I was thinking about this a lot the other day when listening to a friend talk about maintenance on his house. Seems like every single week there is something else that needs to be fixed, be replaced, or be added on to. The pipes break; the roof shingles come off, the wood under the porch needs replacing. Does it ever end? How much time and effort is spent just trying to keep the place from falling down? I think it might be way more than I am willing to put in were I to own my own home. Sure, it would be cool to own my own place. And I am sure, like most people, I will at some point. But I am starting to think that renting an apartment is definitely the path towards simple living and not away from it!
The only advantages I see to owning your own home include:
1. You can turn the stereo up loud
2. You can knock down walls
3. You can sell it in 40 years for a profit (hopefully)
4. Tax deductions (However, almost 50% of homeowners can’t even take them)
I get that those are all great reasons to own a house. Of course, you could rent a house instead of an apartment, and then you could eliminate #1 as a reason. 🙂
The reasons for renting an apartment seem much more… sensible:
1. Toilet breaks? Call a guy to fix it – for free
2. No lawn to maintain
3. No property taxes to pay
4. You can move anytime without worrying about selling it
5. You can go on vacation without too much worry about pipes/vandals/etc.
6. No risk in the real estate market
7. Insurance is cheaper
8. Monthly payments are always negotiable
9. Cheaper
10. More free time
Really, the only clear advantage of owning over renting is whatever profit you can make when you sell your house in the future. Other than that, the benefits of renting far outweigh the benefits of owning. By renting, I basically have all my free time (and money) to do whatever I want rather than worrying about maintenance/yard work/appreciation value/spending money on repairmen (or women). What do you think? Is renting an apartment a recipe for a much simpler life than owning your own home is?
So many of you are full of it. Talking about paying off multiple loans in 5-10 years while making minimal money because of simple “sacrifices.” Everyone on here owns their house outright and made a wonderful investment and is set for life. Haha! Sure… Unless you have inhereted money, you are not posting truth. Please stop
I am very sorry you are so angry, Ronny. Hopefully things look up for you soon.
Ronny is kind of right. Having a 20k a year income and owning, mortgage free, one or 2 houses after paying loans in advance sounds… a little unreal.
I have owned both houses and now live in an apartment (which I also own), so have experience of both.
I fully agree with you – owning a house can be a maintenance headache – I always seemed to be fixing things, which often cost lots of $$. Plus spending weekends gardening etc.
I dont agree about the stereo – as a house resident you still have neighbours who will jack up about loud music. I also found that house people are more likely to have barking dogs – I had one neighbour who would just throw her noisy dog into the yard in the middle of the night when it barked too loudly indoors. Not to mention lawn mowers, leaf blowers and a thousand other ways people find to be noisy in their yards.
In fact, overall I’d say I have found apartment living quieter than in houses. If any individual is too noisy, they get ganged up on by the other residents.
You can also sell apartments at a profit (or houses at a loss). Sometimes apartments increase in value better than houses because they are often in more desirable inner city locations.
The other negative about houses is that anything affordable is located out in the cultural desert of the burbs. From my apartment I can walk to any number of great cafes, restaurants etc. Nearest excitement from houses I have owned was the supermarket and I had to get to those in my car.
No way I’d go back to a house.
Around here a $150k house will rent for $1200-$1400 with no utilities included. So even after taxes, PMI, only a 5% down payment. etc., you are still looking at saving $200-$400 a month. Plus you can remodel, tear up the yard and plant a garden (saving hundreds a year on produce), and call a place “home”. Every rental I’ve been at, rent increases $50-$100 a month. Not cool. I’m sure it would be capped eventually but I’d rather stay at a place where I know the rate isn’t going to ever increase (fixed mortgage) unless taxes go up and by doing some remodeling, the value of the house can go up if I ever decided to sell it. Also, putting in a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom in a lower level can bring in an additional $500-$700/month by renting it out while not having to interfere with tenants/roommates on a daily basis whereas if someone were to rent out a bedroom in an apartment, you are basically living with that person. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Lived in rental up until I was 39. Had the $, just didnt want to get suckered in the even rising market. Now I live in a house. I paid cash for it. Thats right, I did well in one of my businesses and lived well within my means. Banked mucho. Caved on the house to have a pace I could do whatever I wanted in.
House living is great because its your own. You can do whatever you want to it. BUT … it does suck for all the maintenance which is in fact non stop. Then there are neighbors. I do not enjoy people coming 20 feet from my window to let their dog shit. I have 80 ft frontage but for some reason they like to come as close as possible. Stuff like that is just weird and happens alot. Property theft, break ins … more common in houses and all your expense. Snow, leaves, lawn, glossed gutters. All your problem. Floods, tornadoes, fires …. long shots but you find out fast how much insurance says “opps not covered”. Its a game for sure. That happens to a rental you just leave.
Many times I have considered going back to condo life. As I approach 50 it seems likely I will ditch the house. I like to make things so having a workshop basement has been great. Cant do that in an apt. But the way utilities are rising in Canada its not cost effective to make things anyway.
I bought later that most people. I’ve never had a mortgage and think anyone who does is a grade A sucker. They never tell you the carrying costs. They buy for $500,000 and then brag their house is now worth $800,000. But forget the interest at term end will eat any and all “profit” plus , then take off the realtor commission and they are in fact sitting at a loss.
There are two things in life that keep people fat, miserable and controllable in life. Marriage and real estate. All other things can be walked away from with minimal effort. These 2 things are lead weights that can cost you everything should things go wrong. Also constant stress sources that frankly break people down. Thats why they are promoted by every soul sucking entity. Your corp wants married people because they are easier to control and nail down. Government too wants you married as it reduces the tax collecting burden 50%. Joint responsibility. Real Estate has really been promoted for the same reasons AND …. taxes go up, utilities go up … you’re screwed. Its a big effort to leave.
Probably the biggest weirdness about home “ownership” is all the crap you start “needing”. As a renter, I could move in a day. I had stuff, but not the space for to much. In a house its monumental how much baggage that seemingly “necessary”. To pack up now would take a week. Just the exterior stuff like lawn mower, snow blowers, shears, hoses, cords …. thousands of $ in pure shit. Lets face it … you go to anyone house and theres 3 living rooms. One they call a family room, one living, one mancave, media room whatever. They are all rooms with furniture and a TV. One guy in an apt can do what people do in their house 95% of the time in 15% the space. I just watched a neighbor spend 10k on theater seating for his little movie room. Thats just the seating. For 10k he could go to the theater every week for the rest of his life, actually get out and mingle along the way. Spare bedroom/guestrooms … its called a hotel. No one saves money with spare space.
In terms of profit on a house, most people don’t know how to calculate whether a house purchase has been profitable or not. Google Michael bluejay rent vs buy for a great calculator. Many times people would have ended up with more profit by renting and investing the savings in the stock market.
TIM, I can only agree 100%!!!!
We have owned a house for over 15 years. It is very enjoyable and peaceful. Now we just sold our house and are relocating. We will rent and hopefully move around plenty.
Tim-that’s exactly it. Lived in one house for 12 years and then built another and added a pool… Later a divorce and now renting a loft and I have so much free time and left over money I don’t know what to do sometimes!
We just sold our home it was just becoming a pain in the ass. We moved into a fairly nice apartment I feel like as an senior citizen that is still active it was the best move for us because now I no longer have worry about keeping a house neat and tidy. I can keep an apartment neat and clean very easily. Plus no stairs is a real plus for me.