Buying vs Renting a home!

Yes, the first person did list a lot of pros and cons. But you do have a good pro for buying a house. Never thought about the fact that if the economy turns around, the value of a home is likely to go up and could make a profit off of it. Thanks so much for your input.

Coffeebreak, thanks for the detailed input on how property values work. This was very insightful and will definitly keep this in mind when making our decision.

Property values is part of the cause of the recession. First it was the inappropriate loans made, but then when things crashed with the foreclosures...that made property values decline very badly..so you couldn't refinance cause the value of the property is not what you initially had thereby you owe more than it was worth. If your property value was $800,000 and your mortgage was for $700,000 you were okay, but then PV's declined drastically once foreclosures and repos started hitting the areas and that made the value of the house now only $400,000.. yet you owe $more than that.. so you couldn't refi and therefore, foreclosed. When an appraisal and property values are determined, they scan the area for its ammenities. What the property is close to for the good and for the bad. If your property is surrounded by other foreclosures and repos etc...that drives value down. However if you buy now while property values are low...they will come up...maybe not to this hiatis they were at in the 90's but lot higher than they are now and you will make equity/property value. THings start looking better in the area and values will start going up. Buy one now for $200,000 and PV's go up and even just at $300,000 - you'll have $100k in equity and that is great "value" for your property. Then sell and you've already made $1k in profit!

Renting: Pros: 1. You can choose the size and location of your apartment. 2. You can move out easily and choose another place to stay if you finished the contract/lease agreement. Cons. Sometimes the leaser raises the rental without notice. or they will even asked you to moved out with a shorter advisory. If you love to plant there is no place to plant or to have a garden. Though I list many cons on both choices I would love to have a house of my own. It gives you pleasure to know that despite the crisis , the joblessness, and poverty still you own something and that something will be the place where you will raise your kids. A place where you will build your dreams and make that dreams come true. So good luck. Either you buy or rent, I hope you will be happy and satisfied with your decision.

Thank you so much for your very thought out list. You have listed some very good points. Especially for the cons with buying a house. Luckily some of those are ones that aren't too bad for me to live with. Like having to pay taxes and insurance. With us being first time home buyers (I know I forgot to mention that in my original post, LOL!) the taxes and insurance will be included in our mortgage payment. Also, if we start looking we plan on taking in the house size, lot size, and neighborhood into big consideration. Someone said to go to the neighbors houses before you buy and ask them what they think of the neighborhood. Which I think is a very good idea.

Well I have never rented a house, so I have never had to experience those situations. But we live in an apartment where they are really good at fixing things right away and the rent seems to stay the same. But those are very good points to keep in mind with renting a house from a private landlord. I am starting to think we are better off buying a house. Thanks so much for sharing!

Actually I do have kids which was stated in my original post. But I thank you for your feed back and the good points you have on buying a house. Still not sure if we will buy or rent, but I can't wait until the day that I do finally buy my first house and call it home.