Buy or Rent a Home?

Let's discuss the pro's and con's of both options.

On this page and other links contained below we’ll discuss this in detail. You’ll learn the pros and cons to buy a home or find a rental home. To buy or rent a home means nothing until you see the complete picture.

Let’s begin by asking some questions.

Question Every First Time Home Buyer Should Ask First

• How much space does your family need?
• What’s your monthly budget for housing?
• When is the best time to buy a house?

And of course, the ultimate question, should I buy or rent a home?

These may seem like simple questions, but they need real soul searching answers.

So then, we need to find out the pros and cons for renting first.

Deciding to Live in Rental Homes

For some families this might be the best choice. Perhaps you still need to prepare yourself economically or emotionally before owning a home. You might look at renting as a temporary way of living as you settle into a new job or starting your family.

Renting can mean some good things like:

• Maintenance and repairs are handled by the landlord

• You only need a security deposit to move in, not a large down payment

• Moving can be easy since you can leave within a short time

• Amenities like a pool, tennis courts, laundry rooms, secured buildings

• Easier to budget since rent is fixed for 1 year or longer by signing a lease

• Your potential financial loss would be limited to the amount of the lease

• If you travel a lot for your job, it’s less worry

• The cost of moving in is lower

Renting does have some disadvantages:

• You cannot realize any gains in property values

• You do not get nearly the amount of space for the money

• Any changes you want to make are limited since you do not own the property

• At the end of each lease period (1yr in most cases) your rent will increase

• You may be restricted from having pets, children or even noise levels

• There’s no tax deductions when renting

• Neighbors could be noisy and you’re not able to do much about it

If you would like a calculator to help you decide, I have a buy or rent calculator.

My Rental Homes Experience

Back in 1996, my wife and I sold our home and decided to move to another area of town. We had just 30 days to make up our minds since we had to move out for the new owners.

When we went looking at homes, we just could not find what we wanted. The prices were to high, didn’t like the style of homes available etc. etc. etc. To make a long story short, we decided to rent for a while since our time was short and we had to move.

So after looking at houses for just over 3 weeks we started to look into renting a 3 bedroom townhome. We were used to 1,500 sq ft of space with a 2 car attached garage.

We found a nice area to move to, the 3 bedroom townhomes were renting for $765 a month. So we signed a 1 year lease with plans to find a house and move within a year. They would not allow a shorter lease. Keep in mind I had been a home owner for a long time.

So beforehand, we started sorting through years of things we had accumulated and tossing many of them out, then we moved.

Wow!! Was that a major production. Now my wife calls me a pack rat and I guess some of that is true. I learned to downsize for the first time in many years.

I remember standing in the basement of our new spacious townhome and literally crying because I had lost my work bench and garage to keep my tools in.

It took a few months to get organized in our smaller space. I never got used to not having a garage. Since I live in Michigan, we get this white stuff called SNOW each winter.

Cleaning off the car, driving to work in a giant ice cube really turned me off the first winter. I thought I was going to go crazy.

Now I did not have to shovel the sidewalks or worry about the driveway, mow the lawn and all those kind of things. But I was just not a happy camper. I had decided after the first year renting was not for me.

It took me 3 years before we moved out of our townhome. What seemed spacious at first got smaller by the day. We had 3 different neighbors next door over the period of the 3 years.

We could hear them fight, swear and carry on late in night and early morning hours. In fact it got so bad one time I registered a complaint with the property manager. After that the neighbor was very rude to me since he knew it was me. The people on the other side of him called the police that night. It sounded like he was killing the poor woman who was living with him.

Now, after pondering the question: Should I buy or rent a home, I knew I had the answer I needed.

Buy a Home!!!

So after 3 years we bought another home. In fact this was now my 12th house. I’ve bought and sold foreclosed homes several times so I knew I what I wanted.

I also figured out the money I lost. Gone forever was over $28,000!!! Never to be seen again. Ouch!! That was a HUGE down payment on my next home.

So what do you think now? Should you buy or rent a home? Does it make sense?

Now, if you ask me the question should I buy or rent a home, what do you think my answer is?

Sorry, I guess I got carried away again.

Now if you know the answer as to whether you should buy or rent a home, read the links below to find out what you need to do next.

Best FHA Home Loans are the best for first time home buyers. Find out if you are eligible.

First Time Home Buyer Programs gives you a great overview of what programs are available.

Choosing a Mortgage Company will give you all the information you need to make the best choice for you.

Leave Buy or Rent a Home, What Should I Do and return to First Time Home Buyers - Home Buying Process main page.

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