10 Advantages to Renting Over Buying

i own a home but with insurance rates hitting the sky and the whole fix this fix that, really preferring rent now! a job loss a few months back made it even harder to stay in the home, so rent, by far great way to go for us only making about $9.00/HR and Temp to Temp jobs

Renting has its ups and downs. I agree about not having to fix anything and thats good, but i only stay for the gym and pool, other then that I would leave in a heart beat because my apartment excepts dogs and all they do is bark, pee and poop everywhere. Neve peace and quite. Dogs belong in a house not apartment complex. I will move out of my apartment after my lease ends and look for a condo with all concrete and the same amenities.

I love, love , love renting. I have a great condo w/ an excellent view, gym, washer and dyer in the unit, concrete walls (so no noise from neighbors, secured indoor parking close to everything. I could never afford to buy the place but I'm there just the same!!!!

We are renting a house in a great area. The landlady is a lecher and hits on my man every month when she comes to collect the rent. We have to pay cash for the rent and she has 6 names on the mailbox. We don't have a mailbox, I rent a po box. But I love this area and hope to find another house to rent with option to buy so we can move in the spring. Option to buy is a great thing because we want to see what happens with the economy before we commit.

We rent a wonderful apartment in San Francisco: all wood floors, no restrictions/deposits on pets (we have 3 cats), a W/D hook-up-we have our own industrial size W/D, with a set of them in the complex too (I use that to wash cat beds and cat rugs) and secure underground parking. We have no maintenance issues. We don't have any amenities, but the rent reflects that compared to the ones with amenities in our neighborhood. No smoking is allowed, and no dogs. It's a great value for money in a super expensive city like SF.

I used to own my own condo in UK, but had major financial struggles when USD collapsed against the GBP. I don't want to deal with that stress anymore.

I think renting is good for childfree singles and couples. If nothing else, it saves the hassle of making a will and wondering who to leave your property to once you are gone.

In reply to V's post about mine: "Apparently for someone it's totally OK to put things they don't want in their own washer into communal one which is used by other people."

I use the complex's coin-operated W/D for our cat stuff about 4 times a year not because the rugs and beds are gross, but if the cat hair clogs something up by chance, then the management will fix it. I'll have to pay out of my pocket to get ours fixed. That's the reason we bought our own anyways, so we won't have to wash our clothes communally.

If you have never owned, than you dont know what your missing. In my early 20's the thought of owning a home seemed like too much work. And living in SOCal never seemed possible.

Fast foward, my husband and I have owned for 9 years now. Purchased a great house that needed some love (and we had plenty to give) got a corner lot, backing a street w. no homes, so we are literally alone. Well as alone as you can be in the city - I can sunbath naked, blast our music and let my dog bark.

YES, it is alot of work, front and backyard, pool maintenance, etc, etc, but its ours and it keeps us from getting lazy. We dont have a gardner or pool guy, or a housekeeper. None of those people would do as good of a job as we do.

There will come a time we may want to downsize after kids are out, and that would be the time to sell it, rent a lil something closer to the beach and travel...

I've lived in many apartments and have enjoyed it. I was always been able to paint or decorate (not remodel though) as long as I repainted before moving out. You would have to do that anyway when selling a house unless you use all neutral colors in your home. I've also had only small (like $5-$20) increases in rent each year. Almost all have included heat and hot water as well so I don't think it's that uncommon to find places that offer that.

My husband and I just moved to a great new complex and have decided to stay for a few years rather than just one or so until we have everything together to buy. We've got 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, washer and dryer, a study, a nice deck...the complex has a fitness center and a pool. Any repairs we've neded so far have been done with 24 hours. It's been great. We wouldn't be able to afford a house that has what we currently have in our apartment and complex so for us it's better to rent. Plus, with a baby on the way, not having to do yard work like mowing, weeding or shoveling is great. We seldom hear the neighbors so that's not an issue either. I hear the neighbors next to my parents house when I visit more than I've heard our apartment neighbors and we've got people below us and next door. I guess I've been pretty luck with renting.

If and when we do buy, I think we'll miss some of the freedoms and amenities we have now by renting. It's all a matter of preference so I don't think one is necessarily better than the other.

my hubby and i rent a trailer in a trailer park for 500.00 a month....that includes trash and water....we have to do our own yard work....and we are covered in ants....landlord says she cant do anything about the ants and hands us a can of ant spray....we cant even leave a cup on our computer table without ants covering it.....we are currently packing to move to the next town over....rent is 200.00 cheaper a month....water and trash included.....no lawn work....its an apartment...2 bdrooms....small but affordable.....

when you own, you pay for security, when you rent you pay for freedom. it is a personal choice and there is no wrong or right. we prefer renting.

I am 43 years old and never once had the desire to own a home. I love renting for all of the writer's reasons. I live in a beautiful house in a gated community-all with NO headaches. When the ac got zapped by lightning, one phone call and 2 hours later a new one. Every single week the lush and tropical landscaping is meticulously maintained. I never lift a finger and get to enjoy life.

As someone who has rented for 16 years, and who is currently listening to their neighbors music rattling the walls, I can tell you I'm over it. Renting sucks. Our landlord doesn't care who lives here. We've got neighbors dogs who pee on our plants, kids who torment animals, smokers who prevent us from opening our windows on those hot days. We are in the process of buying a house, and I can't wait to not have to deal with all this crap anymore.

For me, a single woman making in the 30k range, renting makes more sense. The only homes I would be able to afford would probably need some TLC and I do not have the know-how to do any major home repairs, much less the money to pay someone to do them. I am able to live in a nicer place and have more flexibility as a renter. I'd be house-poor and if a furnace blew up or a basement flooded, I'd be in big trouble. My tax bracket is not so heavily taxed that I need the write-off to relieve a tax burden, either.

The home owner's house is the new car. Today you will have to wait ten years to get the value back on your house. When you ad it all up. Thirty years later, you have replaced everything in or on the house twice. The cost of maintenance on a quarter of acre of land can be $ 800 dollars a year. Equity is a joke. You eventually use it to fix up a house that you are to old to live in. You go back to the bank and ask for money against a depreciating house that you think you own but after 25 years of payment they can still take it and you won't get one dollar back for your so called investment. Yes homes were cheap for sometime but maintenance, utilities, and taxes shoot up. Where you think you are saving on mortgage, you still suffer the nickel and diming. Tax breaks aren't as great as people make them out to be.

Renting is a good thing but nowadays these apartment complexes have so much red tape for you to move in. You have to have almost perfect credit, you have to make so much money a month. It's not as easy as it used to be renting from an apartment. That's just my experience though.

I own a home. I just broke off my relationship and walked away from my home. I choose to rent! I'm sick of shoveling snow, sick of cutting the grass, sick of picking up my neighbor's dog poop, sick of worrying about maintenance, sick of appliances dying, I want simplicity! I'll gladly take an apartment with plain white walls cause I can accent it with any color accessories I want! NO MORE worrying about the taxes or the insurance being due, no more "trying to keep up with the Jones" with my lawn and flowers, I AM DONE WITH IT! Its time for me to relax and enjoy ME time!

At this time we own a beautiful house in a neighborhood that unfortunately the schools are going down. So, for the sake of our kids education we rented an apartment in a very good area. We stay in this apartment on school days and we go in our house on the weekends, 25 min drive. Although the apartment is very nice ( my kids call it 4 starts hotel) we can't wait to go home...nothing compares to have your own house!!!!

I would never want to rent. I love the ability to do what I want with my home--decorate, paint, remodel, landscape--without having to ask someone's permission first. I also like the privacy, i.e., not having to put up with noise all around me 24/7 on the other side of the wall or ceiling, and I can also own pets. Renting may be less expensive, but it is far too restricting for my personal taste.

renting is great as long as you are thinking about retirement too. Without a home to sell you may not have the money needed for a deposit at a nursing home in later years. Its very wise to have extra extra extra savings for this eventuality.

well with my bad credit i have trouble finding a rental..and i will never have a house...renting is bad...its so hard to find a place that has everything you need..the place im in now..i cant even fit a bed up the staircase..so i had to buy a futon and assemble it in the living room..bc wouldnt fit up the stairs...also no washer dryer connections..and my kitchen isnt functional...unless i have a fan on ...bc the gas stove sets off the smoke alarm!! gimme a house anyday!!!!