The main criteria IMO is, how long are you planning to stay there? If it's something short term I'd say rent is the best option, but if you're planning to live there for a long time buying certainly is the best call.
Well the first issue is of course your financial situation, there are a lot more costs associated with buying a house, things that you really don't expect, not to mention taking care of any repairs that are needed on your home along the years. That said, it's like Gelsemium says, if you are planning on staying in that location for over a decade, consider buying a house, any less time than that just rent it out.
This entirely depends on the situation you are in. There is no one right answer here and it really varies from person to person. The costs of owning a house are far greater than renting as you'd imagine. Also, if you have a down deposit and decide to rent, that deposit money can instead be invested and grown. If you buy a house that deposit money is gone immediately. For example I have $20,000 for a deposit and I'm weighing renting versus owning. I decide to rent and put that $20,000 somewhere giving me a 5% return annually. I paid my first and last months rent and maintaining my place of living is a lot less than if I had bought a house. So shorter term, yes there is more money in my pocket. Obviously long-term this scenario changes a bit and things may weigh in the favor of owning, but never let anyone tell you that renting is automatically bad and a waste of money. I hear this all the time from people and I feel it is really misguided. Maybe it is an old way of thinking. There are a million pros vs cons that it'd take an entirety to list all of them. Heck, what if you buy that house and the housing market crashes? What then? You going to wish you had rented? Really depends on your situation.
I'd do the same thing as pascual. If you're staying for a while or the rest of your life-time it would be cheaper in the long run to buy your own house. But you see it all depends on whether you have the money to make a down payment or not. If you don't have that money in the first place, you'll have no option but to rent a place for you to stay in while you plan on how you'll raise or save money to buy your own house.
I've been pondering this more and more after purchasing a home whose value fell drastically. We are now doing okay, but if I were faced with a choice now, having the knowledge I do, I would have rented for 6 more years, saved up the difference between rent and mortgage (approximately $700 per month), and bought about a year ago.
I would definitely recommend owning if you can afford it. I've had family members who have rented for many years only for something to happen and them to be out of a place to live. It all depends on your financial situation I suppose, some people are far better off renting, some are better off owning. Owning though, is usually better.
Examine your financial situation first. Can you afford to pay the mortgage payments each month? Does this work out cheaper than renting, in the current climate? Are you likely to be choosing to move around in a few years time, or is this going to be where you live for a significant amount of time?
Buying is obviously the best solution. It's really to do with the time versus money factor. If you're renting a house is still than a spend your time in that place and essentially the money that you make you end up spending on rent and that doesn't necessarily benefit you in the long run. But if you are buying a property then instead of spending money paying rent that same money would go into you making payments towards owning the property over a certain period of time. So in the long run you did essentially on the property. Which for me I think is a much better goal
