We own and all of our families have been owners.

Sue

I am renting since my divorce. I wasn't crazy about the idea of renting at first but now I'm so happy to be a renter instead of a home owner. I don't have any major potential home expenses hanging over my head outside of replacing an appliance. It's an older home and I can enjoy it for what it is and not worry. A neighbor mows the lawn and takes care of snow removal in exchange for keeping his equipment and Harley in half the garage (it's an old garage that I wouldn't have parked my car in anyway).

I didn't really gain anything financially from home ownership due to the divorce. We bought before the bubble, I paid extra principal every month before we had kids in daycare but in the end I didn't get much due to the market when it was time to settle things.

There are things I love about home ownership - being able to paint and make permanent changes and it just feels more stable to own a piece of property but I'm happy being a renter right now.

We own. There are pros and cons to both. Back when we were getting started, we rented because we needed the flexibility to get up and move. It's nice not to have the responsibility of upkeep. When you own, you can do what you want within reason. If you play your cards right and do the things you need to do. You come out with equity when it is time to sell. It's not a true money maker.

I own. I have alway condidered it an investment. If I rented, my mortgage would be almost the same and at the end of the day, I would have nothing to show for it.
If I was somehow able to get a lower rent, I dont know that I would have the discipline to save the difference.

In the US - at least where I am - almost no utilities are included. You pay phone, water, electric, cable....etc plus rent.

Additionally owning a home saves me in other ways. The yard is a big benefit...I can grow my own vegetables. In the garage, I can change oil, build a bookcase, or paint a chair. Also my cats...they save my sanity!
I am also able in a pinch to borrow against the house with a home equity loan.

While vacations are sometimes necessary for a mental health break, I know so many young people that spends thousands on annual vacations...I would rather put in my house and rest easier knowing I have comfortable future to look forward to.

What we find in our line of work, which is Property Management, is that people that have zero ability to fix even the smallest thing in a home like to rent because they can call the landlord to fix everything.
I have had people call me at midnight because they have a burned out light bulb!
In British Columbia, the real estate prices have sky rocketed over the past couple of years making buying a home unachievable for many people. They have no choice but to rent until the market goes back to more realistic values, if it ever does.
Personally, I rent because I worked as a live - in Caretaker for many years, now that I am not doing that type of work anymore I don't know that I want to be saddled with a mortgage at age 52...
Suzan J

Salgal,

I rent yet I have a yard where I could grow veggies if I wish, I have a garage (only half but I could have the entire garage if I wanted to mow my own lawn and shovel my own snow). When I was younger I rented for over 10 years with 2 cats. There are definitely advantages to home ownership but those things aren't exclusively benefits to home owners.

My rent is about $300 less than my house payment (for a smaller yard but about equal or probably more living space). Trash is included (I paid $26/month for trash removal as a home owner). I only moved 3 blocks.

On the advice of my financial adviser and because of my age, I rent. I have 1,600 sq. feet in the house, a garage and 1/3 acre of yard. I do my own lawn care, but wouldn't know how to do much in the way of home repairs, so it works well for me - just a call to the property manager gets it fixed.

We've always owned. Seems like paying rent is just throwing your money away. We have a few rent houses, and as far as taxes, we certainly consider that when we set the amount of rent. Our house is paid for, and so we have all that equity. If we'd rented, we'd have zero.

We own two homes in Southern Calif. One we bought in 1978 and the other in 1980. Both were paid for earlier than the 30 year loans because we added a few extra dollars to the mortgage payments. Feels great to own them both outright. So happy we chose this route even though in the beginning it was very, very tough ($2,200 monthly payments in 1980!).

Jodi-

Paula, you're right...I get stuck in thinking "apartment" when I think of rent. You are lucky...around here most houses rent on average for several hundred more than my mortgage. And pets??? Almost impossible to find an landlord willing to bend.
I would pay almost any amount to keep my cats!

After renting in CA for most of my adult life, I love owning my own home in Iowa. Where I lived in CA, it was hard to find a rental that would allow a cat or two and almost impossible to find a place that would allow a dog. I usually do my own yard work and pay a neighbor for snow removal. I am blessed to have 2 wonderful handymen who don't charge me enough for their services. I usually pay them more than they ask for. My mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, is the same or less than I would pay for rent. My son painted the interior in colors of my choosing. I was so tired of white or beige walls when renting. I can have pets without having to get permission from a landlord. I have a small dog and 3 cats and I can tell you no one in CA would rent to me with 4 pets. I have no plans to sell my house.

We own.
Hopefully, real estate will increase again.... soon!
Interest can be written off on income taxes.
When you are making house payments you build equity.
We can do what we like with our home.

We actually own three houses. We each owned one when we met.

Gary now lets his parents live in the one he owned back them. They pay us the amount of the principal and interest part of our payment. That way they feel they are self-supporting. We pay the taxes and property insurance. That way we are helping them.

We rent out the home that I owned before we were married. The rent just about covers the cost of the house payment and rental agent (we have an agent because we don't live anywhere near this house). We are still building equity and getting the tax write off.

I would love to own. I really hate throwing away $2,200 in rent a month for a 1000 square foot apartment. The problem is that the rent is so high that it's very hard to save enough for a downpayment on a home making it a hard cycle to break. If I lived in a cheaper part of the country, I'd buy in a heartbeat.

I think it is a lot more difficult to find rentals that take pets these days. Even without pets, in our small town it took me over a year to find a place to rent, I highly suspect because I have young kids. There aren't many rentals and landlords can pick and choose their tenants.

For the most part here though most rents are still pretty low since it is a rural area and most of the rental properties are older. However, I do see a lot of people on Craigslist trying to rent out part of their private homes (usually not even separate living quarters) for ridiculously high amounts. Makes me wonder what their mortgage payments are that they think they can get an inflated amount for rent and that they are willing to share their homes with a total stranger. I'd rather rent and have my privacy than own and have to take in a stranger.

Live in a condo and love it. And it's all paid for and MINE :o)

We own, or rather....the bank owns it and allows us to stay here and pay the utilities! LOL!!! We planned on it being owned by now but things happen that we don't control.

We love this place, 28 acres of ground and no neighbors breathing down our necks. Wouldn't trade it without a battle!

I think it's a wash, financially.

When we sold the house we'd owned for over 30 years I figured that we'd averaged about 4% per year on our investment, despite the fact that the house brought almost ten times what we'd paid for it. I added up the RE taxes, mortgage interest, insurance and maintenance. We could have made more on conservative investments.

But...we'd had a house to live in -- in a good neighborhood with good schools and services, and we could do whatever we wanted with the property. We knew what our housing costs would be. There were no surprise rent increases. We made repairs and improvements that a landlord might not have considered 'necessary' or would have done as cheaply as possible. Our neighbors were not transients.

I would prefer to own a single family property for my home, not in an HOA and not a condo. We own a small condo on Maui and use it a month or two in winter. It is in a vacation rental pool, and is still worth more than we paid for it, as is our current home. It's been a better 'earner' than SFH's we've owned and rented out. However the condo assessments are rising and some owners have gone bankrupt (less than 1%, but a concern). When you own ALL of a property, you have control; that's not true of a condo.

There's advantages to each. I worked hard to pay mine off and it was sure nice to not have a rent or mortgage payment to worry about when I was laid off. You can live quite cheap without the mortgage/rent. Sure you have taxes, utilities, potential assessments, etc, but if you have things like condos or townhouses, you also have association dues too.

Advantages of renting and townhouse/condo is you usually don't have to do all the shoveling, mowing and the like. If you have to hire someone to do it, it offsets some expenses.

Generally in an apartment, if the toilet backs up, refrigerator dies, heat goes out, you call maintenance and if they're any good, they'll get it fixed for you and not at your expense. So there's good and bad to each.

I've thought about going to a townhouse or apartment but there's costs to buying and selling to say nothing of moving.

We own (with the bank!) After being beholden to federal and state governments for many years being renters and transients, we hopped onto the realestate bubble when it began or passed thru 1980 in California....and rode it from a house we wish we still had on the Central Coast (that has held it's 3X value from when we bought it ) through a modest McMansion to the very nice but modest "nice neighborhood etc) home in Medford where we have lost all the equity (down payment+) in the burst of that bubble.

We are not complaining but really feel for so many who have lost not only their equity (that they considered their savings), but their homes. During those years, we were also able to share what we had with our grands and kids, travel with them, move hundreds of miles twice, and lived comfortablely but not extravagantly.....and I consider that we have broke even. Not so for far too many, including our kids. BTW I have always been a SAHM and GM and DH has not been a super excutive...just one of the many "worker bees" maybe considered upper management who faithfully did a better than good job every day.

We bought our first house (older home, nice neighborhood) and lived in it for five years. Then we bought a brand new house and paid it off in nine years. Home ownership has been wonderful for us. Last week our home was appraised at 2 1/2 times what we paid for it. We would do he same thing over, given the chance.

We have always owned after the first two years of marriage. I prefer owning but investment people would tell you that now is not a good time to buy unless you expect to hold onto the house for at least 10 years. While there are some good deals out there on houses, if you had to sell, you probably wouldn't reap the benefits you had hoped for.

We bought this house in 1978, and after a few years we refinanced it to build some modular homes on land we owned. So we are still paying on our adjustable loan. We live in a very nice and pricey suburb of LA close to the coast with great public schools that provided our 3 kids an excellent education. Now our 3 kids live in LA and NYC because that is where their jobs are, which are often 7 days a week and long days that are infrequently 24 hours a day on the job. So they need to live close to work. One owns, and bought at the top of the bubble. However, they are improving their house, building more rooms, and we hope that will help them when they sell some day. The other two rent and would love to buy some day. One wants a NYC condo and the other an LA small house with old fashioned charm.

We live in a 6 bedroom house, and our house payment is a mere fraction of what the kids pay in rent and mortgage payments. We pay about 1/3 what the one bedroom apartment renting sons pay, annd 1/12 what the home owner pays.

The housing market has meant a home value reduction of 30%, but it is still 400% above what we paid for it. I figure that we are paying for a quality of life and I am glad we were able to do so not only for us but the kids who grew up in a safe area with great schools.

I own but my daughter rents. For her this makes sense. She's just out of college and has lots of money to pay back in loans and such. She's trying to get caught up before buying a house. But, finding a decent place to rent for an affordable price is difficult. Her place she's in right now isn't great. She'll be looking again in the summer. I know that she's getting the itch to buy but I hope I've convinced her to wait for a bit longer. Her job is a bit iffey and I'd hate for her to get stuck with a house she can't live in due to relocation.

So, for some it makes total sense to rent. For others like me, it makes more sense to own. By the way, we don't have rent control like others have. They can raise the rent as much as they want.

I rented for most of my adult life because I lived in an area where housing was expensive and out of reach for most average single people. I own a home now and I have to say that maintenance costs, property taxes, insurance, and utilities are all rising while my income is staying relatively flat. If the U.S. tax code changes and no longer recognizes state income taxes and mortgage interest as deductible, I will wish that I hadn't purchased a home.

cynic -- I'd stay in your SFH if you can. No dwelling is 'maintenance free'. At a condo property a volunteer board decides what needs maintaining and who to hire to do the work. You'll still pay for it via an association fee, but you won't be the 'deciderer'. LOL

We rented for one year when we married fresh out of college. Then we bought our first home and have owned four homes since then. The last one we've had for 28 years..paid off years ago. I love that no one can tell me what to do. I have four cats and two dogs I wouldn't be able to have if I rented. OTH, I'd like to call a property manager or landlord when something needs repairs..lol

I could not afford house rental when I went solo. Thus, I am in an apartment.

I can't wait to get outta here! I want my own four walls, to decorate and paint the way I want... I want my own yard, to plant what and how I want....

and I will not need permission to keep my daughters doggies for a couple of days.

I want to own.

Moni

We've always owned.

But at this time in my life, I'd like to be free to move around without having to buy and sell...so I'd like to rent now.

Actually, I'd like to live on wheels now, but I'd own those. :)

I think here it is better to own. I live in a 40 home neighborhood, and one of the homes is for rent. The rent is more than double my mortgage payment. Heck, apartment rents are more than our mortgage payment. Sure, there are some that are less, but I would NOT feel safe in those areas.

I speak as a landlady for over 20 years. I love renters, they pay the mortgage payment for me. That is why I am so comfortable financially thanks to renters.

Seriously you need to buy a starter home, live in it until you can afford better. It's like a savings account. I rented for a couple of years after getting married but bought as soon as we could. We found a new home and did not buy the best we could have afforded to insure us that we would not lose it if my husband lost his job.

With the housing/rental markets ups and downs the way it is I am very content to be an owner. We have 2 homes that are paid for. It's nice to know we will always have a roof over our heads.

I've lived in 22 homes/locations in my over 80 years, including 6 years in a university dorm.

A number of them were provided by my employer. In some cases, I shared a home with others, and once shared a house with a couple of other men, and we ate in another house on the same compound where three or four women lived: we were all missionaries, helping with health and educational issues in war-torn Korea, with some of us helping refugees get back on their feet.

I boarded with an old lady for a couple of years 25 or so years ago when re-locating back to Ontario, rented a room from a guy for a couple of years, then shared a two-bedroom townhouse with unfinished basement with another guy for a couple of years and continued living there alone for another dozen years or so. I was paying about $800./mo. for the townhouse, paid for my power and heater rent but water provided, no sewwer or garbage fee, prior to moving here to what was old step-unle's farm, nearly 7 years ago.

The bungalow on the farm had two bedrooms and a wreck room, plus unfinished basement, but being older it had somewhat less utility than the one in town ... but the initial rent was $450.00 per month. Water for washing, etc. was from a well so the only fee was the power bill to run the pump, but the well is too close to what used to be the barnyard so I pick up water in the city, etc. in jugs for drinking and most cooking, though I may boil potatoes in well water. Landlord will pay to pump the septic tank if/when it may need it. I pay the power bill, and landlord shares it, as he installed it into his shop from the same meter a few years ago. Put newspapers, plastic out for recycling, free - could do so for aluminum cans, but I sell them to scrap dealer. Garbage costs $1.75 a bag, but much of it is added to the landlord's burn pile.

While travelling past my old townhouse home the other day, I saw that they were offering them for rent, starting at $849./mo., so that rent has not gone up a huge amount since my departure.

I'm paying $512.50 rental, with increase as of Mar. 1 anticipated.

I have a shed in which to park my car, with extra room in it where a friend's van is parked, a garage where I have builing materials, supplies, a couple of trunks and a freezer, plus space in the barn which I use to service the large garden that I have, plowed and tilled by my landlord ... and he gets a share of the produce.

The government offered us a tax-free savings account aimed at home owneership about 35 years ago, max. allowable $1,000. per year, $10,000. total and I thought that I'd need to find a home on retirement in about 20 years. I invested the max allowable $1,000./yr. beginning in '74, and continuing till '83, missed one year so had invested for 9 years, $9,000. total, into a fairly stable, mortgage-based mutual fund. Its current value, having been unmolested in the interim, has grown from $9,000. in '84 to over $73,000. now, 27 years later, i.e. about 9% annual compound rate - with no deduction for the high-rate income tax that I've paid annually on the increases.

I've been thinking that, in the interim between seniors, especially singles, living in their traditional home and entering a residential or nursing home, it seems to me that, rather than buyig a (temporry) condo or renting an apartment lone, it makes a great deal of sense for several singles to share a home.

There are several advantages: sharing a home means discussion and more mental activity than when one lives alone; I find that I'm inclined to talk to strangers when I'm out, and am sure that I would do less of it if I shared my home with someone.

Many find that carrying out all of the chores related to operating a household becomes onerous - and sharing would mean shared chores.

They eat better, for several atthetable wouldd preclude the"tea and toast:" that a number of seniors may refer to as a meal.

If someone fell, there'd be help available - and they couold triage:we can rtake care of it; we call this person's caregiver; or we call 9-1-1 - right now!

There'd be major saving of money, what with rent, utilities, insurance, etdc.

Gotta run - 3 min. to library closing (but I figure that my loaner car'll get me safely home).

ole joyful

We have always owned out own home when it was possible. We sold when we had to because of a move and reinvested equity in the new location. We made a number of moves because of work but in the end, sold our home and made a huge amount of money and came back to TX and paid cash for 5 acres, a 1200 sq foot garage/workshop, and a 2400 sq foot home with a wood deck all the way across the back... Even the small 1200 sq foot home I had before we married was sold and since it had been a rental, it had to have about $10 grand in improvements and we still made 25 K........Our banker didn't want us to pay cash, he wanted to invest the money and we said no way.....we want the security of never having another house payment or rent..

To each his own but I do not believe you ever get ahead paying rent.

Ruthie, I am with you about wanting it paid for. My mother was given the same information and she still wanted it paid for. It is very important to have a home paid for when you retire.

We own and have rentals too.

We own both a single family home in one state and a condo in another. We don't have a mortgage on either one, but there always monthly payments with condo maintenance fees :-( And with the current downturn in real estate, we're lucky that it has only lost about $40,000 from what we paid for it in 2006. We would be upside down if we had taken a mortgage.

I have always been a home owner.This is a great time to get a really could buy on a home.The downfall seems to be that financing is really tough to get, that is why so many have turned back to renting as their preference.

Own

If you own one of those "biggie" homes ...

... whom are you going to find to sell it to, when the boomers are all retiring and selling their homes to downsize - if they can afford to, many of them having neglected to build a retirement fund - and the younger (and fewer) generation, who're going to be paid less (the highly-paid jobs are being shipped to China on those ships returning empty from bringing that consumer stuff from there to here, remember?) ...

... will be too few ... and won't be able to afford them.

Especially since, as fewer companies are offering a pension, many of them'll be allocating a larger share of their income to preparing for that.

While swearing at us, for having used up all of the petroleum, set ourselves up for pensions that they're paying for, run our countries deep into debt (to bail out banks that are ``too big to (be allowed to) fail``, and have pollutied the air, water and the oceans, and caused so much warming that the glaciers and the Arctic and Antarctic ice is melting, that`ll submerge a number of the major cities of the world, built as they are near to tidewater.

ole joyful

I forgot to mention that I allowed for *inflation* when I figured we'd made about 4% on the sale of the house we owned for 30 years. I was quite surprised, given we'd sold for almost ten times what we'd paid. We could have potentially made more by renting and conservatively investing the downpayment we'd sunk into the house.

I'm happy we owned, and am happy to be mortgage free in our new house too, but...there is a good *financial* argument to be made for renting and investing a 'downpayment'.

One can come out ahead renting (or holding a big mortgage at a low rate), but how far ahead (or behind) depends on how you invest the money that's NOT sunk in RE, your need for ready cash, and on the RE and investment markets.

Right now people with a lot of equity in a house are *stuck* until the RE market improves, provided they don't need cash now, in which case they are losing their shirts. The 'irresponsible' buyers who were no-money-down-with-huge-mortgages have already walked away, having had, in effect, free rent while they 'owned'. Not nice and 'not fair', but they're not *stuck*. They are back to renting.

I've always owned; except for 7 years when I was working near Silver City, New Mexico. I was groundskeeper for a "company" town. Therefore I could rent one of their homes. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, with a nice yard for 168 dollars a month; and I could walk to work in 3 minutes. Seemed foolish not to rent. I invested the equity I had in my previous home, saved like crazy, and at the end of 7 years bought a house without having to finance it. Just wrote a check for the full amount.

Ron