Whether you’re settling down to start a family, or just wanting to move out of your parents’ home, the thought of buying or renting a house can be daunting. It’s even worse when you know nothing about how these things work to begin with. Do you need to get a loan? If so, what’s your credit like? What state is the housing market in? What is your income like? These are all questions that will be decisive factors in whether you decide to buy a house or rent one. There are too many pros and cons to keep track of, so here’s a list to start with.
Renting: Pros
Moving will be a breeze. You can always temporarily rent a place and in the meantime save up to build your dream house. After that, shifting over to a new home will be easy. You won’t have to worry about resale either.
Maintenance – or the lack thereof. When it comes to utilities and repairs, you don’t have to worry about a thing. All you need to do is inform your landlord or landlady and it will be seen to. Unless you go and break something yourself, you won’t need to worry about the cost of repairs. The only maintenance that is of your concern is cleaning the house when it gets messy!
Renting: Cons
No changes. One of the problems with renting is that you can’t remodel, repaint, or renovate anything, no matter how long you intend to stay there. You can only do so with explicit permission from the homeowner, and this is not something you’re likely to get.
Rent increases. With the cost of living ever increasing, there’s no guarantee that your rent won’t suddenly get hiked too. It will likely be part of a clause in your rental agreement. Either the rent will increase a given amount on a regular basis, or the clause will stipulate that the homeowner is allowed to change the rate at his or her choosing.
Buying: Pros
Settle down. If you invest in buying your own home, it’s yours forever. Until and unless you decide to resell, you can do whatever you choose with this place. You can even rent it out, or rent out a part of it that you may not be using, and you’ll have some extra income to help pay off a mortgage or the bills.
Establishing yourself. If you mean to start a family and raise kids, you’ll want them to have as stable a life as you can provide. Having your own home means the children will get to grow up with their school friends, and you’ll all be part of a community. Keep up with the Real Estate News early on, so you’ll know the best neighbourhoods for raising a family.
Buying: Cons
Maintenance. If anything goes awry, it’s your baby. You’ll have to see about all the utilities, have a repository of maintenance companies to call, and shell out the cash for the repairs. This might prove to be expensive as the years go by.
Property taxes. Taxes are forever the bane of people’s existences. If property taxes in your area increase, you’ll have a hard time surviving in your own home. You have to do a lot of research on trends before making a purchase.
These aren’t the only things to think about. You have to make sure that you look into all the pertinent matters of buying and renting. If you don’t know what you’re getting into, keeping your home later on in life will be a burden.