A lot of people think that they should wait to buy a home. Perhaps until they’re “settled” or have saved up enough for a down payment. The truth is that there are a lot of benefits to buying a home sooner rather than later. If you’re thinking about making the jump from renting to ownership, here are a few things to consider.
Benefits of Homeownership
- Pride of ownership. When you are buying a home, you can paint the walls any color you want, put up shelves, and hang pictures. You can turn your house into a home without having to get permission from your landlord.
- Build equity. With every mortgage payment you make, you’re building equity in your home. Equity that you can tap into if you ever need extra cash.
- Get tax breaks. The interest you pay on your mortgage is tax-deductible, which means you’ll get a little break come tax time.
- Grow your money. Historically speaking, real estate has always increased in value over time. So when you do sell your home down the road, chances are good that you’ll sell it for more than what you paid for it.
- Forced savings plan. When you own your home, every month your mortgage company will send you a bill for your mortgage payment—and if you don’t pay it, they can foreclose on your home. This forces you to save every month whether you want to or not!
- Stability and security. Unlike renting, when you own your home the monthly payment isn’t going to go up unexpectedly (unless property taxes go up or interest rates rise). This gives you peace of mind and allows you to budget more easily from month-to-month and year-to-year.
- Control over repairs and improvements. When something needs to be fixed in your rental property, you’ll have to wait for your landlord to take care of it. And they may not do it exactly the way (or in the timeliness) that you would like them to! As a homeowner, though, YOU are in charge and YOU get to decide when and how things get done around your house.
- A place to call your own. At the end of the day, owning a home means having a place to call YOUR OWN. It’s not just somewhere that you happen across every now and then between work and errands and weekend activities. It’s a place where memories are made and traditions are born!
Conclusion
As rent prices continue to increase while wages stay stagnant and inflation continues to grow, more and more people are deciding to buy a home instead and build their equity. If purchasing a home is something that interests you, be sure to weigh all of the pros and cons before making any decisions. And then when the time comes, remember to get that home inspection to ensure that you are making a safe investment. At Sound Structure Home Inspection, we have over 20 years of experience and have inspected over 6000 homes. We take our time performing the inspection, creating a detailed report, and making sure that you understand everything. We work for you!