Renting Vs Buying a House

[nmbrown863]

So my husband and I have been living in our apartment for 3 years now. Our lease is finally almost up and we are sick of living here. So many problems. Anyhow, a work college of my husbands is renting out a house and we decided to get it. It was a last minute thing and we move in next week. We are so excited to finally get out of this apartment but now everyone is telling us we are dumb and throwing away our money. It is starting to bum me out. We do not have great credit, did not have money saved up for a down payment but according to everyone we know, that doesn't matter, we are still throwing money in the garbage. It is a nice house, good price for renting and we have only been married for 1 1/2 yrs. What do you all think?

[Penwoir]

Yeah! Your friends are right. The biggest question you have to answer right now is, do you plan to stay in this area for many years to come. If so, it makes financial sense that you get a mortgage and buy your own place and at the end of the term of the mortgage (ie. 25 years) you will have an asset that's yours, to sell, keep or whatever. The alternative is that you stay in your rented house and continue to send the payments to whoever you rent it from. And then in 25 years, you own nothing! Now I hear you say your credit is not good and I'm not totally knowledgeable on this, however if you shop around, you still might be able to find a reasonable rate, even if you don't have cash to put down. So the only question to answer is, do you wish to stay in the house that you buy/rent for many years to come? If so, buy buy buy!!!

[hawkeye3210]

Yeah! Your friends are right. The biggest question you have to answer right now is, do you plan to stay in this area for many years to come. If so, it makes financial sense that you get a mortgage and buy your own place and at the end of the term of the mortgage (ie. 25 years) you will have an asset that's yours, to sell, keep or whatever. The alternative is that you stay in your rented house and continue to send the payments to whoever you rent it from. And then in 25 years, you own nothing! Now I hear you say your credit is not good and I'm not totally knowledgeable on this, however if you shop around, you still might be able to find a reasonable rate, even if you don't have cash to put down. So the only question to answer is, do you wish to stay in the house that you buy/rent for many years to come? If so, buy buy buy!!!

It doesn't make financial sense to buy a home if you cannot afford the down payment. Paying mortgage insurance is one of the biggest wastes of money. It's also not like they are deciding between renting a home for 25 years and buying a home, so that argument doesn't hold much water. More people get into financial trouble wanting something now, as opposed to waiting until they can afford it.

[cberman]

I would buy a house

[texasmom32]

I absolutely think it's best to buy a house if you plan to live there for the next 30 years.  BUT only do it when you can afford it.  Even IF you can find somewhere that will loan you money with no money down, you still need to have money for closing costs, home inspections, Good Will payment, an Option Fee, etc etc.  Also, know that if you put down less than 20% of the loan, you will have Mortgage Insurance added to your mortgage payment.  I would suggest that you take the next year or two and save up as much as you can and work on building your credit up.  Another couple years paying rent to someone is not throwing away money.  You have to pay for a roof over your head no matter what, right?  In the long run, owning a home is the best option.  But you have to make sure you're in the right spot financially first.

[catherinedwhite]

My thoughts have changed about this topic recently.
First- if you are young and plan on staying in a town, buy a house.  It is a good investment, more like a savings plan for most people.  Your house may not go up in value but it probably won't go down either.  That way you are tucking money away.
Second- once you are older, the last thing you want is the responsibility of payments, insurance, property taxes.  Free up that cash and use it for other things you enjoy.
It really depends on what stage of life you are in.
Good luck.

[nannycoe1]

My thoughts have changed about this topic recently.
First- if you are young and plan on staying in a town, buy a house.  It is a good investment, more like a savings plan for most people.  Your house may not go up in value but it probably won't go down either.  That way you are tucking money away.
Second- once you are older, the last thing you want is the responsibility of payments, insurance, property taxes.  Free up that cash and use it for other things you enjoy.
It really depends on what stage of life you are in.
Good luck.

I totally agree with you. We are both 58 and 62 and on disability. We are thinking of selling our house because it is just too much work to maintain and all we need is a small apartment, with no yard.

[nguzman1]

I wish I too could afford to buy a house but that i can't do with the credit I have so for now I have to keep renting.

[potluck6]

You sound just like my son and daughter-in-law.They want to buy but the prices here in Ca for what they want are easily 400,000 they don't want that much just a basic house.They both have a 401K so will be able to borrow from that.I know it' s hard but save as much as you can that helps with a bank approving the loan and look at harp and FHA loans.

[vickysue]

Buying a house is great if you are sure you will be living where you are  for a long time and also do you want to be tied down for years. But so many people are always on the move and then it is not right those. So be sure you want to stay where you are it is a big investment.

[dsawan]

rent!

[myles26]

Always buy if you can because renting you'll never see that money again at least if you buy a house your just adding to your belongings for lack of better phrasing.

[mrrangerrick]

You build equity if you buy. It's also worth mentioning the tax breaks and deductions you get for owning. BUY! BUY! BUY!

[Timberlan127]

It's always better to buy if you can do it. Then you are putting all that money into something you own and not just handing it over to someone else.

[ghunter]

When we first got married we rented an apartment, then the kids came and we wanted a backyard for the children so we bought a house and raised those kids until the schools in the area got really bad and we lived in the house for 20 years, but we moved to an area for better schools for our younger child and rented a house and we are still renting and wanted to buy another house, but we are older now and just decieded to continue to rent because all the problems of the house is our landlord who takes care of everything, plumbling, floor problems, windows everything and the kids are grown and got their own home so we continue to rent.