by Sara Williams

Created on: April 28, 2009

Which is better... renting or owning? Many will tell you that owning a home is better than renting an apartment, and there are indeed benefits to ownership. One benefit of home ownership is that the property is yours and yours alone. Another benefit is that as a mortgage is paid down, the home will accumulate equity. However, home ownership is not for everyone.

Many responsibilities are involved in home ownership. Lawn care is an obvious one; consider whether it is worth it to have a lawn to mow, or at the very least, whether it would be worth it to have an extra bill for someone else to come and mow the lawn. The house itself will need maintenance. Roofs must be replaced every so often, the cost of which is around $5,000. Driveways need to be resealed, too. Constantly, there are things getting old and needing replacing. Inside the house, rains can bring basement flooding, plumbing may need to be fixed, and furnaces must also be replaced after awhile.

Life in an apartment means that the landlord is responsible, not the tenant. When the sink gets clogged, call the landlord, not the plumber. If the grass grows too tall, the landlord takes care of it, either personally or by hiring a company. Anything that goes wrong, unless the tenant did the damage themselves (with the exception of normal wear and tear), is managed by somebody else. The only thing a tenant is responsible for are their own belongings. These can be insured, by the way, much more cheaply than insuring a whole house and the personal property contained.

Money is another big issue. Is that equity worth it? Many people use equity, it seems like, to pay for upgrades or fixes to their homes. For a tenant who wants a newer kitchen, however, they might only move to another apartment built more recently. Now go onto any home search website and look at the calculations for monthly mortgage payments. They look so tempting, but they leave out much of the story. Not everyone gets the low rates used to calculate those payments, and if you do, it might be an "exploding" adjustable rate mortgage that will become prohibitively expensive after a few months at the initial teaser rate, meaning that you will risk being put out on the street! Furthermore, there are many taxes and fees that must be paid. Certain states and cities have much higher taxes on property than others, so be careful. New York is especially notorious for high property taxes.

Renting is much less of a "surprise," especially if heat and water are included in the rent. The only variable will be utilities, which are somewhat predictable. There is no need to worry about taxes and raising mortgage rates.

Lastly, consider this: apartments can be found just about everywhere, especially in bustling downtown areas. For those who want to be near all the entertainment, or be within walking distance of everything, an apartment is the best option. There really is nothing better than waking up and taking a short walk to the coffee shop, and then maybe a walk in the park after work.

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