Buying Vs Renting?

[turtleschell]

1. Why is owning better than renting?

2. Does $500pw rent get you a better, fancier home than a reasonably fixed $500pw week mortgage?


WOuld love your ideas and opinions ladies, I'm having conflicting desires here.
TIA

[~Hestia~]

I guess for us the main thing is security, it's our home & will always be.
We didn't buy brand new but have loved making this home ours. In a rental you can't *do* anything to the house.

[shellbell3]

For us I felt I prefer that $500 to go towards something that we will outright own one day rather than paying it towards someone elses mortgage.
Plus I just feel better having my own place that feels mine, renting I could never make it feel mine, you couldn't change things, you can't do what you want to the place and the owners can just turn around one day and ask you to vacate. I like having MY place.

[Amaunet]

I could definitly rent a nicer place than I have bought (though my house is nice : ) - but I like the security of having my own place - so for me its worth it. I look forward to having it paid off and not have to worry about paying rent when I have retired!

[LionsandBears]

$500 in rent would get you a better house or better location than $500 on a mortgage, however it isn't going towards owning bricks and mortar, it pays for a nice roof over your head.

I reality, getting a mortgage means renting off the bank in a way, but at least you have the title deeds and can make improvement, hang up pictures and pretty much do what you want. You have to pay the maintenance and rates etc, but no-one else can tell you what colour the walls have to be or ask you to leave.

There's pros and cons to both renting and buying. Some people choose to rent a nice place/location to live in and buy an investment property they can afford. It depends on lots of things, like life goals, where you prefer to live, what kind of lifestule you want.

[Mrs Jak]

I think owning is better than renting because of the long term investment and putting that money in to your investment and not someone elses, but sometimes it comes down to what you can get for your money and if you can afford the rates and maintenance on top of the repayments.

[~Kim~]

depends.
$500 a week rent is just that - money in someone elses pocket. But you don't have to fork out extra for water rates (yes sometimes you pay excess but not the actual water rates), council rates, building insurance, maintenance (ie if something breaks you ring the RE and the bill goes to the owner).
$500 on a mortgage is investment in your pocket, but it doesn't cover all of the above, it's extra.

We rent and own a home. They are in different states so I don't have a great comparison, but for what rent is worth here I couldn't get what my mortgage affords me.

[cakester69]

I would love to buy but we are now on one income and dont have enough deposit that the banks are wanting now. We live in a nice area to buy here we are looking at least $450k thats alot of cash hey. We are not eligible for any grants and its tough to scrap a deposit together maybe one day when banks are willing to allow you to borrow at leat 99% then maybe we will have a chance. I know what people say that renting is dead money but in one way we dont have the real worry of prices going up each month because the economy is getting better. Dont get me wrong buying is what I want but what we live in now to what we could afford to buy are worlds apart.
People out there are giving first home buyers every chance to get into the market but there is a hidden market out there with people in second marriages etc where their partner has never owned a house before and cant get these concessions because thei partner has owned a house before. If we could get some of these concessions to top up our deposit that have already I would buy in an instant

[ladybird11]

Similar to cakester here..

DH has previously owned a house during his previous marriage. I could get a loan myself, but it wouldn't be in the suburb we really want. So instead we are renting in the area we want to buy in - and are saving a deposit. That in itself has been hard, but we'll get there. I'm not really in a rush. I don't mind renting, but I do look forward to owning a house in the next few years.

On the other hand we've had friends that rushed into it and borrowed 100% of the mortgage and are now in such a position that they are up to their eyeballs, and if it wasn't for their parents bailing them out each time a bill came in then they'd be bu**ered!

Other friends have bought a nicer house in a not so great suburb, but affordable for them, and they're liking it having adjusted to their surroundings ;-)

I guess weigh up the $$$ and what is important to you i.e a desired suburb, style of house, what you could sacrifice.

[Lulu]

It won't just be $500 a week flat - like mentioned before you will have to add in rates, water, maintenance etc - but you also have to cover potential interest rate rises.
If $500 a week is what you can afford, I'd look at what repayments of maybe $400 a week will get you.
It also depends on what kind of house you want. I didn't mind an older house (cos I like them better anyway) that needs some updating and now I have a firm foothold in the market that will springboard me further alot quicker than if I had waited and saved for 'the perfect' house.

[deletedit]

People out there are giving first home buyers every chance to get into the market but there is a hidden market out there with people in second marriages etc where their partner has never owned a house before and cant get these concessions because thei partner has owned a house before.

Don't you hate that? I bought a house 6 months pre-grant and my partner has never got the grant. Now neither of us can EVER get the grant.

We own because it is cheaper than renting by a huge margin. I pay about $140pw for this house (although a lot of that is offset because I have another house rented out that pays for a lot of this mortgage) and to rent this house it would be about $250pw. Likewise the house that I have rented out would be cheaper to own than rent but noone wants to buy it and renting it out was quite easy. We bought both for well under what they are 'worth' and spent a lot of time fixing them up, and we are currently building a house for way less than it would cost to rent OR buy it.

We're cheapskates with too much free time

[cakester69]

I would love to be paying Even $250 a week but I am finding brissy a very pricey area to love in no matter where you go. We moved from Victoria for job reasons and had to sell hubbys home we wanted to rent it out but the gap between rent and morgage would have been too much of a struggle as I wasnt working then.
Maybe one day we will get somewhere but have to wait and see.

[turtleschell]

Some good points.. I guess I just feel like the only way to save for a deposit is by living with your folks coz rent is so expensive.. vicious cycle.

[Lulu]

Being a cheapskate and making sacrifices (like housesharing) can sometimes be the only true path to homeownership. I think Confucious said that...