|
I look at two main financial incentives for owning. First, you lock in what you are paying each month for living expenses not including food and the like. Living in an area with rapidly increasing rents like San Diego that has meant that I can still afford to live here. My mortgage and condo homeowners fees currently run me about $750 a month on a one bedroom. If I was still renting, it would cost me at least $1100 or $1200 a month for the same place now, so I am saving about $500 a month.
Second, it is very helpful in retirement to not have the expense of rent or mortgage payments by having it paid off so you can afford to live on less income. If you look at alternative investment returns, you would have to make enough of a return on your investments to cover rent in order for not buying to be worthwhile- and that would require a nice return indeed.
People look at the appreciation of property values as an investment- but that appreciation is rarely realized. The only time you actually capture that is when you cease to be a homeowner. If the price of your home has gone up, then so has the amount you will have to pay if you move to a new home. The only time you can truely benefit is if you move from an area that has had rapid price appreciation to one with low appreciation.
If it is within your reasonable financial reach, I think it is a good thing to buy a home. Make sure you get a fixed rate for your loan if you do- rates are at an historically low mark and will most likely increase during the life of your loan which will increase your payment.
__________________
I add new pictures to my photo gallery pretty regularly. You can see them here if you are interested: http://www.pbase.com/jeffryz 
|