Image source: Getty Images

Let’s ditch this myth.

Key points

• Nearly two-thirds associated with Americans own their personal homes.
• Despite this, renting is a perfectly fine option with regard to housing, and in fact comes with multiple perks.
• If you rent, you can save or even invest the particular money you would have spent owning a home, plus still end up financially secure.

Homeownership is extremely popular in the United States, with nearly two-thirds (65. 5%) of Americans owning their very own homes, according to 2022 data from the National Association of Realtors. If you’re a renter, you might have complicated feelings about it. Depending on your age, you may be surrounded by peers who own homes and lamenting how much you spend upon rent every month, which could be much more than a mortgage payment on the comparable property, depending on where you live. You might also have well-meaning older relatives who urge a person to buy, because “renting is throwing money away. ” Is it though?

I’m hoping to buy a home myself in the next few years, after spending most associated with my adulthood renting. I bought a house once before, and it was a bad decision regarding a number of reasons, including my finances, the employment situation, and our lack of readiness in order to truly deal with the potential hassles associated with homeownership. Ultimately, I had to go through a short sale to get out from under the worst financial decision of my life, and I’m not eager to repeat that process.

Unlike the last time, I am not interested in homeownership for the wrong factors (such as hating my apartment and wishing in order to be seen as “a real grown up”), but because I have found the city exactly where I feel at home and I want the opportunity to turn a piece of property into my dream house. Renting suited my life well until fairly recently. Here’s why your Us dream doesn’t have to be geared towards homeownership.

Renting has its benefits

There are almost all kinds associated with different rental situations. I’ve lived in rentals in multiple cities and states, from apartment complexes to small rural farmhouses. While they varied in substance, cost, plus long-term viability (due in order to landlord issues or the continual need to relocate intended for my previous career), there were some perks these local rental situations all shared.

Cost

First and foremost, renting is cheaper than buying . This may not be reflected in your monthly costs, but overall, it will be. Think about it — you will not have got to put thousands of dollars down to rent a home (likely, you’ll pay a deposit equivalent to a month or two of rent). You also won’t be paying for the expenses of homeownership , which include property taxes, maintenance plus repairs, and homeowners insurance (much costlier than renters insurance).

Saving time

In addition to all the money you will save on not buying, you also get to save time. In our experience, actual time saved by renting will also vary, based on where you live and that you’re renting from, but chances are good your landlord or a property management company will pick up some associated with the tasks you’d be doing yourself if you owned your place. This could include snow removal or lawn care, seasonal HVAC maintenance, and more.

Flexibility

We have moved many, many times in my life. Because I was the renter to get most of it, I wasn’t faced along with the prospect of needing to sell a home within a hurry (and potentially at a loss). In many cases, I actually didn’t even need to pay anything to break a lease when I changed jobs and had to leave a rental home. Owning won’t give a person this kind of flexibility.

There are other ways to build wealth

Aside from the perks associated with renting, consider the fact that will there are other ways to become wealthy besides owning house. Especially since even if you market your house for more than you paid for it initially, you’ll also be contending with inflation, capital gains taxes, and more.

If homeownership doesn’t figure into your own version of the United states dream, you can take the cash you’re saving by hiring and invest it via a brokerage account instead. This will require a lot more discipline on your part than paying a mortgage to amass wealth inside the form of home equity, but it is certainly the viable option and shouldn’t be discounted as somehow inferior in order to owning your home.

Ultimately, the decision to purchase a home is extremely personal, plus shouldn’t be made by anyone but your self and the particular others who else will end up being going in to the home purchase with you (such as a partner or spouse). If someone tells you that homeownership is usually the only way to achieve the American desire, you have the permission in order to tell them they’re wrong.