OUR HOMES - Should We Rent or Should We Buy?
Many people feel that Home Owning is ultimately less expensive than renting. Home Owners get money back when they sell, while renters 'give it away' with zero returns.
How accurate is this perception?
There are many factors to consider and the comparison of all the facts is actually far more complicated.
Advantages of buying one's home 'may' include some tax advantages, but mostly to the few. If the market value of your home will not increase, and you are not likely to stay put in one place for long, then renting is for you.
It actually cost thousands of dollars both, to start up -and- to sell off one's home, so unless either your employer is picking up these costs, or you'll likely be moving is a few years, a short term stay can be very expensive for the home-owner. The end result can be far more expensive that just having rented for the same short period of time.
On a Long term basis of home-ownership, the most current accelerating property and school taxes can be a 'hard buck to swallow.' Additionally, if you see, as is todays' current market, a very slow growth on the value of your home, then many people would do better renting.
Renting, though you are no longer 'in charge' of everything that happens to your 'home,' can be a lot less Cash Dollar outlay, and if you would have purchased and figured all true cost factors, then you can now invest the different of the less cost of renting vs. owning into hard-core saving that you are certain will grow in value.
Remember, selling one's house at a large profit, is often extremely taxable, while investing for retirement can and often does tax-shelter your monies for a long time, yielding both greater earnings, and giving you a choice of where you live and when you'd like to move.