Do you feel freer renting than owning?

[nukeswife]

Right now, being a military family, renting is a much freer feeling. I would hate to have to wonder if we'd be able to sell in the event of a PCS move. We would love to own again (we do own a house, but my brother is reaping the rewards of that right now) but it will have to wait until dh retires from the military.

[justamouse]

I have rented, then owned, then rented then owned and still own. I'm an owner. Hands down. Renting drives me BONKERS.

[lisabelle]

I feel more free owning a house than renting one. For one thing, I have too many animals. For another, I want to be able to do whatever I want with where I live. There's no incentive to paint or make any upgrades when you rent.

[Peela]

We rent, although we have 2 investent properties in a country town an hour and a half away (which was the only way we coudl get into the market years ago, let alone now).

We have looked into buying in the city...so far, no go.

 

We always rent huge, run down million $ mansions near the river in wealthy suburbs- that are cheap. We have rented river-front properties for half the kids' lives. We usually spend 3 years in a place - this place we are in now it has been 4 and we dont want to leave- we are one block back from the river and 2 minutes walk from it. We have pets. We live in millionaires row and we pay very reasonable rent because the house is old.

 

So yes...there is a freedom to it. We love where we live and how we live, and we love bringing kids up in this sort of an environment. Its peaceful, low crime, lots of birds, lots of walks, and close to convenience.

The only places we could afford to buy would be very small, in very poor suburbs- and we dont want to live like that, so we make our other investments and live how we want, now.

 

Its not 'money down the drain' if you are living how you love to live. Its paying for a lifestyle.

 

I would love to live in a home we own. We have tried and it just isnt to be- so I enjoy the lifestyle we are living rather than pine over something I cant have yet. We think once the kids have left home maybe we can buy because we will have more freedom about where we live- we could move to the country. But we wouldnt do that to the kids, who have a solid social base in the city.

[Heather in Neverland]

We owned for 10 years. Then we sold and started our nomadic life and we rent wherever we are. It is AWESOME. I love knowing that at any time I can pick up and leave and go off on a new adventure. :D

[jld]

It seems like the people who rent that are the happiest are the ones that could own if they wanted to. Is this accurate?

 

Also, is it grammatically incorrect to say "freer"? Is it supposed to be "more free"?

[TheAutumnOak]

It seems like the people who rent that are the happiest are the ones that could own if they wanted to. Is this accurate?

 

 

:iagree: It sure seems that way to me...

[PinkInTheBlue]

Well, I'm enjoying leasing right now for a couple of reasons.

 

One: I don't have any intentions of staying here. I want to move and possibly move around, even. The haste of buyin and selling within the next 5 years makes truly sick to my stomach. I hate everything about the whole process.

 

Two: I don't want to touch any real estate with a ten (even twenty) foot pole in this fiasco right now. I could buy this house with over $50,000 equity automatic but because I don't want to live here forever and I hate the legalese, I'll be very, very happy to let someone else handle the trouble. :) Matter fact, the plumber is coming tomorrow morning and all I have to do is show him in. :)

 

Yes, at this point in my life I'm much, much more free leasing.

[Heather in Neverland]

It seems like the people who rent that are the happiest are the ones that could own if they wanted to. Is this accurate?

 

 

that is a really good question. We do choose to rent and could buy if we wanted to. If we HAD to rent because we could NOT buy...I wonder how I would feel???

[BikeBookBread]

We have a home that we own in our last town that we rent out using a management company, and we are renting our current home.

 

I really don't like the feeling of not thinking twice every time I want to move a piece of furniture, lest I scratch the wood; choosing not to be a little thumb tack hole in the ceiling for mistletoe because the landlord will notice it; cringing because I dropped a knife in the kitchen and may have put a mark on the tile...

 

We were very careful in our own home, but it was ours, and our own responsibility if we messed it up.

[duckabell]

We are currently happy renting but will be excited to buy when we have the opportunity. My husband is finishing up an advanced degree and after we have paid back the student loans (hopefully within three years) we will start saving for a down payment on a house. With only two children so far and never living in a place longer than two years renting has worked well for us so far. That being said we are anxious to take a step up and rent a house and not an apartment after he graduates and then after a couple of more years becoming homeowners.

[vonfirmath]

It seems like the people who rent that are the happiest are the ones that could own if they wanted to. Is this accurate?

 

I don't know if we could own if we wanted to. At one point we could have but our savings has been whittled down by life and we might not be able to right now.

 

We have not looked into it because we are happy renting. We MAY be moving at the end of this year depending on where my husband finds a job/graduate school. Then when he graduates from graduate school we will likely move again.

 

I see no reason to look into buying if you don't expect to live there long term (5 years at least)

[milovany]

I have not ready many replies; I've just been thinking about this since I first read the question. We have done both and I agree that the right answer is situational.

 

For us, after moving around a lot (by choice; we truly wanted to and enjoyed it), during which time we both rented and owned, we are now settled in the town in which we want to remain. So this past year we bought what we call our "forever house." Before purchasing I did read some articles on the advantages of renting instead of buying, but in the end I/we realized that at least when you purchase you have the hope/real possibility of paying the house off someday at which point you no longer have that monthly housing payment. It's far less likely that will happen with renting. In our case we were able to keep our previous house to use as a rental investment, so our plan is to get that paid off, sell it at some point and then use that profit to go toward paying off this house. THAT feels like more freedom to us than renting.

 

Again, this is because we want to stay put (not that that's the only reason to buy). We have owned before when we've wanted to move and couldn't because we owned a house that wasn't selling. In the end it all worked out of course, but it can be frustrating feeling held back because you can't sell.

Edited December 7, 2010 by milovaný