Own Home or Rent?

I live in an apt. and I must say, I am getting "fed up" with it. I would love to move out of here, but have to wait a little longer for that. I am going to get out of here - but want to make it a good move.

My rent is going up and I have had some horrible experiences here as well.

So do you live in apt. or do you own your home? Must be nice if you do.

Lad,

I own my own home (or rather I am making mortgage payments for the next 20 years )

For myself, I can't see paying rent month after month and never building any equity in a home. Of course, with owning a house there are also a lot of headaches, like lawn care, repairs and good stuff like that.

We had our house built in 1966. I hope I never have to rent again. You just don't have the freedom of doing what you want when you rent. We had nightmare stories when we rented too. We had a 15 year loan. Now, it's too much house, too much junk, etc. but I sure plan on buying and not renting when I move. I just hope I can get enough out of it that I don't have to buy a cracker box when I sell.

I rented from college until 1988. With renting I loved being able to just call the complex manager when something went wrong. I did not love not having anything to show for rent payments that you know are only going to go up. I like to decorate (and redecorate) so with owning I not only have more freedom to make the changes I want (next change.... eggplant colored living room and foyer walls). I am in a way actually paying myself when I make improvements. I am having a new roof put on now which is not as much fun as a decorating project but one of those things that have to be done. :\

Piel

We own our house but this is a new thing for us! We were renting a house that we had seriously outgrown for 10 years (2 bd/1ba for a family of 4!)--we stayed because the rent was so reasonable and we didn't think we could afford a house. This past March the landlords called us and told us they needed to sell the house. In one crazy week, I got a mortgage broker, a realtor, and A HOUSE!! A 3 bd/2.5 ba house! Actually the first time we met the realtor was the night we made the offer!

I think the planets must have aligned properly for us or something...The house we bought had been on the market for sometime, the previous owners had gotten it appraised and came on to the market on the high end (where it sat for about 10 months)--we ended up seeing it right after they dramatically dropped the price. I still get a smile on my face everytime I come home...I don't get as grumpy making mortgage payments as I did rent checks! Even if we cannot afford to do any home improvement projects right now, at least we are building equity...

eliza88

When I was in college my husband and I rented a two bedroom duplex. That was in 1981. When we got married in 1983 we bought our first condo. A very small (900 sq feet) two bedroom, one bath. We held on to that and bought a small 1300 sq foot house with three bedrooms. We needed a bigger place because we then had our first son. All and all we had those two properties for 8 years. Then we moved (again) and bought a bigger house (2800 sq feet). We now had two boys. Lived in that one for 4 years and then moved up to central California where we rented for one year.
I hated renting but were still owned our house in So Cal. After a year of renting (the house we were in sold) we finally sold our house in So Ca. and bought a small one (2000 sq feet) in San Luis Obispo, CA. Lived in that one for 6 years and just recently in May sold that one and moved back down to the San Diego area and bought a very nice house that I love. After all this moving around I am content to just stay here for the next 20 years!

If my husband and I kept all those houses we would be in the big $$

I have to snicker at the idea of a 2000 sq. ft. house being *small*... My house is over 1500 sq. ft. and it's quite large to me. I can't imagine living in a bigger house -- there'd just be more places for the clutter to pile up...

Anyone own a condo? I am thinking of investing in one. Are they a good investment? I think it would be far better to own something than to rent. Although, I do hear of mixed opinions about this.

I just bought a co-op - like a condo, but with more headaches. I'm pretty ambivalent about it, mostly because the apartment I rented for the last 7 years was huge, cheap, perfectly located and I could do whatever I wanted to it. The only reason I moved is that the landlord sold the building.

Everyone tells me how much I am going to love being an owner. So far, it's no different than what I was doing, except the improvements I'm doing will benefit me, and not someone else, which is good. But I am paying about $250 more per month for a place that's about half the size (approx 500 sq ft - dlkksk8fan, that's small!).

There's also the fact that, unlike a house, no matter how fabulous I make this place inside, there are some things I can't change: the size, the landscaping, the door to the hallway, the neighbors - things that can have a dramatic effect on the resale value of a property. I know you can't change the neighbors in a house either, but you don't have to ask their permission to make noise remodeling inside your house on a Sunday afternoon. My place was gravely in need of work when I bought it, and when it's fully refinished I anticipate being able to sell it for maybe$25-30K more than I bought it. Compare that to my friends who bought a house, spent a summer landscaping the backyard, put in a $4K fence, did minor decor upgrades inside, and sold their house for a $75K profit 2 years later. Just something to think about.

I don't mean to sound all negative about it - I am enjoying the process of making this place what I want it to be, and since I already had to make all repairs myself, it wasn't a huge adjustment for me. But if there was any way I could have afforded it, I would have bought a house.

guinevere

"approx 500 sq ft - dlkksk8fan, that's small!. "

ITA

guinevere:

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am seriously thinking of buying a condo. We have a problem here in BC with "leaky" condos, so that is something to consider. One has to be careful to get the place inspected.

In spite of all your costs, I am sure you will come out ahead. Just think of all the money you spent on renting! I keep thinking about all the money I have spent over the years, I could have bought a condo by now.

My rent is going up to 600.00 and I only have a one bedroom and believe me it is not very big! Talk about small living space.

It encourages me to hear about positive experiences in the buying market. It has to be better than renting!

Thanks again.

Hey Ladskater,

I think part of my ambivalence has been from the fact that I was a first time buyer. There were so many things that I was very naive about - even though I did tons of research and asked all of my home-owning friends for advice, etc. I am glad I own my place though (I just bought some paint for the bathroom, I've got a weekend project, woo-hoo!).

I would just say this to you: If you are looking at a place and you see anything that concerns you, whether in the inspection, or in the meeting with the condo association, in their rules or anything, treat them as the red flags they are. You will be living there and something that bothers you before you move in will not just go away by itself.

Good luck!

guinevere

We own our home. It's about 1875 square feet, but we remade the garage into a game/workout room. That gave us another 800 square feet of living area. We have a t.v. couch, frige, treadmill, weight bench, a weight machine, stationary punching bag (it's great for kick-boxing), and up until 6 months ago, a full size pool table (we bought it for a steal about 12 years ago.......it came out of a bar and still had a functioning coin op dispenser.) It's carpeted, insulated, and the walls are finished. We have a cooler installed, but the garage door still functions. We're about to begin a remodel job on my 30 year old kitchen. It's still caught in the 70's, with "harvest gold" tile with chocolate brown grout......yech..........42