You are probably tired of hearing this. I’m going to give you yet one more blog post regarding the benefits of buying a home versus being a tenant. I’ve made many posts on this topic already. But it’s important enough that I think you need to act upon it.
If you are a tenant, if you want to make changes to the house, even something as simple as painting a room, you need to get the landlord’s permission. If the landlord decides it’s time to sell, you’ll have to move. You have no control over whether the landlord wants to move into the property. You also have no control over the fact that possibly the landlord might just decide it’s time to sell and cash out. Either way it’s time for you to move out.
If you own you decide if and when you want to move. Not the landlord. If you own, if you want to change a room, if you want to put down new carpets, if you want to change the back splash in the kitchen, if you want to change the light fixtures or do any other type of alterations, the only one who you need to get permission from is your wife. Or maybe your husband.
If you own the home if you have Financial advantages. For example, if a rental property is similar to a place that you would buy, it will probably cost you less per month to own. Why? Let’s start off with the fact that the payments will be less probably on a mortgage. When your renting, you are paying the mortgage for the landlord. So if you can pay the landlord’s mortgage, why wouldn’t you pay your own? Your mortgage interest and real estate taxes can be deducted on your income taxes. This can be a considerable savings. When you own your home you are building up equity in the property. By building that equity in the property it is a savings account. And 30 years down the line, when all the sudden you don’t need to be paying mortgage because it’s been paid off, or even hopefully sooner, and then you have a massive savings. But not on the rent. Because if you’re still renting 30 years from now your rent will be up considerably from what it is now. And with a mortgage the mortgage payments remain relatively stable.
If you have children involved, owning a home can give them a sense of stability. As they get older they will stay in the same school systems and they will have the same friends. Bottom line says to me if you can afford to get a mortgage, and if you have enough down payment and you plan on staying in the house for more than three or four years it’s time to buy a house.