I rent a beautiful 5500sf house in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Salt Lake City for $2700/month.
I prefer to rent for the following reasons:
- zero maintenance. Instead of spending my weekends at Home Depot I can go do what I like. I place a huge premium on my free time. When something breaks I just call the property management company and the problem gets solved. No cost, no hassle.
- Easy to bail. If crappy neighbors move in next door or if a career opportunity comes up somewhere else I can relocate without having to sell anything.
- No debt. A mortgage is debt. My debt load is zero - I like it this way.
- The only thing I really like owning is cash. With the money I save on renting I can bank far more cash than I would if I had to pay for home ownership.
- Its a myth that owning a home is the American Dream. George Bush and his cronies pushed the whole mortgage crisis based on the fallacy that owning a home is the American Dream (remember the "Ownership Society"). Again, I'd rather own cash.
- I view housing as a living expense, not an investment. My investments pay me interest - my investments don't suck money out of my wallet.
- Housing values are likely going to be flat for 5-10 years anyways. The price run up between 2001-2006 was totally unsustainable. The market needs to stay flat to catch up with itself.
- I get much more bang for my buck renting. My current house would cost $5-6k in monthly mortgage payment. Instead of paying that amount I can bank an additional $3k/month.
- You never really own a house. Even when you're done paying the mortgage you still need to pay the government 'rent' (i.e. property taxes).
I understand the arguments for owning. And in some cases I can see good upside to owning. But I for one would rather rent until I can buy a house outright and avoid hanging a 30 year albatross around my neck (i.e. mortgage payments). Big debt in the worst economic climate of a generation is bad news.
BTW, to determine a 'good' rental price I multiply the monthly rent by 200. If that is less than the value of the house then its a good rental value. In my case 200x $2700 is $540k. Even in this market, the house I rent would sell for over $750k - so its a good bargain for me.
I prefer to rent for the following reasons:
- zero maintenance. Instead of spending my weekends at Home Depot I can go do what I like. I place a huge premium on my free time. When something breaks I just call the property management company and the problem gets solved. No cost, no hassle.
- Easy to bail. If crappy neighbors move in next door or if a career opportunity comes up somewhere else I can relocate without having to sell anything.
- No debt. A mortgage is debt. My debt load is zero - I like it this way.
- The only thing I really like owning is cash. With the money I save on renting I can bank far more cash than I would if I had to pay for home ownership.
- Its a myth that owning a home is the American Dream. George Bush and his cronies pushed the whole mortgage crisis based on the fallacy that owning a home is the American Dream (remember the "Ownership Society"). Again, I'd rather own cash.
- I view housing as a living expense, not an investment. My investments pay me interest - my investments don't suck money out of my wallet.
- Housing values are likely going to be flat for 5-10 years anyways. The price run up between 2001-2006 was totally unsustainable. The market needs to stay flat to catch up with itself.
- I get much more bang for my buck renting. My current house would cost $5-6k in monthly mortgage payment. Instead of paying that amount I can bank an additional $3k/month.
- You never really own a house. Even when you're done paying the mortgage you still need to pay the government 'rent' (i.e. property taxes).
I understand the arguments for owning. And in some cases I can see good upside to owning. But I for one would rather rent until I can buy a house outright and avoid hanging a 30 year albatross around my neck (i.e. mortgage payments). Big debt in the worst economic climate of a generation is bad news.
BTW, to determine a 'good' rental price I multiply the monthly rent by 200. If that is less than the value of the house then its a good rental value. In my case 200x $2700 is $540k. Even in this market, the house I rent would sell for over $750k - so its a good bargain for me.