You listed the main reasons my brother will always be a NYC renter. He doesn't have to worry about lawn mowing or fixing a broken hot water heater or changing a leaky faucet. He can sit back, relax, and enjoy the view from his windows.
1. There is a value in being able to get up and move somewhere else quickly.
2. When you factor in the added costs of property taxes, maintenance, insurance, repairs, etc., the cost of ownership usually ends up being far higher than expected.
3. As the recent real estate collapse showed so clearly . . . most "homeowners" don't really own their homes after all. In fact, most people I know who "own" their homes never really bought a home -- they bought a mortgsge.
4. The U.S. tax code actually provides incentives to operate in a pretty bizarre way when it comes to owning vs. renting. Today, the best approach (if you have the resources to do this) is to pay rent for the place where you live and to own another home that you rent out as an investment property. How strange is that?
I agree. Even if you pay it off, they can take it from you if you don’t pay the endless, endless taxes. You never really own it. You just have the right to paint and landscape. In some places, you can’t even improve without costly permits. It’s a rip-off.
You’re right. If you want to stay put and raise a family for 20 years, owning can be a good thing. If you’re looking for a return on investment, you’d better own through a market upswing—which we’re not likely to see in the 10 years.
You listed the main reasons my brother will always be a NYC renter. He doesn't have to worry about lawn mowing or fixing a broken hot water heater or changing a leaky faucet. He can sit back, relax, and enjoy the view from his windows.
I’ll add another reason to rent. If you can no longer care for the home.
Last year I sold the home I’d lived in for the previous 21 years, and I would have had it paid off in just another 2 to 3 years. But I got very ill, and now I’m no longer able to do even heavy cleaning for myself (light cleaning and laundry, I can do), let alone home maintenance.
So now I’m in a nice apartment, much closer to where I work, but I pay nearly double my old mortgage payment for rent. On the plus side, my gasoline bill is about 1/3 what it was before, my insurance rates are lower, and living on the first floor of a 2 story apartment surrounded by neighbors, I only have 2 exposed walls, so my utility bills are also about 1/3 what they were at my house.
While my rent is expensive, the apartment is a spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bath, furnished with appliances, including a washer and dryer, and a walk in garage. So I don’t have to worry about shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn, or doing general maintenance.
Mark