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Renting offers more flexibility than owning a home, mortgage commitments, baby boomer logic, pension, health benefits, tattoo free, home purchase prices
Yes there is, but renting offers far more flexibility than owning.
One freedom that comes to mind is to pick up your tent at any time day or nite and move to another apartment. Kind of like a "free spirit" I guess?
Problem with that is I can't carry all my stuff in my black plastic bag at the same time I use my walker.
One freedom that comes to mind is to pick up your tent at any time day or nite and move to another apartment. Kind of like a "free spirit" I guess?
Problem with that is I can't carry all my stuff in my black plastic bag at the same time I use my walker.
That's thinking a little small. Many renters choose to rent a large home and have a decades of "household junk" to fill it with. I'd be an example of this.
America is becoming more transient all the time. As the economy wreaks havoc unevenly across the country, many choose to move for employment. Many higher-level executives move every time they changes jobs. People in the middle of a fast-career growth stage will do whatever it takes to get better positions and keep moving up.
You've got to stay in a home about 5 years to break even with renting. For many (maybe even most) people, staying in a home for 3 to 5 years is not likely. Heck, think of all the young couples who buy a house and don't even stay married 5 years. In many of those cases, neither party can afford to keep the home and the home is sold at a loss. There are many, many instances where renting makes far more sense than buying.
It seems like conventional wisdom that "owning a home is the path to happiness, wealth, blah blah blah." I believe this thinking is "old school" and outdated. There is much faulty "Baby Boomer Logic" that people stubbornly cling to, especially when it comes to money. The problem is that the Boomers were raised in a period of about 50 years of unparalleled economic success. The logic that worked from 1950 to 2000 doesn't always apply today.
That's unfortunate, because my grandmother made a 27,000% return on the home she purchased in 1952! Of course, my grandmother was a stay-at-home mom who raised two incredibly well-mannered, respectful, tattoo free, substance abuse free kids who grew up to become highly compensated, successful adults. My grandfather worked for the same company for over 40 years. Although he's been dead for well over 20 years, my grandmother still gets his defined benefits pension and free health benefits. Sounds like a different America, doesn't it? It was! Well, that's the time "Boomer Logic" was formed...
Younger people are going to start to realize that it makes a lot of sense to wait until they have 25% to 50% to put down on a home to minimize their monthly mortgage commitment. That's going to be a major key moving forward in this economy.
My wife and I are very happy have done fine building wealth in spite of the fact that we've only owned a home for a small percentage of our marriage. We absolutely love the freedom that renting brings. We could afford to purchase a home tomorrow with a hefty down payment and not touch our 8 month emergency fund or retirement funds. We talk about it several times a year and "run the numbers." Neither of us believe it makes much sense to buy right now. There are four college degrees between us and a lot of experience. I trust us!
Of course, my grandmother was a stay-at-home mom who raised two incredibly well-mannered, respectful, tattoo free, substance abuse free kids who grew up to become highly compensated, successful adults.
I wonder why you felt the need to include "tattoo free" in that comment. That also shows evidence of, as you put it, thinking a little small.
It was not an insult at all. It's just a sign of changing times. Today, 33% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 30 have tattoos. When my dad was growing up, virtually no one had tattoos save for some Navy guys and "big bad bikers."
Calm down!
BTW: I have no idea how this became its own thread. These were responses in another thread. I assume they didn't meet this forums pinhole definition of "on-topic."
Sometimes it makes a lot more sense to rent, sometimes it makes more sense to buy. I agree with what amploud wrote about that times have changed. Most Americans don't have the type of stability in their lives as they did when it probably almost always was a good idea to buy a home. People are much more mobile, many of them not by choice. I know several people who are stuck somewhere because they can't sell their house.
Personally I'm about to buy a house but that's because it's a good idea for us right now, not because it's a universal good idea to buy a house.
We rent simply because my husband is not finished climbing the "ladder " with his job and we need to be mobile. It is so much easier to pack up and leave without having to worry about trying to sell a house. Especially with todays market. We have owned 2 homes in our 15 yrs of marriage and have owned alot longer than we have rented but since we have moved 3 times in the last 4 yrs and possbily facing another move next May, we have decided to put off buying again until he retires. Sometimes it sucks to have to ask for permission to do something to the house but all in all it is what works best for us right not.
Location: In my own little corner... sittin' in Jax FL
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We rent because we are newly back in the civilian world. My husband was USAF from 2000 - 2007. I don't know if I will rent in an apartment complex like this again. We have upstairs and side neighbors (just on one side). Let's just say they have been less than courteous neighbors.
The thing is i am 11 years older than my husband. I feel like there is pressure for someone "my age" to be in their own home. And that it is expected for us to try to buy vs. rent. Everyone keeps saying that renting is a waste of money. I don't think so, especially for us right now. My husband is not a handy guy. He doesn't like yard work either. I'd be stuck with all of it or hiring people. LOL Not quite my idea of fun.
So, renting does offer flexibility. It's tougher when you have a family of 5 (3 kids). It is easier that we only have a fish, though. hehe
It's just like leasing a car. Although I'd never lease a car, although I guess I should have with as many as I have owned and sell to get a different one....
I've lived all over the US and a territory, and owned once. Won't do it again. I felt like the house owned me instead of me owning the house.
The pool needed vacuuming, testing, shocking ...always something!
The hot tub wasn't as high maintenance but still.
Grass had to be mowed, flowers tended to.
Roof leaked, upgrades, changing the cabinets, etc.
Only thing, I've just been given the family home....it's just a mobile home with some good land..... and I've already started fixing up the bathroom.
Younger people are going to start to realize that it makes a lot of sense to wait until they have 25% to 50% to put down on a home to minimize their monthly mortgage commitment. That's going to be a major key moving forward in this economy.
Just curious about your rationale for this.
If I have 50% of the purchase price on a home, I would rather put 20% down and pay 7% interest (which is all tax deductable) and invest the other 30%. I can do better than a 5% gain in either long- or short-term investing.
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