This is an interesting two part video, it was first published in early 2008, before the property crisis really got into full swing, this video should help anybody understand some of the reasons for renting being better than buying. This is an Amercian video so there are things such as property tax which we don’t have in Ireland (annually, some people still pay a front loaded property tax called ‘Stamp Duty’), but the rational remains the same, you need to do your sums
If you are not going to buy make sure you get cheaper rent.
In the current property market sales are down, it is having a big effect on many financial institutions because the decrease in transactions is causing net lending to shrink. This is well established and brokers as well as banks are in the news talking about the ‘changing’ (sometimes we prefer the plain English term ‘crashing’) market.
So if you have decided that you don’t want to buy, or you do and you can’t find a motivated seller (we’ll be doing a post later on how to find motivated sellers) then you have likely come to the conclusion that you will rent for a while. The nice thing about renting is that you can live in the area of your choice with little cost in changing locations (compared to buying in an area). If there are problems with the property then they are the landlords problems and all in all it’s a fairly handy existence.
The downside of renting is that you don’t and will never own the place (assuming the landlord doesn’t offer to sell you the gaffe). And you …