I have been preaching this for years but it’s always good to mention it again because repetition is the key to learning and remembering, if I remember correctly… 🙂 Anyway, there are many reasons to love owning a home but the Realty Times just put out a list of 5 that are very important.
Number one, of course, being equity. Every time you pay rent, you are making someone else’s mortgage payment. So you don’t build any equity for yourself- you are building equity for someone else. Like myself. I count on renters to pay my mortgages so if you pay rent to me, you not only pay for repairs and such to the home, you make me more money every month. So, coming from a landlord and a property manager, you should stop doing that. Just stop. I know folks who have been renting for years and when I add up what they have paid in rent over the last 15 years or so, it kind of makes me sick. 15 years of equity building down the drain. Yes, you have to fix your own problems- there’s no landlord to call. But if you have an IRA you don’t just make one deposit into it- you have to keep making deposits to build real wealth. So think of repairs as a deposit into your retirement account.
Course, you can always just continue to rent one of my homes and help me pay it off. And when it’s paid for, I will own it, not you. Sorry…
With interest rates as low as they are (Reason # 5) you could possibly own your home and your mortgage payment could be less than the rent you are paying now. What are you waiting for?
And then call me, of course. 🙂
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