Owning vs. Renting Your Home
If you are currently renting a home or apartment, you may have found advantages to this type of living situation because it offers you flexibility in location – you can easily pick up and move if you experience a career change, get married, or start a family. Renting may give you a chance to improve your credit score, and it frees you from maintenance responsibilities and costs. However, renting a home does not entitle you to ownership, monthly stability payments, tax benefits, or creative license to renovate and design the interior – all benefits afforded to you if you own a home.
A common misconception in the debate of renting versus owning a home is that renting will save you more money than if you were paying a mortgage. In truth, with cities continuing to build, communities expanding, and more jobs made available, there is want of development. As a result, the demand for living space has created a rental shortage, which in turn has generated an annual increase in the cost of renting a home. If you are currently renting your home, you run the risk of your rent outweighing your salary in due time. By choosing to own your home, you give yourself peace of mind in knowing that your mortgage payment will stay the same from day one.
Homeowners are entitled to a group of tax benefits that renters cannot claim. If you own your home, you may be able to deduct the following from your tax obligations:
- Mortgage interest
- Real estate property costs
- Any points you paid on the mortgage
- Costs of insuring the mortgage
Certainly, the best reason for owning a home is that each time you pay the mortgage, you steadily increase your degree of ownership, or equity – the value of a piece of property after any remaining debts on it have been paid. Renting does not give you the luxury of calling your home “yours.” Each month’s rent you pay goes toward your landlord’s mortgage or adds equity to their bank account; you are paying to live in someone else’s space, not your own.
Owning your home allows you to remodel and design the interior with creative direction that is personal. Unlike the restrictions that come with a rent policy, you can paint the walls, lay down new floors, upgrade and replace home appliances, or take your creative focus outside to build a patio, a pool, or plant a garden. In addition, no longer will you have to wait for your landlord to fix your maintenance woes; the care of your home is in your hands and will be addressed according to your schedule.
At the end of the day, owning your home is freedom: Freedom from a landlord; freedom to financial stability; freedom to creative expression through renovation and décor; and freedom to call a space “yours.” Lennar is ready to help you achieve that rewarding feeling. We offer a variety of homesites and floorplans for you to choose from when you decide to invest in a new home that is you by design.
Learn more:
Why buy new: Find out all of the luxuries that come with buying a brand new Lennar home. Modern designs, innovative communities, and so much more.
Financing your new home: Learn how you can finance your new home with help from Eagle Home Mortgage, making it easy for you to find the perfect loan for your new home!
How to save for a down payment: Finding it difficult to save for your new home? Check out these money saving tips to help you save for your down payment on your new home
