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Renting vs buying a home: I picked renting and it worked out fine
Back in 2021, I had to choose between buying a starter home in Nashville or keep renting my apartment. Everyone kept telling me renting was throwing money away, but I did the math and my rent was $1,100 while a mortgage on a small house would be $1,800 with taxes and insurance. I took the extra $700 a month and put it into a simple index fund instead. Three years later, the market here dropped a bit and I see houses sitting for months. Meanwhile my investments grew about 12% and I sleep fine not worrying about a leaky roof or a busted water heater. Has anyone else skipped the whole home buying rush and felt good about it later?
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karenhenderson24d ago
Oh man, I gotta respectfully disagree with you on this one. Yeah I get the math seems clear but you're leaving out how rent just keeps going up every year while a mortgage stays basically the same. My rent went from $950 to $1,400 in five years and my landlord never fixed anything anyway. Also that 12% return on your index fund is nice but it's not tax free like the equity in a house can be when you sell. You might be sleeping fine now but wait until you're 60 and still paying rent while your landlord raises it again.
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the_kevin24d ago
Yo that's a really good point about the tax thing, I honestly never thought about it that way. Plus with rents going up like crazy everywhere it's not like you're gonna suddenly find a cheap place in ten years either. You're locked in either way but at least with buying you're building something.
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