
Renting a home is clearly better than buying in much of US - samizdis
https://phys.org/news/2020-06-renting-home-nation.html
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fatnoah
A more accurate headline would be: "In many US metro areas, renting may allow
more rapid accumulation of wealth than buying."

I've gone from renting to owning to renting and back to owning. Depending on
what factors you consider to be important, then one may be better than the
other or vice versa. For example, one of my periods of renting allowed me to
live in a city where my work, my son's school, and nearly everything I did was
within a 20 minute walking radius. I certainly didn't build as much wealth as
owning, but owning wasn't an option in that area. Therefore renting was
"better" by that measure.

~~~
igneo676
Agreed

Expanding on this, if you want an unorthodox housing situation or have a non-
standard family unit, renting can either be prohibitively expensive or
impossible.

For instance, there's the Tiny House movement which all but requires you to
own your home in most areas. On the other end of the spectrum, larger families
(4 or more children) will often find that rental units cannot accommodate them
because of local regulation regarding # of rooms per occupant

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abstractbarista
It really seems to depend... I believe the article in the big cities they
listed.

Here in Raleigh, North Carolina suburbs, for the specific place I own, I'm
_definitely_ spending less on my
principle+interest+insurance+taxes+HOA+maintenance than renting.

This is far from the case for everyone, even in the same area, especially
depending on _what_ is being rented, and if the total rent is being split by
2+ people. (I live alone in a 2BR residence.)

~~~
gowld
> principle+interest+insurance+taxes+HOA+maintenance

How long have you lived there, and how old is the property? And how long will
you own? Selling a home is incredibly expensive.

~~~
fragmede
There are lots of costs associated with selling a home, but if there is
significant equity built up in the property, and its value has appreciated,
(which, to be fair are big "ifs" in current conditions) then those costs are
less impactful. Trying to sell a home with a mortgage that's underwater after
3 yrs is the worst, but selling a mostly-paid off house after 10 or 20 years
in a very popular area is less so. That's only if you have the cash-flow to do
so, so keep that credit score up!

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dangus
I’ve gone back and forth on this issue.

Some thoughts on home ownership that I’ve had:

\- Oftentimes furniture and decoration does a lot to make a low end rental
feel high end. Check Craigslist in affluent areas. Or just splurge.

\- It never hurts to ask your landlord if you can upgrade something at your
own cost or by sharing the cost. Don’t just settle for white walls and junk
appliances if you plan to stay a long time.

\- You can make smaller spaces work better by using vertical space. Mount
stuff on the wall. Install closet organization. Get permission if you have to,
but also a lost deposit is still cheaper than buying/selling a home. Anything
you can do to make you tolerate your cheap rental enough for it to be more
long term.

\- Don’t be a child, share bathrooms. More bathrooms are a waste of rental
money and square footage.

\- In the same spirit as “furnishings make the luxury,” don’t bother with high
end apartments. If you want that kind of thing I think it’s better to buy.
High end apartments are always overpriced and “fake nice.”

\- A lot of “stainless steel appliances” are not as high end as you think. See
that that silver Frigidaire dishwasher with the black plastic top? Yeah that
thing costs like two hundred bucks. It’s no Bosch or Miele.

\- Ultimately owning a home isn’t just a financial decision. It can also
involve your level of control and power over your situation. Landlords are
allowed to enter with 24 hours notice, for that reason alone a lot of people
would rather own (but that’s also not a big deal, and certainly not as bad as
having to fix everything yourself on your dime).

\- There are often features available to purchased homes that simply aren’t
common or don’t exist in the rental world. This most certainly varies by
market.

\- Consider the government subsidies and encouragements of home ownership but
don’t overemphasize them, and certainly don’t make assumptions on what they
are. People seem to assume that getting married and getting a house is a huge
tax break - it’s not.

\- Property tax abatements sound great but often just make up for local home
prices being lower than construction costs.

\- Consider whether job mobility will be impacted by home ownership. I don’t
think anyone who is career minded should be tied down to a particular locality
until they’ve got at least 5 years industry experience.

\- Entire suburbs, towns, neighborhoods can go under. As a renter none of this
is your problem. But it’s a very real risk of home ownership. Is Austin or
Denver any more safe from future atrophy than Detroit or Cleveland?

~~~
toomuchtodo
As both a landlord and renter, this is all great advice.

~~~
ed25519FUUU
For most of America, there’s no way anyone would be willing to upgrade
something at their own expense when the landlord can simply say “scoot along
now” when the lease expires.

If anything, being to stay or move whenever I want is reason enough to
purchase. When times are good they’ll raise the rent. When times are bad
you’re on your own.

~~~
dangus
Being able to stay or move whenever you want is the opposite of property
ownership.

If someone won’t buy your home for the price you need to break even, you can’t
move. That’s what happens in “the bad times.” Just when you might need some
job mobility (like if you’re laid off) you’re stuck in your home that could
take months to sell, and you’ll eat closing costs and fees. Or you have to eat
a long commute, where a renter can just move within a year with essentially no
financial hit.

I didn’t really point out overall economic outlooks for this very reason. If
you can’t pay your bills whether you rent or buy you’re screwed either way.

Rents can go up but so can property taxes, especially when your home value
increases due to a hot market. I don’t think price movement alone is a good
reason to choose renting or buying. There are certainly exceptional markets
but for most people it doesn’t play in.

As far as upgrading, it’s all about your tolerance. I’m not saying to install
a $10,000 kitchen renovation in a rental. For some people it might be
installing a paper towel holder or under-cabinet lighting. Maybe even
replacing cheap boob light fixtures with a nicer fixture (and you can easily
revert that when you leave and take your nice fixture with you).

There’s a huge rent friendly decorating trend going on often involving
landlord friendly things like stick-on backsplashes and stick-on accent walls
and murals. Paint of course is another one.

If you find the perfect apartment and the only thing wrong with it is that the
stove is a 20 year old Hotpoint piece of trash a renter could even consider
risking that $800 investment to get a new stove. Ultimately even if you
completely lose the stove at the end of your lease that’s only $66 a month. If
your nice stove saves you one restaurant trip a month it pays itself off.

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tinuviel
And much of Canada too.

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watertom
I think after effects of COVID-19 will significantly re-arrange the economics
of work and working. Unless a vaccine is miraculously discovered in the next
two weeks, there is a very good chance social distancing could last into 2022
and that will almost assuredly solidify a lot of the work and work related
changes in place.

