- The choice between buying a home and renting one is among the biggest financial decisions that many adults make. But the costs of buying are more varied and complicated than for renting, making it hard to tell which is a better deal. To help you answer this question, our calculator takes the most important costs associated with buying a house and computes the equivalent monthly rent
According to this I was right to buy as I couldn't have rented a home like the one I own for the amount they put forth.
Fun exercise.
Indeed, I just wish I could give it to more people I know. In Vancouver among my extended acquaintances there seems to be this weird aversion to mortgages and buying a condo/house. I mean, we have a really expensive housing market here, for sure, but I think it mostly stems from an bit of short sightedness which may extend into the rest of their lives. Perhaps it's also an effect of the large amount of contract work that's done; it's hard to make a multi-decade commitment when your jobs exist in stretches of less than a year.
If you're ever in a position to buy a house, there's something you need to keep in mind also that can't be captured in a calculation: A house isn't just a money sink; it's your home. It's difficult for a rental to ever be a home in the same way a place you own is. Making money is cool and all, but don't view your house as an investment in the same way you would stocks and bonds. It's where you live, and there's an intangible value in owning your own little piece of the universe.
A loan is a covenant between private parties. It's co-ownership in which one party has a lot more power, to be sure. But you have the deed. You have the right to dispose of he property in whichever way you prefer. Keep up your end of the bargain, and no one can take that away from you. It's not similar to renting in any way except that you typically have to meet a monthly obligation.
Sorry I wasn't clear.
Say I, for whatever reason have like $100,000, cash. I purchase a piece of land worth $100,000. This property uses no municipal utilities, and all I do is live on it. I still have to pay taxes, just for living on a piece of property, and if I DON'T pay them, I get put in a cage. No matter where you go, you don't actually own your property.
That much is true. However, often what you pay in property taxes will be less than appreciation. Buying property gives you a lot of rights in relation to that property, far more than renting, but in the end, all land is government land.
Along that line, more fragile than property rights are your rights to exist unmolested. We would like to think that they are inherent, but in reality, they are granted by a social contract expressed in law and upheld by the judiciary. In many places you can be put in a cage for any number of reasons, with little or no recourse.
It's worth considering that the laws, and the governmental structure that gives body to them, subsists on taxes. To some extent, property that is free from taxation, is also free from the social contract that recognizes a form of ownership.