It really depends what the rent-to-mortgage ratio is, which apparently varies a lot by area.
Where I live, rents are often about equivalent to the mortgage + property taxes, plus a little more. In other words, in the house I live in right now, my mortgage + property tax is about $2,500/month. If I were to rent it out, I could likely get $2,600/month for it, possibly up to $3,000.
In this scenario, if you plan on living somewhere permanently, there's not a single way to do the math that it works out that renting ends up being the better choice. Not only do you pay more now, but rent nearly always goes up.
> but there doesn’t seem to be a clear financial advantage to home ownership
Just the simple fact that money paid to rent goes into a black hole whereas money paid towards a mortgage that builds equity should be a clear financial advantage to home ownership.
Opting to rent is insanely short-sighted. Like, even if I could rent the house I'm in right now for $2,000/month ($500 less than the monthly cost of buying), over the next 10+ years, rent will very likely go up over time. And again, that money is just being burnt. When you buy, eventually, you don't have a mortgage anymore.
I think the only way renting ends up working out better is if you live in some crazy place where a mortage+tax is double the monthly cost of renting.
Where I live, rents are often about equivalent to the mortgage + property taxes, plus a little more. In other words, in the house I live in right now, my mortgage + property tax is about $2,500/month. If I were to rent it out, I could likely get $2,600/month for it, possibly up to $3,000.
In this scenario, if you plan on living somewhere permanently, there's not a single way to do the math that it works out that renting ends up being the better choice. Not only do you pay more now, but rent nearly always goes up.
> but there doesn’t seem to be a clear financial advantage to home ownership
Just the simple fact that money paid to rent goes into a black hole whereas money paid towards a mortgage that builds equity should be a clear financial advantage to home ownership.
Opting to rent is insanely short-sighted. Like, even if I could rent the house I'm in right now for $2,000/month ($500 less than the monthly cost of buying), over the next 10+ years, rent will very likely go up over time. And again, that money is just being burnt. When you buy, eventually, you don't have a mortgage anymore.
I think the only way renting ends up working out better is if you live in some crazy place where a mortage+tax is double the monthly cost of renting.