I grew up in circles wholly comprising people who thought buying a home was always smarter than renting. No one even questioned the choice. It was probably one of the Ten Commandments written in stone, if not wholly self-evident. I joined these ranks, also never thinking to run the numbers. I mean, it’s only hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) right?
Hey, weight a minute!
And then I discovered FIRE. After reading excellent blog posts on Afford Anything and Millennial Revolution, and consulting an exceptionally helpful New York Times tool, I discovered that I’d been at least partially hoodwinked. And oh, was I upset. How could I have been so ignorant (if not outright stupid) to not have done the math on such a big purchase and at least weighed the choice of renting vs. buying based on factors that included actual and opportunity costs?
I resolved then and there that our future homes would likely be rented instead of bought. I’ve since qualified that to some extent. Specifically, once Thing 1, the Elder and Thing 2, The Younger are no longer freeloaders move out of the house, if we find a low-priced place that we can buy outright for cash, we might do it if the numbers make sense. We’re also newly inclined to rent other things over buying them. It’s a new and refreshing change in mindset. And it’s one that’ll save and/or allow us to earn us a lot of dough to boot.
While renting a home is often smart, it’s better when you have a good landlord.
