Comments on: There’s No Shame in Renting

By: Frugal and happy

Frugal and happy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:32:50 +0000

Great thread. My husband and I sold our home in 2006 and never looked back. We are happy as clams renting! Anyone considering buying should do a search for the excellent, thorough NY Times rent vs. buy calculator. You’ll be surprised at the results. People who think they are going to get returns of more than 4% over the long term are living in a fantasy land. Better to put your money in other investments, and, if you must, invest in something like a Vanguard REIT to have real estate exposure.

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:05:35 +0000

I am so glad that my husband rent, because the economy is so bad in my area. I work two jobs, to pay rent and extras. My rent is $445 a month and this includes gas heat, electric, water, sewage, garbage, the only thing we pay is for phone and internet, we cannot afford tv right now.
We live in a 1 bedroom with a living, bedroom, kitchen and bath. It has a/c and lots of windows to open for ventilation.
We bought a house 6 years ago when my husband used to work. But right when we bought it he had his first heart attack at age 30 and he eventually lost his job and now he can nolonger work and has been denied SS disability for 4 years now. We lost our house.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:50:47 +0000

I just read my post from a year ago this time – I remember how ANGRY people were at us for not buying last year…and re-reading this is interesting in hindsight a year later. BEST thing we ever did. I’m so glad we waited. We do still put that money into an account…

Whew! What a year.

~ Catherine

By: Saturday Round-Up | The Happy Housewife™

Saturday Round-Up | The Happy Housewife™ — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:46:44 +0000

[...] has an interesting post this week titled, No Shame in Renting. As someone who has never owned a home I was happy to find this [...]

By: Chaotic50

Chaotic50 — Sun, 25 May 2008 04:28:02 +0000

We own (have a mortgage) but sometimes we wish we had continued to rent. My husband calls our house the “thorn in his side” (Bible reference) and much like Paul he wishes God would remove it! :) A tree fell on our house 1 1/2 months after we moved in. When we moved in the phone line didn’t work and within 2 weeks the plumbing stopped up. It’s a little ridiculous but when you have 2 kids and are pregnant you start to look for something with more room. Our mortgage is still lower than renting a 3 bedroom apartment. But it’s no fun when you are the “landlord” so you have to take care of everything. I agree with your points, there can be financial advantages to renting. I think most people look at home equity as a *guaranteed savings* – as in you don’t have to send $ anywhere or allocate for it (like you would investing in the stock market) so it’s sort of a no brainer. But today’s house market is proving that nothing is a sure deal! :)

I would like to put a piece of advice out there – if you’re a first-time buyer and think a home warranty will cover *any house issue* for the 1st year, you’re wrong. Ours didn’t cover beyond the foundation (tree roots in sewer line) and of course the tree wasn’t covered. Insurance took care of the tree *after* we paid the deductible (ouch). Also, the home warranty has deductibles too! (We didn’t know that either.) :)

By: March Roundup - The I’m Almost Sick Edition | Antishay Ventenne

March Roundup - The I’m Almost Sick Edition | Antishay Ventenne — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:29:39 +0000

[...] There’s No Shame in Renting- BeingFrugal.net [...]

By: Leslie Raymond

Leslie Raymond — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:20:19 +0000

I totally agree — right now we’re renting in a city that we could not have afforded to have purchased in when we moved here a little over a year ago. It was not the right time to buy (obviously, as houses that we looked at were in the 700k range when we moved and they are now around 500k) and we’re not willing to buy until we have that 20% downpayment. I have several friends who did a 0% downpayment and I just think that’s insane. Thanks for a great post, I’m definitely subscribing to your feed.leslie

By: tim

tim — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:51:47 +0000

i’ve always thought home ownership was over rated. people buy a home for so many wrong reasons compared to their ability to pay. at least it’s been this way the past 5-10 years. what is so shameful about renting? it doesn’t make you a lesser person, doesn’t mean you haven’t arrived, doesn’t mean a lot of things that people seem to feel that homeownership means. i never understood any of the arguments about home ownership over renting.

By: The Patch » Blog Archive » Real Estate Investing?

The Patch » Blog Archive » Real Estate Investing? — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:48:48 +0000

[...] There’s No Shame in Renting [...]

By: Waiting for My CFA Material and Linking to You | Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:31:24 +0000

[...] Being Frugal tells us that there’s no shame in renting! [...]