The decision to whether rent or buy a house is a tricky one. If anything the past decade has taught us is that buying a house is not always a wise decision. With the housing bubble crash in 2008, many people preferred, from then on, to instead rent houses.

The loan payments (principal + interest) on the mortgage are a nuisance given the job market is volatile. With no guaranteed income streams due to big layoffs and gig economy slowly taking over, owning a house has become a risky business. On the other hand, renting a house has its own drawbacks

Let us provide you with a brief comparison on the subject.

Buying

1.     Tax Credit

Upon buying a house, you get tax exemptions in the form of homestead exemption and federal tax deductions. Under homestead exemption, property owners are provided relief from property tax by the state itself. If your income taxes are documented, with FTD, your property tax, and mortgage interest are substantially reduced.

2.     Equity Over Time

With every dollar you repay, you gain ownership of the house. Hence, slowly your equity builds in the house you plan to purchase. With the passage of time, if 20% equity is reached in the mortgaged property, it allows you to negotiate a reduced interest rate or an extended timeframe to pay back your loan amount.

3.     Rental Income Potential

Naturally, if you own a house you always have the chance to rent a portion to some other party while you go live in the designated space of your own. So in the longer run, it’s a great investment move. You will have created for yourself a definite source of income.

You can also lease it to some business so they can operate therein. Make sure to comply with your local rental property laws during this while. Furthermore, you can capitalize on the shared economy by signing up with the likes of Airbnb that will let you rent your property in the short-term for travelers or tourists.

4.     Creative Freedom and Sense of Belonging

By creative freedom, it is implied that it is your house and you design it the way you want it to. On your purchased property, you can add a floor, make another room, create a parking area, build a swimming etc.

The sense of belonging is when you establish your foothold permanently you add to the community there. You etch friendships, people know you, and certain alliances are built such as neighborhood watch, unlike people who are on rent. They could be asked or may be planning to relocate in a year or two.

Renting

1.     No Capital Expenditure

On rent people only spend on revenue expenditures and capital expenditures are left to the owners. If it’s a furnished house and your installed appliance stops working, you don’t have to call in the repairman, just ring up your landlord and he’ll attend to it.

2.     Relocation Freedom

With the purchased property, even if you seek to move out you can’t unless the house is rented out or sold altogether. It could be for a number of reasons such as the neighborhood have become unfit for your children to grow up in.

3.     Fluctuations In Real Estate Market Don’t Matter

Fluctuations in the prices of the housing economy do not impact you. This becomes your landlord’s headache. If the economy is taking a turn for the bad, the resulting value of the house owing to the change is none of your business. You just pay the rent on time.

4.     Less Strict Rules Concerning Credit Requirements

If your credit score is good and you are not knee-deep in loans, you are very likely to find a landlord who’d be willing to rent you his property. As opposed to those who intend to buy, a renter undergoes slim or no credit scrutiny.

Although there is a downside to both buying and renting decisions but we chose to present you with the reasons one likely would want to ponder over before opting to buy or rent. When you do, please also make sure to research the minuses of each prospect. Go in with all factors considered.

About Writer: Scarlett Erin owns an education-based business at www.assignmentstar.co.uk. She has decades of experience in this domain and she closely observes its trends. Blogging gives him the platform to voice her opinions on education-based marketing.