Do you rent or own? What are the pros and cons of both? (recommendation, square foot)

[AcaciaRose]

I've been a renter most of my life. My last apartment was in a well-run complex that had a full-time maintenance staff. I'm retired now and a few months ago I moved to another state. I bought a place because there were no nice apartments available in the part of town where I wanted to live. Now I feel I'm a building caretaker! I'm completely responsible for the upkeep of this place. For example, after I moved in I noticed a problem with a folding door that had escaped my notice and the notice of the inspector. It took me 2.5 months to find a handyperson who was able and willing to fix the door. Etc.

I'm going to sell the place soon and do another interstate move to a nice apartment with capable maintenance people.

I suggest you follow your dream of traveling. Live your life the way you want to! Good luck.

[thisiswater]

I like the NY Times calculator because it's free from bias, which we all have one way or another. Also, it factors in so much: lost opportunity costs, seller expenses when/if you do decide to sell, etc. I can really never get buying to work on that calculator even if I enter 500K + purchase price v. 2200 renting. I live in a v. expensive place and buying would just take away all that I love about the freedom of living here. Until rental agents make close to what Realtors make on sales, Realtors will push selling: it's what their sellers want and it's what pays their commission. Frankly, with online sites like the Times' calculator and Redfin, Realtors as we know them will have to retool. It's just so easy to get information that used to be mystified.

[KCfromNC]

Originally Posted by thisiswater

I like the NY Times calculator because it's free from bias, which we all have one way or another. Also, it factors in so much: lost opportunity costs, seller expenses when/if you do decide to sell, etc. I can really never get buying to work on that calculator even if I enter 500K + purchase price v. 2200 renting. I live in a v. expensive place and buying would just take away all that I love about the freedom of living here.

Yep, despite all the details in that calculator there are really two things which jump out -

1. You never make up the difference if you buy when house prices are way out of line with rents
2. Buying is really a bet on appreciation. If prices stay flat or go down, renting wins big.

All of the other variables are interesting, but they don't sway things nearly as much as these two facts.

[gasgangrene]

As mentioned by KC, the thing that struck me most about the NYT calculator is that if home prices are dropping, there is almost no way that it makes sense to own. When we sold our house and moved recently, this calculator was one of the big reasons we decided to rent.

We also don't want to feel trapped by home ownership. In the Durham, NC area, it appears to us that it's almost impossible to sell a home on the upper end of the market. The downside risk of ownership seems huge at this point, with minimal upside.

[le roi]

Originally Posted by *VaNiLlaGoRrilLa*

I am a renter and just the thought of all the money and paperwork that comes with owning a home stresses me out.

I would like to own my own place but I am trying to decide if it is worth it or not or if I should just spend my money on making myself happy in life (i.e. travelling).

People keep telling me how important and necessary it is to own, that rent is just dead money.


What about your stories, what did you do?

"rent is wasted money" is bubble mentality. ancient history. babblings of the economically illiterate.

if you want to talk about wasted money ... buying a house in my area between 2005 - 2007 would've most likely been a catostropic failure from an investment perspective; one that could've set a person back 10 or 20 years, financially. And that is for the people who got good deals.

i'd like to own, but i see too much risk: homes not selling, prices not in line with incomes, and prices not competitive with rents.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

I for one like the idea that we will own a home outright within a specific amount of time (15 years) and that it will be ours. We do have kids and want a place that they can bring their kids to for visits and holidays. That is important to us. We also like to travel and don't see the house as keeping us from doing that. Vacations time is available where I work LOL.

On a side note I have known couples that have sold their homes loaded the boat with everything that they own and sailed away. After a few years of that they realize that they don't want to sail around the world anymore and would prefer to live in a home. Many of them never get back the home that they were used to. The smart couples keep the home and rent them out. Saying that, these are people that have paid off the homes or have very low payments where renting them out pays the bills.

[Boompa]

Own, as in own outright. I'm retired, not having rent or a mortgage on my monthly expenses is a big help. Even so age is catching up and I am unable to go see my family, they are unable to come here for financial of health reasons.

[fallingwater]

All I can offer you is my personal experience. I have done both.

I do not think anyone is wasting their money when they rent. No matter what you still have to pay for a roof over your head. Sure if you stay in a place long enough you can pay it off if you own but you still have taxes to pay. So its not free and clear.

What I like about renting is that you have the option to leave. Got a horrible neighbor? Move. Major repair then its not your responsibility. I have rented two places. One landlord was just a lovely person, second landlord was a nightmare.

The problem I had is that before we rented we owned 3 prior homes. Its hard to own a house and go back to renting. We sold our 3rd house because we wanted to relocate out of state. While job searching we rented a little house from a lovely woman. She was awesome. When we left the state and started renting in our locale we had a horrible landlord. He scared me because he was always behind on the mortgage. He never fixed anything so we ended up doing it. It pissed us off. We also had to pay extra for our cats and dog. Ya..like our animals could make that place any worse. The experience made us crave homeownership again.

Also in our new locale rent is a lot higher than actually owning. The money we were paying for this dumpy little house, in an so so neighborhood, would get us a newer home in a much nicer area. With the market being the way it is, it was the first time in our home buying experiences that we could get a home we actually really really wanted.

So in a nutshell, both have advantages but for me, I like being a homeowner. It suits me. I love yard work. I like doing whatever I want to a home and I don't have to worry about my animals. I actually find renting to be more of a scarier experience than owning a home. I do not like anyone having control over where I live. If something breaks I don't have to sit around and wait for someone else to do something about it. Also if I happen to hit hard times, it will take 90 days before I am officially threatened to be tossed out. It takes another 6 months before it actually happens. When you rent, your pretty much screwed at 30 days. I know that sounds wacky but renting just scares me. I also like having the tax deduction every year.

I know a lot of people that haven't owned a home before freak out thinking "what if something breaks?!" Well...you fix it or get it fixed by a professional. A car breaks and that can be costly but people still buy cars. Just make sure you buy a home you can afford so you can still have a life.

[sskkc]

Dh and I are in our late 30s. I'm as late a 30 as you can get without being 40.

We just bought our first home this year. For us, it was smarter to remain 'mobile'. When I was single, I needed to be flexible to move when the company said 'jump'. Getting a LL to break a lease is MUCH easier than trying to sell a home. After we got married, he was in the military. We knew we'd be moving every 3 to 5 years. Didn't make sense to buy then, though we CRINGE at the thought of all the money we've spent on moving.

After he got out of the military, we were self employed and the rules for buying were different. We had to wait longer than the average person to buy from that point. We've had some bad luck with LLs in the past few years - 4 years in a row, we moved. Last New Year's Eve, the property manager came by to get some quotes on new insulation. We were 6 months into our lease, with the verbal understanding that the property would be available for us to rent for 2-3 years, until we were 'ready' to buy. When we found out we had to move AGAIN... that was IT! We found an excellent mortgage broker and an awesome realtor. Because of the first year losses we took, we didn't qualify for as much of a house as we wanted, but it's big enough and the location's just right. But we're older and KNOW we won't have to move, even if work does now.

Not having a LL that wants to change the rules on us every 12 months is a HUGE blessing/relief. Our biggest problem owning though is that every little project leads to another and another and another... etc. Perhaps if we'd waited another year until we qualified for the homes we really wanted though, we wouldn't have as many projects. But then again, who knows?

Mobility and lack of worries about plumbing were the biggest bonuses of renting, for us. Being able to change whatever we want, whenever we want, knowing we're 'here to stay' and not having to ask permission to hang our extensive outdoor Christmas display is nice for us at this stage of our life.

Don't worry so much about what 'others' are doing, and at what age. Do what's right for YOU, when it's right for you. Though, honestly, if I had it to do again, I might buy a townhouse early on - before I met my dh and rent it out when I had to move. But hindsight is 20/20

[nightcrawler]

I was a renter, my friends on the 4th floor were getting a divorce and wanted to sell their Co-Op apartment. I did not have a substantial down payment for them so they said if the bank would let me assume the mortgage I could give them some money on the side.

After about 4 months of going back and forth the bank said yes, and took their names off the title and put mine on. I gave them a little money, (very little) and I then moved upstairs.

The loan was an adjustable rate, which was good because I used to pay extra principal every month, thus lowering the principle so when the rate changed it would be on a lower principle amount.

I then was able to pay the apartment off years ago. The maint is very affordable and is also 50% tax deductible.

So other than retirement, I am never moving......and I don't care what HGTV tells me about potential buyers. LOL