Mortgage and Real Estate Blog

(Source) Purchasing Dallas real estate is the best move you can make financially because if you are leasing a home or a condo then your monthly lease payments are going directly to the landlord’s pocket with no return for you in it.

Standard real estate advice says to buy, don’t rent. But that isn’t practical advice for everyone. Some people are better off renting.

When you buy a house you have to have enough money for a down payment. If you can’t make a down payment then chances are you will not be able to buy the house. Your mortgage rate may actually go up, which means your monthly living expenses will be higher. And taxes, don’t forget about the taxes. Real estate taxes are not a fixed amount; they can, and often do, go up from one year to the next and rarely go down. So home buyers have to factor that into the equation when buying a home. Don’t just figure it for today - what about five years from now? Will you be able to afford it then?

There are costs to owning a home. You can’t forget about those. When you rent, your expenses are much more calculable and predictable. And for most people, who make a fixed amount of income every month, if you can’t afford the down payment and the taxes then renting may be the best option.

Buying isn’t for everyone. Nor is renting. You have to do the math and see which works better for you.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 9:22 am and is filed under Real Estate Tips, buying a home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.