Would you rent if you can buy? (tenant, incentive, investments)

[cb2008]

Not super rich but say you can afford the mortgage and other costs of ownership, would you still rather rent than buy?

[mathjak107]

depends

[Jkgourmet]

Absolutely - under certain circumstances.

Renting has some powerful lifestyle advantages. Flexibility to move pretty much when I want to, none of my free time required for maintenance, no need to keep an emergency fund for a new fridge if it suddenly breaks, a landlord who is responsible for a lot of stuff that I have to do as a home owner, no worries about what's gonna happen when I go to resell (did I make a good investment or am I going to be kicking my behind).

I did not purchase my first home until I was 34, and I could have purchased a decade before. I've never regretted that decision. It allowed me the flexibility to return to school for my degree, to move across the country, to take more career risks than I would have as a homeowner, to have more disposable income, to move when the neighbor from hell moved downstairs from me, and countless other blessings related to be a tenant instead of an owner.

[ckspores]

My husband and I are in our early 30s and are just now purchasing our first home. Many of our friends have been homeowners for years.

Renting for so long really had it advantages. We got to experience a lot of different areas, helping us immensely when deciding what area to purchase in. It allowed us mobility as our careers were getting started and allowed us to not have to worry about budgeting for most repairs and maintenance.

We were judged pretty harshly by some friends/family for choosing to rent for so long. Homeownership is not for everyone all the time and renting for years worked well for us.

So yes, I would definitely be in favor of continuing to rent if the circumstances were right, regardless of ability to purchase.

[Hemlock140]

No, in fact it would be ridiculous financially. Our house payment including taxes and insurance is $2,200. With the mortgage interest we get about $20,000 tax deduction. If we were to rent a similar size/age home in our area it would be $3,500/month that we would never get back and no tax deduction. Despite the crash we are back above the 2006 value
and at about 3 times what we paid for the house. That more than makes up for the cost of repairs and maintenance.

[nkull]

Nope - I would continue to own at this point even if it did cost me a little more.

1) I don't have to deal with a landlord.
2) See #1
3) My mortgage will never increase (taxes may, but that is nothing compared to how fast rent can increase
4) I don't have to ask for permission to make the house how I want it. (See #1)
5) I don't have to worry about the landlords opinion of my German Shepherd (See #1)
6) Nobody will suddenly decide that they don't want me living there anymore because they want to live there, sell it, etc. (See #1)
7) I can spend a little more for energy efficiency, it directly impacts my bottom line on the electric bill... The landlord of a rental has no reason to give a crap about how efficient the AC is or whether the windows are drafty. (See #1)
8) I will most likely get some of my money back when I sell, money that would otherwise just be lost.

So done renting, never ever again.

[mathjak107]

In our case i would rent again in a heartbeat. Not having the cash tied up in our house let me take advantage of some fabulous investments that earned us quite a lot of money.

We can buy multiple houses today with the return on that money that would have been idle in the house.

While cutting housing costs is a nice thing the flip side is the opportunity costs on investment elsewhere is lost.

now that we are retiring I am no longer the aggressive investor I was so buying a co-op here in nyc eventually and cutting housing costs vs giving up the income on that money may be the better deal. right now renting is still the better deal.

[jghorton]

When the 2007/8 housing bubble burst, many folks lost their homes along with their ability to buy plus a major incentive for buying: property appreciation. Of course, that depended largely on when one bought and at what price ... and if they were forced to sell. Since then, rental property has become an attractive option for many.

However, rental rates have increased significantly, while housing prices are starting back-up, shifting the advantage back to the 'buy' side. Unless one aspires to the gypsy lifestyle, is a seriously successful investor, is only temporarily living in a location, or lacks the financial resources or credit rating to buy, most of the housing advantages remain firmly on the 'buy' side.

Since most of us can choose to either rent or buy, the question to the OP question probably rests more in what folks have actually done, rather than an opinion.

[CSD610]

Originally Posted by cb2008

Not super rich but say you can afford the mortgage and other costs of ownership, would you still rather rent than buy?

Right now yes because you do not want to own at the moment.
In the future we will be purchasing land and building but not until
we have enough to pay cash for everything including the actual
building of the home.
We also have to come to an agreement on the design of the home,
the placement on the property and where the property will be
geographically located.
We have actually narrowed the location down to 3 areas, the
type of home is also narrowed down to 3 so we are much
closer now than we were before.

[tommy64]

The only reason I own is because I'm too poor to rent.