Home ownership is not for everyone, and the first step in determining if it is for you, is to make a list of pros and cons of owning versus renting. The Rochester Real Estate Blog came up with a good list in determining the benefits of buying a home:
- Your monthly payments remain the same, versus when you rent you could be faced with having your landlord increase your monthly rent payment.
- The Ability to build equity is one of the most important aspects of home ownership versus renting. Whereas when you rent, the money goes to the landlord and it’s gone. Owning a home, part of those payments you are making monthly is adding to the equity (value minus any outstanding liens) of the home.
- When initially buying a home you do have costs like an appraisal, inspection etc, however in the long run it ends up being cheaper because you are retaining some of the money spent each month as equity for when you go and sell.
- The tax advantage is probably the biggest reason people buy a home. Some make too much money and they have no write offs, therefore buying real estate allows them to have not only the write off on interest paid for the year, but other things that possibly benefit them when filing their taxes.
- How many of you are like me and you tend to get bored with your furniture set up or paint colors you have on your wall? If you rent there are limited options on changing this, however if you own the home you can paint the wall green if you want! Home ownership also allows you to use your creativity a lot more with your yard and in your home, where if you rent your options are limited.
- We all know your credit score is so so important. Not only when you buy a home you will have to have a certain level of credit, but owning a home allows those that don’t have a lot of credit to start establishing more credit. This is not possible when you rent a home.
- Owning a home is a great investment. Alot of us don’t know alot about the investing world, but one thing to know is that buying a home is generally a really good investment.
- The feeling of owning something is huge. If you own a home this is YOURS and you did things to get that house. Seeing your hard work pay off is a very gratifying feeling.
- Depending on what city you live in, the ability to rent a home or apartment is not a viable option. In these sorts of instances, owning a home is not only the more gratifying option, it is really the only viable option because maybe you have to live in this area for a job etc, and there are no other options but to buy.
- Those that like to live on the run and go around to different cities to live, are not ideal home owners. However, if you are looking to create a stable environment and have many other rewards, then home ownership is certainly the better option.
Whether you live in the east coast, the south or out west, always look at exploring your options of being able to buy a home. Here is Arizona the housing market is hot in cities like Phoenix, Scottsdale, Peoria and Tempe. Home buying can be a blast… so start considering it if you are a part of the rental market currently.