Own vs. Rent

[DWhittles]

DH & I have some friends who just purchased their first home. They made the comment to us "We don't know why ANYONE would rent. It's like throwing your money away" (we rent and they know it)
It made me wonder how many out there rent vs. own and if you rent, why?

 

[Mom2Ashli]

We own now. But we did rent for the first 8 years. We were young and didn't feel like we could afford to own anything. We rented for so long because the rent was CHEAP and it never was raised. We knew the people we rented from. When they sold the building we were going to have to pay what we felt would be the same as a mortgage payment. So that is when we decided to buy.

Some people love to rent. They have no maintenance to worry about.
I say whatever works for you.

 

[Pooh67_68]

We own. My dh said that if he wants to hang anyting on the walls he can use any type of nail he wants and make as many holes as he wants, and never has to answer to anyone. Also our A/C is in the wall so we would first have to ask permision to put it in if we rented and if we decided to move we couldn't take it with us.

 

[cgcw]

We own. The only way we'd get into rental would be if we were to build our own home and then it would be for a short period of time.

Years ago, I bought a condo. When the mortgage officer calculated the monthly payments, it really wasn't any more than renting. And, I had the advantage of claiming my real estate taxes on my income tax.

 

[icebrat001]

I rent because I can't afford to buy a house or condo. The bay area is expensive.

 

[DWhittles]

Follow up question. If you rent, what do you pay and for how much room?
We have a 2 bedroom and pay $1300 plus utilities.
We rent because we can't afford the downpayment and we have a bankruptcy in our past which makes it difficult.
We would like to own someday though. We just have to agree on where!

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

We rent. I don't feel like I am old enough to own a house. Too much responsibility IMO. I like the fact that if the roof leaks, my landlord comes to fix it and I don't have to pony up any money.

We have a 5 bedroom, 2 bath brick house and the rent is $695. If I were to buy a house, I'd buy this one. I don't want to move.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I don't think renting is throwing away money. We are paying someone in exchange for a safe, dependable, maintenance free place to live until we are ready to move. I think there is something to be said for that.

We are currently renting. We moved here so I could attend graduate school. We researched the market here and homes take an average of a year to sell (if they ever sell), and homes do not appreciate. It would have been a BAD financial decision for us to extend ourselves to buying here, and we would have been responsible for any maintence issues that came up as well, and all the costs going into selling a house.

I have a friend who did buy here, graduated from school, and can't get rid of the dang house. He's having to rent it out now in order to help pay his mortage, and will have to hire a company to oversee it for him since he's moving away for a new job.

We rent a 1100 sq ft single family house in a decent neighborhood, 2 bedrooms, detached 1 car garage and storage shed, 1 bath, central air and heat, most appliances, huge yard, etc for $595 a month.

Though we're ready to buy when we move to wherever we're going, we certainly don't feel that this was a waste of money at all!

 

[CEDmom]

We own but I can understand why some people in the tri-state area rent. The real estate prices are out of control and I really don't think a lot of houses will hold their current value over the long haul. We're actually in a townhouse and would love to sell since we could easily get at least $300k but we would be very limited in what we could get even with adding 100-150k to that.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We bought--and good thing we did b/c the investment tripled.

If you do desire to own a home-the longer you rent is throwing your money away...but if you don't desire for personal opinion or circumstance....then that is a good decision.

 

[boucheresq]

we rent a townhouse - we like not having to worry about mowing, snow removal, maintenance - and have access to a pool and tennis courts.

 

[Aurora63]

We rent, because homes are just too expensive down here in S FL. We pay $1150 a month for a 2 br, 2 bath apt with a nice sized balcony. To own a similar condo down here would cost a bit more, plus monthly maintenance fees.

I really want to own someday, but rather it be somewhere in the panhandle or S. Georgia.

 

[KirstenB]

We own. We rented for 3 years while we saved up our down payment. It would make sense to rent if you lived in a very expensive area. Also, when we lived in Virginia Beach, we had many Navy friends who rented. With deployments and transfers, plus a chronic base-housing shortage, it was very common there.

 

[Crankyshank]

We own. real estate prices were really starting to get out of control so we bought while we could. I'm so glad we did because there is no way we could afford even the tiny starter home we have now if we waited (our value has gone up $100k in 2yrs )

 

[oogieboogie]

I personally like to rent because I don't have to worry about the maintenance of the house. I don't feel I'm throwing my money away when I rent, in fact I think I put in a lot more money into the house I'm at now between mortgage payments, interest, insurance, taxes, maintenance, etc.

DH personally likes to own because as he says, we're giving away money when we rent.

So, right now... we own.

Pooh Girl 71, I'd like to buy your house too! 5 bedrooms, 2 baths for $695... that's a steal!

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

Pooh Girl 71, I'd like to buy your house too! 5 bedrooms, 2 baths for $695... that's a steal!

It was built in the 1920's. We had to get converters for all the 2 prong outlets but other than that it's great. I like older houses personally. When Hurricane Isabel roared through here, the windows barely rattled.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I don't think renting is throwing away money. We are paying someone in exchange for a safe, dependable, maintenance free place to live until we are ready to move. I think there is something to be said for that.

I'm going to steal this line My dad is always on us about pissing our money away.

 

[chrissyk]

We bought--and good thing we did b/c the investment tripled.

If you do desire to own a home-the longer you rent is throwing your money away...but if you don't desire for personal opinion or circumstance....then that is a good decision.

We own in the same neighborhood as Lisa, and we paid the triple cost Seriously, I still think that our house was a good investment, since as far as I can tell, they aren't making anymore coastal property Even our house has appreaciated $50K since we bought this winter.

We've owned since we were in our young 20's. We bought our first house because we couldn't afford to pay our ever-increasing rent anymore. Thank goodness we bought when we did, as the real-estate runup began about 2 months later. We NEVER would have gotten into a house if we hadn't bought when we did. It wouldn't have been a debate about renting vs. owning. We would have been stuck being permanent renters because we would have been priced out.

 

[DisneyJen0504]

We were lucky enough to not have to rent. We were able to buy a home right before we got married (DH moved in, I waited until after the wedding). We knew we didnt want to rent b/c it would be a waste of money.

 

[eeyore kelly]

W own and had family land to move on. That comment that the OP's friends made was out of line. But when I paid my rent each month, that's how I felt