yeah but that's canadienne... once you do the metric conversion, renting is very much throwing away money.

Written to pacify losers.

You're not throwing away money because you don't want the house you are renting.

It just get no more logical than that.

It's best just to stay living at home with your parents, shuffle 'em off to a home when they get to bothersome to deal with, and inherit the place when they croak.
Voila! No Mortgage!

Written to pacify losers.

I suppose, but that assumes that your property appreciates in value, making one a winner (I'm sure there were a lot of people in Flint were banking on this).

You're not throwing away money because you don't want the house you are renting.
It just get no more logical than that.

Yes, if you plan to die in your house, or belong to the small percentage have the means to pay off their mortgage quickly. How many people do you know have paid for and live in their dream house (excluding the ridiculol rural $5 house percentile).

Flint?
Nice example of a city going financially tits up,to argue the horrors of mortgages, but hardly the state of the whole world, or even the whole of North America.
A more recent example might be New Orleans for mortgages going down the drain...but then, even rental properties there got a might waterlogged.

Then again, as I understand it, mortgages are kinda locked in , till it's fini, where as rents ( at least in this province ) can be raised as much as twice year.

Defend renting all you want. If you're not bulding equity, you're throwing away your money.

^ bingo.

you have to buy, just buy smart

you have to buy, just buy smart

Nice example of a city going financially tits up,to argue the horrors of mortgages, but hardly the state of the whole world, or even the whole of North America.

Either you're not Americans or you don't pay attention to the market. Rates are high and the real estate market is stagnant. I know a company that, for three months now, has done about half as many loans per month as they do on average, let alone how many they did about three years ago when rates took a nose dive.

Real estate is a very safe bet, in that over years, you will likely make gains (or, at least, likely not lose). However part of that involves paying off your mortgage or flipping the house. He's right in the article when he says that it's a liability until it's paid off -- it costs you money to own and makes you no revenue.

not American,

but there is an old saying which is applicable

' buy land, they ain't making it anymore'

In Massachusetts, it currently costs more (long term) to buy than to rent due to the astronomical cost of housing in this state.

I currently rent a three bedroom house for about $1000 a month. The mortgage on this same house if I were buying it would be in the neighborhood of $1300-1400.

The only upside to buying here would be the tax credit. But is bankrupting yourself in order to get a tax credit worth it? No, THAT is throwing money away.

The bottom line is that the buy/rent question is subjective to each location/situation.

Plus there is the whole aspect of upkeep on the property. If you are the owner of the house, you also own any and all problems that the house may have (yes even new constructions). As a renter, if I have a leaky faucet, it's the landlords problem, not mine.

You're right wrecker, renting saves you money, plus there is no burden of having to learn handy plumbing/electrical/construction skills.

Well done.

Even in Mass.

Defend renting all you want. If you're not bulding equity, you're throwing away your money.

When you're deciding between spending $1000 a month on rent, or $1300 on a mortgage, the mortgage is still the better option: You'd be 'saving' $300 a month by lowering your cash output. Even if you kept that extra $300 in stocks with strong growth it would never reach the fact that when you sell that house (and the mortgage that goes along with it) you're going to get (close to or more) of that $1300 a month back to put into another mortgage for a better house.

Building equity is investing in yourself for you to grow financially. Renting is investing in the equity of somebody smarter than you.