Is renting really a waste of money?

Nowadays, where I live, many employers will hire contract labor, or employees on contract and will 'downsize' with no hesitation. The days of full permanent stable employment seems to have disappeared.
Now, if you find yourself out of a job (I've moved jobs numerous times) and you own a home, then by and large you are limited to finding employment in your area or close to easy commute routes.
If you rent, no probs, find a job anywhere, then shift, without the huge costs of selling then re-buying.
Also, if renting, after a few years you are fed up in your house, move to another, not a lot of drama.
Major disadvantage of renting I have found is needing to be accountable to the RE Agents conditions, but then nothing is perfect anyway even if you own.
Owning a home, often there is a temptation to spend money on the house doing renovations, houses are like boats, bottomless holes where you pour your money into, renting does away with this temptation.
Renting & trading compliment each other, just live in the house and throw your energy into trading, not fixing and renovating.
 
I don't have an opinion one way or the other, but I recall coming across this book in a local bookstore recently:

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I haven't read it, though. So if anyone is interested in comparing ownership with renting, perhaps this book may, or may not, provide some insight.
 
The governors and legislatures in the most impoverished areas of the country tend to be products of the schools in those areas, and make decisions accordingly. They tend to be stalwart Republicans who can be counted on to make sure the flag is respected and there are good highways, low taxes, and prisons and DHS food stamp offices filled to the brim . There are many churches. .

In most cases where property taxes have risen steeply it is because real estate values have risen steeply, and not because millage has increased much. Your 120K house you bought and paid 1200$ in property tax on is now worth 520K and your taxes have risen accordingly to 5200$. A problem arises when salaries and wages do not rise at the same rate as property values!
 
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Never owned a home until I was 45. Jobs and personal interests had me traveling so the ability to get up and go hassle free was great. Got married, wife wanted a house and the rest is history. Not all bad owning, but I can't see why a single person would want to own, especially in this day and age where mobility is so important.
 
There's also the matter of increasingly extreme weather patterns (due to the "nonexistent" climate change) that are making renting, especially in higher risk areas, increasingly attractive.
 
MarkBrown said:
renting is the smartest thing ever.

  1. outdated or run down move
  2. bad neighborhood move
  3. loud noises move
  4. ethnic cooking smells move
  5. wild loud parties move
  6. loud cars move
  7. you get the idea
also even for the californicators here who think their real estate don't stink.

  1. no one wants to add up the taxes they pay
  2. the maintenance and up keep they pay
  3. painting, carpet, fixtures, granite,
  4. yard work taking your time or money
  5. insurance on the structure
  6. it's a friggin money pit and no gains can overcome the reality
More...
1. Moving cost money
2. Stuff broken while moving
3. Stuff stolen by movers
4. New pad decor
5. New pad new furniture
6. New loud neighbors
7. New ethnic food smells etc
8. you get the idea ...

Bought miami beach ocean front condo back in 1999 pre construction, sold 6 years later for 300% profit. Accepted an overseas position for 5 years, returned and bought a house in south florida and doubled my money. Owning property is a biatch, yeah right.
 
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lylec305 said:
I bought miami beach ocean front condo back in 1999 sold 6 years later for 300% profit.
More...

so why didn't you do it 3 more times in the last 18 years? you would have made 1200% profit right, but you didn't cause just like winners of the lottery you were lucky.
 
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