Is it better to rent or buy a home? - Page 2

[ameliabedelia]

Personally, I feel like the biggest factor in renting vs. buying is your income/job stability, ties to the community, family and the chances of having to move again.  We used to own a house, only to suffer job loss less than a year after buying.  DH ended up finding a job many states away and we moved.   Thankfully, this was before the market crash, and we were able to sell it, but this was a major, major stress.  So, in the future, I don't think I would buy again, unless we had lived in an area at least 5 years and were fairly certain of staying there forever.
 

[Vaske]

We would like to buy in the long term, but we've put a lot of things above that in priority:  paying off our student loans, getting entirely out of debt, having children, me staying home with the children, buying our van with cash, giving to our church and to charities.

Then, when those things were taken care of, God said something to me like, "Are you willing to put your dreams of owning a house aside and follow me?"  And I said yes.  So we're not even trying to save for a down payment at this point.  (I wouldn't buy without putting at least 20% down; fiscal conservative.)

Also, we're now estimating my husband's job security in days or weeks.  Thirty-year mortgages maybe were ok in the days of thirty-year jobs, but those days are long gone for us, and the housing market has not yet made a sustainable adjustment to that. 

Basically, I think any future house that we own will be one that God drops in our laps.

The biggest problem with renting that we've found is that since we're not able to improve our home by working on the structure, we've attempted to compensate by buying more Stuff (very frugally, but still).  Sometimes just stuff to cover up the ugliness of the rental.  Stuff to play with instead of doing little home projects like painting or planting.  Now, we're having to dig our way out.

[CatsCradle]

Hi OP.  A lot of people here have made some good points on the pros and cons.  I agree, too, with another poster who mentioned that the advantage may depend on where you live.  Case on point:  DH and I live in NYC and rented here for a number of years.  We finally saved up enough to put a down payment on a cooperative apartment and in the long term, it was the best decision we could have made at the time.  The cost of housing here has sky-rocketed since we bought, and it doesn't appear that it will change any time soon.  In our own neighborhood, people are paying at least twice and almost three times as much rent for a similar space as we do our monthly mortgage.  The other advantage is that our income has increased but our cost of living has remained the same despite changes in surrounding housing costs.  We were fortunate to have bought at the right time.

I'm not sure if cooperative apartment housing is very common in other parts of the United States (or North America for that matter).  Here, despite the availability of new condos, a large percentage of the apartment stock is cooperative housing.  The way it works is that you buy shares in a building and you are an "owner" of the building with a lease in a particular apartment space (for which you pay a mortgage).  The monthly heating, garbage collection, property taxes and general maintenance costs of the building are all shared by the cooperative owners.  Because our building only comprises one lot (with 60 total units), our property taxes end up being extremely low.   Plus, not only can we deduct our personal mortgage interest from our taxes, but also the interest that is being paid on the building mortgage.  In the end, our overall expenses for ownership are less than if we lived in a condo or a stand-alone house.  We took all these things into consideration before buying. 

I know this situation is unusual compared to other parts of the country, but in the end it boils down to the same considerations.  What are my present costs and what might my costs be in the long term?  DH and I are not into the idea of being "house poor" (that is, having a great space but not having much left over for other quality of life expenses).  In my town, this can happen if you rent or own, but I think it is a huge consideration if you are going to lock yourself into a mortgage and have a place to maintain. 

[ilovemygirl]

I haven't really read all the replies but I felt compelled to put my two cents in here. 

I REGRET buying my house sooooooooo much. I really thought it was going to give me a sense of security and happiness that never surfaced. Instead of worrying about the whimsy of my landlord, I now have to worry about so much more.

We just recently bought and got caught in the whole thing of it's the best time to buy and prices have dropped and rates are low .. blah blah blah. 

We had an inspection, a really thorough inspection and yet we are drowning in crap that was never picked up. And it's not just the money but the aggravation. I've had contractor after contractor just not show up, not do the job I paid them to do, not used the materials I've paid them to use. The hassle has been so unbelievably overwhelming.

Just for not having to deal with this crap I would go back to renting in a heartbeat if I could but also I really misunderstood how much you need to put into a home. By the time you get something done it's outdated. Even if I redo something now and try to sell in ten years, will I really get a return on my investment and even though I plan to live here long term, I still find myself questioning whether or not everything I'm doing to my tastes will turn out to bite me in the butt later for resale. So yeah I can paint my room pink instead of having white walls in my rented apartment but it's gonna cost me now to change it and then cost me again later to change it back for resale. 

I'm probably rambling so I'll stop but I wanted to just put it out there that renting is not such a bad thing and there are so many options since people are having trouble selling their homes. You don't have to rent an apartment anymore. I read an article recently about a whole class of people that are not renting homes that the owners can't sell. These renters have the best of both worlds in my opinion. The joys of living in a house without the responsibility. 

[Sharlla]

dh's grandparents have lived in their home since they bought it 60 years ago.  they raised 6 kids there.  i think that is really cool and love the fact that 2 of my kids will have been born in the family home. i look forward to family gatherings with my kids and grandkids here someday
 

[MyLilPwny]

Me and my ex-husband used to own a home together which we bought at the height of the market in 2006 in California, for over half a million dollars (zero down payment, interest only loan). I absolutely hated it and regretted ever buying the house. I hated that we couldn't move and I ended up hating the house. I was happy when he finally got on board to stop paying on the house and we squatted in it for almost a year and then moved out when someone short sold it for us for free (that was nice). Now, i enjoy the freedom of being able to move. Buying homes are still ridiciulously expensive in Southern California, even though the market has dropped considerably. Its still a lot cheaper to rent than buy. I absolutely hate paying interest. its a big waste of money to me. I love being debt free right now. I'm actually lucky in that I'm inheriting my parent's house (so I'll eventually be a home owner again) and they have a tiny mortgage since they've owned it for 30+ years), so all the money I'm saving up now will go towards my future plans of living in my parent's house & retiring when I inherit it. Then, I won't have the desire to move when I've saved up enough money to retire...hopefully my plan works out.