Estate Planning

Is it Better to Buy a Home, or Rent?

By Myrna Arroyo

Conventional wisdom says buy, but depending on your particular situation, and how long you plan on staying in the house, renting may be the most financially sound option.  Check out this calculator and article from the New York Times.  The calculator takes into account transaction costs, and costs of owning a home, such as repairs and improvements to give a realistic assessment of how the costs of owing a home compares to renting one.

You also should consider that when you rent, there is less of a temptation to spend money decorating and improving your home.  Of course, money isn’t the only consideration, and there are other reasons to buy, such as the pride of ownership, and the comfort of knowing your home is yours (or at least yours and your mortgage lender’s), which the calculator doesn’t factor in. 

Try the calculator out, it adds some logic to a very emotional decision.

Full post as published by Louisiana Estate Planning on November 06, 2008 (boomark / email).