Not sure whether you want to own or rent?
If you just ask your family and friends for advice, they’re liable to give you all kinds of answers. Instead of giving you increased clarity, it has a way of making things all the more confusing!
There are a variety of factors that might affect your consideration such as budget, convenience, how long you intend to stay in a particular location, and so on.
Regardless, there are some really good reasons to consider buying instead of renting. Let’s take a look at why owning a home is the right answer.
Rent Prices
Landlords rent out their properties in order to make money. If there was nothing in it for them, they wouldn’t have a reason to make their homes available to tenants.
You have to realize that landlords are going to manipulate prices based on locality. If the overall rental rates are lower in a particular city, they will price accordingly. If they are higher, well, you get the idea.
What this means is that pricing isn’t necessarily based on the value of the property as much as it is on the location!
Because landlords need to pay property taxes and insurance, they’re looking to cover more than just their loan payments. Some will tack on an additional 10% just for maintenance and repairs!
Though they obviously need to protect themselves, they’re not necessarily going to give you a break just because you’re a “good tenant”.
Customization
When it comes to customizing your living space to your liking, your options are going to be a little limited on a rental.
If you own the home, you can hang pictures, paint the rooms, remove walls, add rooms… you can do pretty much whatever you want.
Unfortunately, if you want to make major changes to the space on a rental, you’re likely to butt heads with your landlord.
There are some creative ideas out there as far as decorating and customizing your rental without breaking your agreement or making your landlord mad, but the best you can expect is a compromise; you’re still not going to get exactly what you want.
If you want to be able to make your living space your living space, then renting is going to stifle your options as well as your creativity.
Landlords
With a rental property, the landlord is always in control.
The property could change hands, and you might end up having to deal with a new landlord. Or, they could evict you at a moment’s notice if they change their mind and don’t think that you’re the right tenant for them.
Of course, your landlord still has to go about it the right way if they want you out of their rental home. They must give you proper advance written notice in a very specific way.
But you still have to ask yourself if you want to take that kind of risk. If you get along with your landlord, then maybe it could work out over the long-haul. But there is still the possibility that the property could change hands, which would again alter the dynamic of the relationship.
Moving can be stressful and time-consuming, and most people would prefer not to have to do it more often than they need to.
Plus, when you have stories like these floating around the headlines, it makes you think twice.
Conclusion
If you own a home, you can build equity in it. If you’re paying rent, you are paying for your landlord’s mortgage; in effect, helping them build equity!
If you own a home, you can take advantage of tax deductions, and deduct mortgage interest and property taxes.
Additionally, as we already established, you will have more creative control, and you can maintain and repair things however you choose.
In short, the increased freedom of buying a home is well worth the price.
