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I dont have a landlord to deal with. I dont have to ask for permission to do anything. I no longer have to live with a landlord UGLY choice is paint/floor colors. I can have multiple dogs without issue. I DONT have to have anything to do with my neighbors if i dont want!
The only reason I own is because I'm too poor to rent.
Lol, I know how you feel. My current mortgage is about $750/month. The rentals in my neighborhood which are the most similar to mine rent for close to $1000/month. My mortgage will be paid off in 12 years, and then my Taxes and Insurance will be about $200/month (I'm guessing, since they are about $100/month right now). By then, I expect the rentals will be $1200/month or more, and probably still increasing.
To the OP, there is a time to rent and a time to buy, for anyone. I love being a homeowner, but if I ever had to move to another city, I'd definitely rent first to learn the area and figure out how long I'd be staying. If I was ever going to live somewhere less than 4 or 5 years, I'd probably rent, also, unless buying was substantially cheaper.
I have two kids, so I prefer owning. When the kids have left the nest, I'd be interested in renting in a 55+ community. But it depends on what my Boss says and how much the rent is vs. buying, as well as how much we can sell our house for.
I would and I am. Today my house sale closes, woohoo.
As a single person, I was tired of all the upkeep. I may buy again, or I may not. Costs are similar for me, even with the house paid off, actually- couple hundred more a month to rent. Saving a lot on insurance as a renter, and repairs of course.
And if I were buying my house at today's prices, renting would for sure be a better deal for me. That's partly again as a single person, my rental is small, my house could have held a family.
I would and I am. Today my house sale closes, woohoo.
As a single person, I was tired of all the upkeep. I may buy again, or I may not. Costs are similar for me, even with the house paid off, actually- couple hundred more a month to rent. Saving a lot on insurance as a renter, and repairs of course.
And if I were buying my house at today's prices, renting would for sure be a better deal for me. That's partly again as a single person, my rental is small, my house could have held a family.
I second this, wholeheartedly. I am single with a very, very limited income but I used to own a home before I moved out of state. It was *always* something breaking down (i.e. water heater, major appliance, etc.) and the extra costs were killer.
I am very happy to be a renter and lucky to have a wonderful private-owner landlord who takes care of his property and built & insulated it properly.
Not super rich but say you can afford the mortgage and other costs of ownership, would you still rather rent than buy?
Really that's a personal answer. For me renting is throwing money away. When I was young I rented because I had to. At 23 I bought and never looked back.
Not super rich but say you can afford the mortgage and other costs of ownership, would you still rather rent than buy?
There are many other factors involved as PP have mentioned. We could have bought a long time ago, but the contract fell through and a year later an opportunity for a relocation presented. Since we were renting, we were able to take it. We have moved 3 times more since relocating and now have decided to stay put and buy. But for us, renting was the right thing and I've never considered that we were throwing money away. You have to live somewhere and renting allows us flexibility and peace of mind since any repairs would be the landlord responsibility.
Now that we are looking to buy, the mortgage is going to be more than what we pay in rent, so we are also saving there.
I would rent if I wasn't positive I wanted to STAY RIGHT THERE for an extended period of time. Sometimes when you buy you are stuck forever unless you take a loss.
I would and I am. Today my house sale closes, woohoo.
As a single person, I was tired of all the upkeep. I may buy again, or I may not. Costs are similar for me, even with the house paid off, actually- couple hundred more a month to rent. Saving a lot on insurance as a renter, and repairs of course.
And if I were buying my house at today's prices, renting would for sure be a better deal for me. That's partly again as a single person, my rental is small, my house could have held a family.
This is similar to my own situation. I've been a house-owner for 13 years now, and my mortgage is paid off. Even so, between property tax, insurance and maintenance, the annual expenses are comparable to what it would have cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment.
I'm intentionally comparing the ownership of as single-family house, to the renting of a one-bedroom apartment. If we compare buying a house vs. renting a comparable house, I suppose that buying would be less expensive in the proverbial long-run.
BTW, the market-value of my house today is about 15%-20% lower than it was in 2001. That's right - a consistent annual "rate of return" of negative one percent!
In my area, a residential house is about as much of an investment as a boat or a luxury car. OK, I'm being slightly facetious, but the overall point remains true.
Real estate is very local. In some areas, it would be idiotic to rent. In others, it's exactly the reverse.
Renting was cheaper for me and I liked being able to move when I wanted to. We bought a house because my husband felt like we needed to in order to prove to our relatives that we were financially able to buy a house, and he was tired of moving every few years.
We've been in our house four years. It was a new house with new appliances. I've had to fix the fridge twice, then decided to replace it because the part that failed was going to keep failing. I've had to fix the washing machine and the air conditioner. I've had to have the air conditioner repaired once when it needed something I couldn't do. And this summer, we had to move out and store our belongings while our foundation was repaired. If we were renting, none of that would have been my problem except the washing machine.
I also don't like having to maintain the yard, and I'd really like to move to a different part of town or even a different city, but it will be impossible to sell our house with a repaired foundation.
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