Having been burned badly in the real estate meltdown, there is a lot more freedom in renting than buying. I'm just now getting slightly inclined to consider buying again, but it would have to be a whopping deal. I've enjoyed renting since at least 2010. I especially like the ability to call the landlord and tell them that the sink is leaking and they need to get it fixed. Or the water heater stopped working, come out and fix it... Nothing out of pocket for me.

When it comes to making a trade off for convenience vs. cost, I usually choose cost within reason and I also got burned by the real estate meltdown. I was in no hurry to buy.

But the rent where we were staying went from $1300 to $1800 within 3 years for a 3 bedroom, 1650 square foot apartment. We were able to buy a house, a brand new build 3000 square feet 5 bed/3.5 bath for $2000/month with only 3.5% down in a neighborhood zoned to top rated schools.

As far as convenience, we pay a lawn service $140/month to cut our grass and now that the home warranty is up (paid for by the builder), we pay about $700/year for a "home warranty" when anything breaks you just call them and pay a deductible. Is The warranty a good deal financially? Probably not, but it is convenient.

That is awesome and you are able to buy a house like that, especially a brand new build (to your liking). However, I want to mention it seems you are in the right place at the right time. Your case is an outlier in my opinion and I'm happy you are taking advantage of it. Especially considering that it is in a great school zone. I just felt that this isn't normal, even for the Midwest (which is where i can only imagine you are).

That is a neat 'home warranty' thing you have though. I've never seen that before. Whenever I own a home, that sounds enticing to have.

As far as being an outlier, it's not that our case is just an outlier, so is our house. We had to move further out into the suburbs to get that price. It's not a bad commute.

I'm not endorsing this particular provider. It's just the first one that comes up when you Google "Home Warranty"

https://www.ahs.com/home-warranty/

Average price is around $850.

https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/inspectors-and-appraisers/p...

When I was a landlord and owned three rental properties they were worth every penny.

Let me emphasize that buying one is statistically not a good deal and it usually makes more sense just to "self insure" and save for repairs. But it is more of a convenience thing.

$2000 mortgage $140 lawn care $58 warranty

Instead of paying the $1,800/month, you are now paying $2,200/month.

Yes, but the rent will keep rising with market prices and we were living in the most sought after part of town -- the most affluent city in the state. The mortgage will never increase and is excellent inflation hedge. The property taxes may increase slowly but after 5-7 years, we can get rid of the approximate $300 a month in PMI.

We also have 1300 more square feet, a separate house with a yard instead of an apartment, 2 more bedrooms, 1-1/2 more baths, a separate office and we don't pay the mandatory $100 a month for crappy cable and capped internet from Comcast -- as part of the lease, you had to pay for cable. We pay $70 a month for gigabit internet from AT&T.

Heck I save $80/month by getting rid of my gym membership and converting one of the spare bedrooms to a gym.

> there is a lot more freedom in renting than buying

There are varying definitions of "freedom" to consider.

Sure, there is the freedom of being able to walk away after 12 months to someplace else.

But there is also the freedom of being able to plant a garden, or paint your room, or install shelving, or excavate a root cellar, or install a new doorknob, etc, without having to get express written permission from your landlord (which will almost always be no).

That is almost the entire reason that I like owning. The kitchen looks like I want it to look, the walls are the color I want them to be, the doorbell is wifi, I have a Nest thermostat, and if I don't like that there's a peach tree in the front yard I have it removed (true story!).

I get to live closely with a bunch of cool people and not isolated in some house in a suburb. I think renting has a nice social benefit.

Plus, the mobility aspect to just pick up and leave gives me a ton of reassurance.

There is also the bonus that someone else has to fix the appliances and do maintanance than me.

I think your point often gets missed in these conversations about rent vs buy.

You have two choices that masquerade as purely economic ones while ignoring the enormous lifestyle differences.

I rent a tiny room in the heart of NYC for the cost of probably a monthly mortgage payment on a nice house in upstate NY. For me there is really no alternative because my entire life revolves around my immediate walkable neighborhood.

The economics of rent vs buy matter but lifestyle and future expectations are too often downplayed in comparison.

That's exactly why, as a family man, I hate renting. You end up changing neighborhoods every few years, and none of your friends are permanent.

That is true, but that is covered in the very last sentence. Renting is significantly less volatile, assuming the contract is reasonable for both sides. Buying a house is a risk/reward analysis of the value compared to the price difference, positive or negative, to renting.

That is not to say this is the only thing to consider. Often people know where they want to live and what size of property/house they need, and for many people that is only achievable by buying.

There is mobility.

Also, rents go up all the time, especially while moving into a new flat.

If you rent a flat for 20-40 years, the rent won't change as much as when you move around every few years.

So you might end up with super low rent compared to the rest of the city after 10 years or so.

Rent control is only a thing in a few areas of the country. In most of the country, rent can increase at the end of a lease as much as the market will handle.

Ah okay. I'm from Germany, where we have rent control everywhere.

But I also know a guy from NY who rented a flat for a few hundred bucks decades ago and now subrents it to other people for thousands.

What he is doing is probably illegal then (if he’s rent controlled). You can’t profit like that.

Gotta say I always found this incredible. Rent control is so stupid that even it has to put rules on not being used.

Who is being harmed by a rent-controllee sub-leasing? Literally no one. Because the harm to the owner is already made in the form of rent control.

> Who is being harmed by a rent-controllee sub-leasing? Literally no one.

The owner is harmed, because otherwise they could have gotten a new tenant and raised the rent back up to market rate.

Only if the tenant leaved. If leaving loses the rent-control, the tenant will stay. The price is well below market rate, then they wouldnt even get roomates, harming the entire rental market on both ends: by removing profits from the owner and decreasing supply.

If rent-control didn't have the restriction, then it wouldnt make a dent into rent prices, but it would clearly show that it is a mere transfer from the owner to the rent-controllee.

If its NYC it is indeed illegal and without a doubt unethical. You are only allowed to pass rent-controlled apartments to family members and those family members must liver there two years prior to transitioning the lease to them.

Except, say, you want to stay in NYC. Rent are ridiculous and continue not only to be ridiculous but become more and more ridiculous and unless you just happened to be in a rent controlled apartment, you are at a mercy of your landlord.

You may as well do 7/1 ARM or 7 year IOM and treat it as rent.