Freedom Sweet Freedom

Do you think you are freer when you rent a home or when you own a home?

Well, when you own your home you can have pets, you can decorate any way you please, you can change things. So it would seem like you have more freedom.

There’s one big problem; what about when you want to move?  When you own a home, you will have to either sell it or rent it to someone (or you could just hang onto it, which is quite expensive).  The resale market can be active or slow (it’s a cycle) so you could be trying to sell that house for 6 months or a year or longer in a slow market.

Worst case when you rent is that you will have to pay for the balance of your lease. You may be able to sublet your place to someone for the full rent that you are obligated to or for something less. But your loss is limited. When you own a house, you could lose a lot.

I usally tell people not to buy unless they plan to live in the house for 2 or 3 years.  You see, when you sell, you will have to pay a 5 or 6 percent commission and, on top of that, you may not get as much as you paid for it.