Renting Versus Buying A Home

Renters are often in a quandary as to whether it makes sense to continue renting or buy a home. Buying a home makes more sense, particularly when taking a long-term view. Yes, even in the current hot real estate market.

Renting - Advantages

Renting can have a few advantages depending on the part of the country you live in. The primary advantage is your monthly rent payment may be less than an equivalent mortgage. A secondary advantage is the fact that maintenance and improvements to the property are the responsibility of the landlord. Still, these advantages pale in comparison to the disadvantages of renting.

Renting - Disadvantages

The disadvantages of renting are significant. If you have any opportunity to purchase a home or condominium, it almost always makes sense to do so.

The biggest disadvantage of renting is the loss of value. Assume you rent a residence for $1,000 a month and you live in the residence for two years. You will have paid a total of $24,000 in rent, a pure expenditure. The $24,000 is simply gone and you will have nothing to show for it other than the time you spent in the home. Compare this to what your landlord has gained.

Rent payments are closely aligned with a landlord's mortgage payment. Using the above example, lets assume your $1,000 rent exactly equals the mortgage payment. For two years, you have indirectly paid the landlord's mortgage, helping them build equity in the house by paying down the loan. In addition, the landlord has benefited from the appreciation of the property.

By appreciation, I simply mean the amount of increase in the value of the house. If the rental appreciated $20,000 in two years, the landlord has received a windfall. They may have seen a gain of $24,000 in appreciation and payments lowering the mortgage. As a renter, you have made this all possible. The landlord no doubt would like to thank you.

Now, what would have happened if you had purchased a similar home with similar financial figures? You would have seen an increase in YOUR wealth of $24,000, not the landlord's wealth. If you renting, these figures should make your teeth grind.

If you are renting, you should be out shopping for your own property. After all, isn't it time to make your money work for you, not a landlord?

Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing homes for sale by owner, "FSBO", properties. Are you thinking, "Should I sell my home?" Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your home sale for free for one month.

MORE RESOURCES:

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Moody#39;s: Commercial real estate prices rise - CNNMoney.com

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Architects see drop in real estate design contracts - Los Angeles Times

Target shareholder revises real estate proposal - The Associated Press

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Commercial Real Estate Debt Index Plummets - Wall Street Journal

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122703851606838297.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=1271977795ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNEktfIsvDF9hwaPfdnrRG0vMuE0vwCommercial bReal Estate/b Debt Index Plummets/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWall Street Journalnbsp;-/font nobrNov 18, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By PRABHA NATARAJAN WASHINGTON -- A commercial breal estate/b debt index plummeted Tuesday after a Credit Suisse research report warned that two loans included b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1933428520081119cid=1271977795ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNFq-MBsxj8yfLvwyWxlOBou4NLocAUPDATE 1-Economy, TARP conspire against commercial mortgages/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601087%26sid%3Da7v3wNC8x9WA%26refer%3Dhomecid=1271977795ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNEh0MQ8xbFOPM4CSY4tdaDS6UPMxAWestin, Promenade Commercial Mortgages Near Default (Update2)/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBloomberg/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1826572220081118cid=1271977795ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNHLUP13A7ZdbUcWWDF8UIgclxUn9wUPDATE 1-Big CMBS loans seen near default, index yields soar/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-4fd=Rurl=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122703851606838297.html%3Fmod%3Dspecial_page_campaign2008_mostpopcid=1271977795ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNGMJqEdp05ovGMmMGN6aoxE715TggnobrWall Street Journal/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-5fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601087%26sid%3Da0GR3cE_UyEE%26refer%3Dhomecid=1271977795ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNEmdAHnDJ0eDvCMSjGe2g3GePBzkQnobrBloomberg/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1271977795hl=ennobrall 31 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust announces monthly cash distribution - FOXBusiness

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/artis-real-estate-investment-trust-announces-monthly-cash-distribution-319904495/cid=1272287796ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNFOB4aO24SMWlOryc9M2oa79TIq_AArtis bReal Estate/b Investment Trust announces monthly cash distribution/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fFOXBusinessnbsp;-/font nobr8 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Artis is a growth-oriented breal estate/b investment trust focused exclusively on commercial properties located in primary and growing secondary markets in b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-1fd=Rurl=http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D2192:amid-global-economic-slowdown-investors-are-well-advised-to-train-their-sights-on-real-estate-%26catid%3D47:propertiescid=1272287796ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNHRY5-6uOxWmwZd7X-hlKlvh2lBhQ‘Amid global economic slowdown, investors are well-advised to b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBusiness Mirror/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-2fd=Rurl=http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2008/19/c2246.htmlcid=1272287796ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNFsX31cUDcUFUP-opr3ODxbBgrWfACrombie REIT announces monthly distribution/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrCanada NewsWire (press release)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-3fd=Rurl=http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/investors-real-estate-trust-announces-increase-regular-quarterly-common-share-1154743513/cid=1272287796ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNHym0ec9LVO9MHssVB5t4A6kKO8gQInvestors bReal Estate/b Trust Announces Increase in Regular b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrFOXBusiness/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-4fd=Rurl=http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/holloway-lodging-real-estate-investment-trust-announces-monthly-distribution-1482787386/cid=1272287796ei=U2ElSeLLKaH8ygTL1Oi4AQusg=AFQjCNHjlyimqcYD6r5Tl9Km6DHy77yxvQnobrFOXBusiness/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272287796hl=ennobrall 24 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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