I have moved 3 times within 18 months and I am renting. That seriously disrupts my life and puts undue stress on my family. As a renter I have no control when my landlord suddenly decides he wants to sell his house which has happened twice. Nor do I have the freedom to go ahead and do whatever I want to the house, whenever I want. As an owner of several dogs and cats my rental selections are limited. As a parent of two small children who will be in elementary school soon, I want them to grow up in a stable environment, in a school that I choose, not that is dictated by availability of rental stock. I can go on and on and counter the financial argument. I choose not to rent in many of th zip codes in this city because of the schools there or the neighborhoods themselves.
Once again, it is quite easy to pontificate the rental verses buying argument strictly from a dollars and cents point of view. However, it is all to easy to see that not everyone considers other elements in the equation. I cannot convince you of them if you haven’t experienced them. It is like single people talking about marriage, or people who have never had children talking about raising kids.
So yeah with all the dollars at stake from only that point of view it is stupid. From making the quality of life better for your family (if you have the money) and are not going to be moving it may not be so stupid.
Again, I am not advocating that anyone buy. I am advocating that those who like to hammer others that are considering buying, maybe don’t have all the facts before they paint the picture that what they say is gospel.
