[SeekAndFind]

SIMPLE DECISION MAKING PROCESS:

Ask yourself: Am I very confident that I will own the home at least five years?

If the answer is yes, it probably makes sense to buy because it will improve your net wealth.

If the answer is no, you should stay a renter because owning will most likely diminish your net wealth.

That’s it, the math is just that simple!

CLICK ABOVE LINK TO UNDERSTAND WHY IT WORKS...

[Chode]

to me, it was always a matter freedom to able to do with my living space as I see fit... repaint vs putting in paneling, getting rid of my H2O tank for an on demand system, putting in a coal stove, adding a deck, whatever, it's my choice to make not the landlord's

[Oratam]

bump

[Nowhere Man]

Also for consideration is the ability to pay your property taxes and school taxes. I think having those taxes are wrong and communistic, your property should be yours and your family’s forever but that is a little OT for now. Let’s put it this way, try not paying those taxes for 5 or 10 years (maybe less) and then you’ll see who really owns the property. Sometimes it is better to rent and not worry about taxes and in some cases, utilities although if you have a bad landlord, it can come back and haunt you. There is a side of me that I think living like a turtle would not be bad. Buy a 1960’s era Mercury Park Lane and a bullet trailer and just take my home where I go. I also saw a Soviet Army radio truck for sale, stuff a cot and bathroom/shower inside and instant home for a ham radio operator like me. B-) The downside is if you have kids but it might be good for a single person or a couple.

[bgill]

Do you want to pay your own mortgage or someone else’s?

[Cementjungle]

The biggest variable of them all is the future of home values, and that can’t be determined by any online tool.

[buffaloguy]

If you wish to control your own environment buy.

If you wish others to control you and your environment rent.

The mathematical excercises are mere details.

[Figment]

I’m doing much better financially by buying rather than renting, but... Right now I’d like to be able to pull up stakes and move to a healthier economic environment. It would be very difficult to do without just walking away and destroying my credit

[CurlyDave]

While 5 years is a reasonable rule of thumb, there are many other considerations.

Owning makes me master of my own destiny in ways that renting can never accomplish.

I can repaint, remodel, add on, landscape, etc. Tastefully done all these things can add value to a dwelling. And, when I own, inflation is my friend. When I rent inflation is my enemy.

I have owned houses for 40 years and have never lost money on any of them. Of course, I stayed put through a few panics and mortgage crises.

[Macoozie]

If you can rent for $1,000 mo from a quality owner (and bank the difference) vs buy for $3,200 mo, what would you do?

There is also the difference between buying/renting a primary residence while simultaneously owning and renting an investment property. Lots of properties available that flow positive cash in neighborhoods I would never choose to live.

It all depends on circumstances. It is definitely NOT the best move for many to buy.

BTW, for one summer in High School, I had a beat-to-death '64 Park Lane convertible with the Marauder engine and Cherry Bombs. Could seat 9 people in that car no problem.

[Terry L Smith]

None of those financial tools actually include the
unseen bills, including the ever-creeping millage rates
assessed by the municipal government, in their
insane tax and spend policies, and theirattempts to
cover the municipal employees’ ever-expanding costs.