If you can afford to buy, I say to go for it. Even if you aren't planning to stay in that area forever, you can always make your money back by selling the house, when it's time to leave. And the good news is that you weren't throwing your money away that whole time, you were just investing it. My boyfriend and I are looking into buying a home together and it's looking like our mortgage will cost about 1/2 as much as we've been paying for rent the past year and a 1/2.
That's a good advice sanders, depending on the area. If it's an area where it's easy to sell, go for it, but if not don't do it or else you will be stuck with it and you will most likely lose money.
It depends on how much responsibility that you want to take on. Also, do you plan on staying in the area. Do you have extra money in addition to the down payment to have on hand for repairs? A great happy medium would be to lease a home with the option to buy. You get to test it out and then decide if you want it.
I agree that buying a house is better, but it is very hard to do these days. Banks have really shut their wallets since the recession. You have to have a pretty large down payment, especially if your credit is not perfect.
Buying is a huge commitment, as my parents found out years ago when we bought a house. I would say that buying really only becomes viable at all when you really know that you are ready to settle down in a place, that you won't move in a few months or years. My dad used to do contract work as a programmer, so we would only stay in a certain spot for a few years. Finally, though, he decided to get a permanent position, and so we also bought a house.
It depends on what you plan to do with the house. If you're looking to set down roots in a town and have a good career/job and stay there for 5-10+ years, then it might make more sense to buy a house, especially if a mortgage payment is similar or even lower than what you're paying in rent. One advantage of buying the house is it adds to your investments that you can work with in the future. I'd take account of what your plan is in the city you're looking to buy a house and go from there.
That's true, if we are looking for a long stay, buying is the best option, but if we are planning to stay just for some months it makes no sense to buy because it's a lot of bureaucracy, I wouldn't go for that in this case.
This is a very personal question and it's subjective to your financial standing. If you are in a position where you able to afford buying a house, then out say go for it. A good example would be buying a car instead of renting. It's almost ludicrous to rent a car and never actually buy and own it. So for me I apply the same principle. If you can afford to pay for your house then why would you consider renting it.
Exactly, that is why I bought my place instead of renting, it made no sense for me to be paying someone else for a place, where I could basically be paying myself for living there.
Buying is almost always a better option. The reason most people rent is because they don't have the capital or assets to actually buy. However, property management can be a big hassle if you intend to do it yourself. Lots of things need taking care of when you own your own house, and you're responsible for everything.
