You’re forking over interest into the furnace each month as well as home insurance and property taxes. My escrow is higher than my principal. As a renter you have none of these costs.
When interest rates are low and you lock one in, yes, owning a home can be very economical. But just owning one is not always better. A lot of it depends on if you are solo or have a family as well.
It must be different in different places. I went from a renter in one area, to an owner in the same area, to a renter again in a different area in the period of 5ish years (long story).
Rent in the first area was about the same cost for a two bedroom, two bath, 1000 sq ft apartment as the entire mortgage on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1200 sq ft house, including principle, interest, and taxes. The only reason people would rent there is because they don’t have the money for a down payment.
When we left that area, we could have become landlords and rented the house out. We could have easily gotten twice the entire mortgage in rental income, but we felt that being a landlord was unethical (especially since we were relatively wealthy for that area, although we made less than the US median family income). We sold the house and broke even.
Now, we live in a much higher COL area. It’s true here that renting is much cheaper than buying, but that’s because you can’t get a SFH for less than about $1.5 million here. My rent on my 1 bed, 1 bath, 700 sq ft apartment is more than twice my mortgage in my previous area. Our incomes have increased, now we make slightly above the median family income. But our leftover at the end of the month honestly went down a ton. If we weren’t here to get an education, we’d be gone by now.
Just saying… As someone who has both rented and owned, I definitely feel more like I’m shoveling money into a fire as a renter. Owning was the best financial situation I’d ever been in.
So I’m going to change the numbers but keep the ratios the same here.
I paid $100/mo as a renter for me and my wife. Our first house cost $200/mo not including home insurance, things like HVAC/termite/pest contracts, annual repairs, etc. Our house is definitely bigger but if I adjust for sqft (same neighborhood so that’s accounted for) our rent would’ve been about $140/mo. But after that, it’s just utilities. Not even appliances.
The benefit of the house was a fair bit went towards principal but for most fixed rate 30yr mortgages even at a great interest rate, you’re paying more than half into interest when you pay your mortgage every month until about year 9 or 10. That interest is money completely lost, no value for you. And if the market goes downward, you can lose money on the sale or at the very least eat away at your investment.
I am not saying in the long run owning is not advantageous. But there is a lot to consider especially when historic interest rates are no longer available that can make renting the superior option. Especially if it is just one or two people living together.
You’re forking over interest into the furnace each month as well as home insurance and property taxes. My escrow is higher than my principal. As a renter you have none of these costs.
When interest rates are low and you lock one in, yes, owning a home can be very economical. But just owning one is not always better. A lot of it depends on if you are solo or have a family as well.
It must be different in different places. I went from a renter in one area, to an owner in the same area, to a renter again in a different area in the period of 5ish years (long story).
Rent in the first area was about the same cost for a two bedroom, two bath, 1000 sq ft apartment as the entire mortgage on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1200 sq ft house, including principle, interest, and taxes. The only reason people would rent there is because they don’t have the money for a down payment.
When we left that area, we could have become landlords and rented the house out. We could have easily gotten twice the entire mortgage in rental income, but we felt that being a landlord was unethical (especially since we were relatively wealthy for that area, although we made less than the US median family income). We sold the house and broke even.
Now, we live in a much higher COL area. It’s true here that renting is much cheaper than buying, but that’s because you can’t get a SFH for less than about $1.5 million here. My rent on my 1 bed, 1 bath, 700 sq ft apartment is more than twice my mortgage in my previous area. Our incomes have increased, now we make slightly above the median family income. But our leftover at the end of the month honestly went down a ton. If we weren’t here to get an education, we’d be gone by now.
Just saying… As someone who has both rented and owned, I definitely feel more like I’m shoveling money into a fire as a renter. Owning was the best financial situation I’d ever been in.
So I’m going to change the numbers but keep the ratios the same here.
I paid $100/mo as a renter for me and my wife. Our first house cost $200/mo not including home insurance, things like HVAC/termite/pest contracts, annual repairs, etc. Our house is definitely bigger but if I adjust for sqft (same neighborhood so that’s accounted for) our rent would’ve been about $140/mo. But after that, it’s just utilities. Not even appliances.
The benefit of the house was a fair bit went towards principal but for most fixed rate 30yr mortgages even at a great interest rate, you’re paying more than half into interest when you pay your mortgage every month until about year 9 or 10. That interest is money completely lost, no value for you. And if the market goes downward, you can lose money on the sale or at the very least eat away at your investment.
I am not saying in the long run owning is not advantageous. But there is a lot to consider especially when historic interest rates are no longer available that can make renting the superior option. Especially if it is just one or two people living together.