5 Benefits of Renting a Home Versus Buying

For years, the housing market has been such that buying a house was not just plausible but also responsible. Low-interest rates and costs coupled with good salaries have made for a great housing market if you are a buyer.

Things are changing, and costs are on the rise. So what are the benefits of renting? We’ve separated the five benefits into two categories, financial and living, to help highlight the different aspects. There are many more benefits, but these are some of the best and most relevant.

Financial Benefits

1. Maintenance repairs

As a renter, you are not responsible if your dishwasher breaks and needs to be fixed. The landlord is in charge of maintaining the living space and thus they will foot the bill.

Homeowners have no one else to pawn the repair costs on. If you own a home and you want working appliances, it is on you to fix them.

It is important to note that maintenance repairs are many times not covered by the landlord if it is unreasonable damage.

2. No down payment

Many homes require a significant down payment to buy, the average is about 20%. This is a large portion of the money. If the average home in your area costs $250,000, then you are looking at a payment of $50,000 up front. Yikes.

Renting usually requires some form of upfront payment. Typically this involves first and last month’s rent and a security deposit. The security deposit is the wild card, and its amount depends on your landlord.

3. Predictable

With all the uncertainty of life, it is nice to have some predictability. Home mortgages and fees can be affected by a number of factors and can change on a dime. You may have a great mortgage payment now, but you never know how that might change.

Renting is nice because you know what your monthly rent will be. While landlords can change the rent, they usually have to give you notice to do so, allowing you to budget for it.

Living

4. Amenities

If you own a home and want a swimming pool, guess who has to pay for it to be installed? Same with workout equipment, laundry machines, etc.

Many apartments have access to great amenities. They come as part of the package deal, and while some laundry units are coin-operated, most amenities are free for use.

Some apartments do not offer many amenities, and they definitely aren’t required to. More and more, however, you see decent size apartment complexes using amenities and feature to draw in tenants.

5. Location Flexibility

Say you are living on the East Coast and get a job offer in California. If you own a home, there is a lot that goes into selling it. Unless you are super wealthy, you won’t be able to buy a new home without selling the old one first.

As a renter, you have a lease and are expected to pay rent during that time. Most places offer the option to have someone buy your lease, and then they take over and you move out. There are enough people looking for apartments that this usually isn’t too difficult, especially if you live in nicer apartments. This makes relocation far easier.

Conclusion

Buying a home is definitely not a bad thing. There are a ton of associated benefits to doing so. You need to make sure that you weigh the pros, cons, and costs of renting versus buying and carefully choose from there. One thing is for sure, with all the benefits of renting, it is never a bad option.