As I pointed out in Monday's post, there is a lot to owning a house. There is and always will be a huge debate over renting versus buying. I’m a huge believer, as previously stated, in getting into real estate. However, I’ve coached many people to rent longer, for either financial or lifestyle reasons. Will these clients rent forever? No, some have already reached the point of buying a house. One client waited a decade before deciding where they wanted to live and raise a family. Did they just throw their money away, as some might believe? No, renting was the smartest thing they ever did, and they have thanked me many times over as I helped them see the real value and cost of renting in their unique situation, and in the end, probably saved them thousands of dollars in bad decision costs.
Terri and I were pushed into buying a house before we were financially ready. We lived with way too much stress from house buying earlier in our marriage and family life. If I were to do it all over again, I would probably coach myself to take a slightly different path. Did it all work out? Yes. It did, and are we better today because of it? Probably, but it came at a cost, a very expensive cost beyond what you can see in a math equation. I think some of that pain could have been saved if we had had a mentor or a financial coach that would have helped us better see what we didn’t know at the time.
Renting versus buying is a classic consulting situation. The answer should always be "it depends." I do see a very long list of positive reasons to buy a house, but I can also find many family situations where renting makes perfect sense.
If you were drawn to this blog for an answer to the question of whether to rent or buy, I’m sorry that there is no absolute answer that I can provide, as I need to know your situation better to give you an honest answer. I openly welcome you to reach out to us and let’s have a discussion. I have no vested interest in selling you any piece of real estate or locking you into a rental agreement. I’m purely here to listen to your needs and wants and help coach you to the best rental or purchase strategy for your family, as I wish I had done some two decades ago.