One of the biggest myths about renting a home is that it’s cheaper to rent than to buy. You can check out the reasons why that’s a myth in this article, but the short of it is that even when you rent, you’re still paying a mortgage. The difference, of course, is that you’re paying your landlord’s mortgage and not your own.
The plain truth of it is that while renting can be a good short-term solution for a lot of people if you want to reach a point in your life in which you have financial stability, owning your own home is a must.
That isn’t to say that all homeowners will strike it rich by owning a home, but at least you will build equity in something that’s yours versus building equity for someone else when you rent. Think about it like this…
When you own a home, your mortgage payment is basically a big deposit into a savings account. With each payment you make, you’re investing in your future because your home will appreciate in value over time. Just like the interest on a checking or savings account compounds over time, so too will the value of your home.
For example, if you buy a home today for $150,000 with no down payment, your monthly mortgage payment would be about $1,036.25 at a fixed rate of 3.9% (which is the current average rate as of this writing). That means you’re putting more than $1,000 a month toward your nest egg. So, in ten years, assuming all payments are made on time, you’d owe around $117,000, but your property would most assuredly be worth more than what you paid. That means there’s a good likelihood that you’d have at least $33,000 in equity in your home, and possibly a good deal more.
And the best part? At some point, you might have enough equity in your home to use it to make upgrades, expand your home, or other value-added projects that will benefit your bottom line even further. You can even tap into your equity to pay off or consolidate other debts.
In other words, when you buy a home, you’re doing something for your future. When you rent a home, you’re doing something for someone else’s future.
And since interest rates continue to hover at near historic lows, it’s a great time to buy, especially if you’re a first-time homebuyer as there are many financing options, some of which require no money down.
To get started looking for your own home, check out our listings, including our well-priced #PerfectStorm homes, and call us at 307-856-3999 to set up some private showings of the properties you like.