| The question of whether to buy or rent | | | | as a regular monthly mortgage payment and |
| housing is one people have struggled with for | | | | then rent for less than that amount. Usually |
| ages. Salaries go up but so does the cost of | | | | mortgage payments are more than rent for a |
| housing. Is it ever a wise choice not to buy | | | | similar residence, so it is sometimes |
| when that's an option? If it's not an option, | | | | possible to rent for less and save the |
| how can that be changed? | | | | difference. |
| | | | |
| The initial stopper in purchasing a home for | | | | A case recently came to my attention where |
| most of us is funds and credit. If you can't | | | | the person wanted to rent because she was |
| swing a down payment or qualify for a loan | | | | unwilling to take on homeowner |
| then renting isn't so much an option as a | | | | responsibility. She looked very carefully at |
| necessity. Another stopper is the need for | | | | what her monthly costs would be if she bought |
| the support that renting is supposed to | | | | including maintenance, upkeep, and taxes. |
| offer. If it breaks, leaks, or falls down it | | | | Next she searched for and eventually found a |
| is handy, yet not always effective, to be | | | | good rental for significantly less than that |
| able to call the landlord. Rental owners come | | | | amount and moved in. She then put her down |
| in all sizes and types and some don't respond | | | | payment into an interest-bearing account and |
| according to rental agreements. Picking your | | | | added the difference every month for thirty |
| landlord may be as important as picking the | | | | years. The amount she saved by being so |
| rental itself. | | | | highly disciplined, though substantial, |
| | | | wasn't what she would have realized in profit |
| Disabled or retired people who are not able | | | | from the sale of a well maintained home but |
| to do regular maintenance and upkeep may look | | | | she factored in the stress that she had |
| at renting as a wise choice. Apartments come | | | | averted and felt her plan had been highly |
| with exterior painting and yard work | | | | successful. |
| included. Also, a community may work better | | | | |
| for these two groups than single occupancy. | | | | There isn't any "right" way. Don't decide to |
| | | | buy or rent because that's what others are |
| When forced to rent due to a lack of the cash | | | | doing or that's what you're familiar with. |
| needed for the down payment, it's easy to | | | | Look more closely at yourself and your needs |
| rent more than is needed and fail to save. | | | | and make a personalized choice that will |
| The better plan is to see what you could make | | | | support you in the future. |