For example, we are looking at building a retaining wall because of serious erosion issues (thank you Tally rain), and patching a roof (hopefully not replacing it!) It certainly won’t mean anything to future buyers because we HAVE to have a roof, or the place will flood, and we HAVE to deal with the erosion, or the home will wash away. It doesn’t appear in this market that we could up our selling price to reflect what we have paid into maintaining our home. I think people ignore that much of the time.

Anyway…

The arguments against buying have to take place at a small enough scale that there’s a difference between renting and buying (or other alternatives such as homelessness, for that matter), but the article ignores the financial impact of renting at that small a scale.

Understandably, this is a blog focusing on Florida real estate, where the subtler points have been painted over in giant red strokes with the notice: “All bets are off!” All bets are off indeed. Florida real estate investment advice on the rent vs. own debate could perhaps be more directly summarized with “Get out while you still can!”

Except for the microcosm here and there where real estate speculation went all the way past reckless on into ridiculous, real estate may have fallen and may settle further as shadow inventory continues to weigh on the market, but historical trends seem to suggest that a bubble has recently popped.

Building equity slowly is not the same as donating monthly to the local starving landlord foundation.

Quality of life is indeed central to the housing equation. But housing choices also have a financial component. Investing in a rental home is limited to luxuries, whereas investments in a primary residence, made prudently, can generally be recouped if the home is sold later. The person in the home can make upgrades without wasting valuable funds.

And then there’s the Homebuyer Tax Credit, weighing in at $8,000, several months worth of rent. FHA loans are still available to those with as little as 3.5% down payment and lower credit scores.

Rental costs do indeed include a markup to cover maintenance costs. Somehow, this is portrayed as an argument *in favor* of renting. Landlords collect those costs each month, whether money is spent on maintenance or simply pocketed.

Buying a house means committing to making payments no matter what financial chaos comes up. But how is that helped by renting? Are loan modifications going to help renters? A homeowner has to keep up payments during financial hardship… but rent is no more gratis during those same hardships.

For those who travel frequently, a small home with more scaled-back amenities can be purchased as readily as it may be rented.

The underlying problem with most of the arguments against homeownership is the tendency to point out liabilities and disadvantages, without considering whether those same factors exist for renting in a transmuted form. Touting renting as a solution rarely addresses any of these downsides, and the costs can be far greater.

One would think the educated minds in the financial world would be able to see that from the outset.

It’s not so much now is or is not the time to buy, the real estate issue that I hope I’m expressing is that individual situations mean more than does the market.