Renting a home in Arizona versus owning a home in Arizona: Which option is truly the best?

This old adage sometimes makes you think of the chicken or the egg and which came first. Those type of philosophical debates are fun for the ages but when it comes time to figure out if renting a home is more advantegeous to owning a home, there are many personal factors involved in the decision.

I will be the first to state that NOT everyone out there should be a homeowner. Homeownshership takes a lot of responsibility, and sometimes we are just not ready to make that committment. But when the time feels right and the decision has been made that you want to explore homeownership, then at that point, you will need to know if owning a home has a bigger benefit versus renting.

Now I could show some slick charts to show you everytime that home ownership is a better place to park your housing dollar versus renting, but truly until we know your unique circumstance for me to say this is just not true.

I can give you quite a few reasons where renting makes more sense than owning.

• Not ready to take on the responsibility of a mortgage obligation.
• No permanent work location.
• Rental costs per month could be cheaper at the moment.
• No down payment for the mortgage.
• No job or income source.
• Your credit is too low.

Now if these reasons above are not your situation, then I would be the first to tell you that it would make sense to run the numbers and see how much of a mortgage payment would cost you versus renting a place.   Remember, rents have a tendancy to go up over time while a fixed rate mortgage payment will stay the same.

To figure out your break even time, I have an attached link to a real slick:   buy vs. rent calculator

Bottom line, if you plan on being in a home for five years or more, most of the equations equate in your favor to purchase.  Some equate out in as little as three years.

If you have specific questons about renting vs. homeownership, please give me a call.