Free Republic

Renting a Home vs. Owning a Home: An Overview Buying a home is a huge part of the American Dream. Choosing to buy or rent, though, is a major decision that affects your financial health, lifestyle, and personal goals. Whichever option you choose depends entirely on your lifestyle and financial situation. Both require a regular income (so you can afford the payments and associated costs) and may also require a certain degree of effort to maintain.

Rich Arzaga owns a luxury home in San Ramon, California, but he's not betting on it as an investment. The founder and CEO of Cornerstone Wealth Management, who bought the 5,000 sq. ft. property in 2005 for $1.8 million and has spent $500,000 improving it, considers the abode a wonderful place for his family. But ask him to rate his home -- or any home, for that matter -- as a financial investment, and Arzaga balks. "It's the American Dream to own a home, but whoever said that didn't do the analysis on it," says Arzaga, knowing he's taking a...

My recent column on California's runaway housing prices provoked yelps of indignance from the special interests that have done much to make homeownership less affordable in the Golden State's major housing markets than anywhere else in the country. "Please give even any example of an 'excessive fee' on any development project," challenges one letter-writer, a no-growth environmentalist, who actually is a member of San Diego's Planning Commission. "I really hate to wish anyone bad luck, but maybe the only way the media will get it right is to experience substandard construction that the home builder refuses to repair," chides another...

<p>Imagine doing a Google search for a phone number, weather report or sports score. The results page would be filled with links to various sources of information. But what if someone typed in keywords and no results came back?</p> <p>That's the scenario critics are painting of a new bill wending its way through Congress that would let certain companies own facts, and exact a fee to access them.</p>