“Don’t be misled by this article on home ownership. The overall article suggests that most Millennials would rather rent than own and that this will cost them over time. The author, Catey Hill, does a good job of being fair where she quotes Daren Blomquist from RealtyTrac saying, “If you don’t plan on staying in the home you are buying for at least five years, it may make sense to rent instead of buying.”
Therein lies the problem. No one starting their career or in transition should be planning on staying in one place. You must be nimble and willing to move—and purchasing a home doesn’t allow you to do that. Also, the author talks about the average price of a home being $190,000, requires 10% down and payments for 30 years. When an opportunity comes along that requires you to move, you will be out your $19k and the ability to move unless the new employer is going to buy the house. And if they were willing to buy the house, they would have been willing to give you a cash moving bonus.
The home investment theory has proven as much of a nightmare as a dream. Read the article and do your own math on the cost of ownership versus just using someone else’s place to live—renting. Be sure you add mowing the lawn, landscaping, paint, new roofs, furnishing, carpets, maintenance, and on and on.” – GC
The $700,000+ mistake nearly 6 in 10 millennials may make by Catey Hill
Most millennials say they’d rather rent than buy a home — a decision that could cost them more than $700,000 over the course of their lives.
Nearly six in 10 millennials (59%) say they’d rather rent a home than buy one, with just one in four saying they are either very or completely likely to purchase a home in the next five years, according to a survey of 1,300 millennials released this week by EliteDaily and Millennial Branding. (This anti-home-buying trend can already be seen: Currently, only about one in four millennials own a home, down from about one in three in the mid-70s and early 80s, according to data from the Demand Institute.) That’s “bad news for the real estate industry,” the report concludes.
Read the full article here: Market Watch