reply guys.

I think you're right Brendan, we will probably wait.

Thanks!