Home Ownership = Control
Through the years of working with First Time Home Buyers in Minnesota, I have asked a lot of questions to my clients and heard a lot of reasons why people want to buy real estate. Some buyers say they want to be real estate investors and start by owning their personal residence, others simply hate paying rent to a landlord every month instead of a mortgage payment. But the #1 response is summarized by just one word: Control.
The biggest complaints about renting are issues of having control of your residence. Think about it. If you want to paint the inside of your house or apartment, you’d have to get permission from your landlord. Same thing if you want to plant a garden outside in the yard. Pets are also an issue of control, because landlords don’t want the added damage that comes with cats and dogs in a property.
So while you will hear a lot of agents and mortgage officers talk about the “investment” of your personal home, realize that the reason you want to buy is probably more related to control than anything else.
While control is a major incentive to owning a home, you also have to look at the negative aspects and judge if homeownership is right for you. Some things you may not have considered:
Property Taxes are now your responsibility. The bad news is that taxes, over time, go up. If you don’t pay your property taxes the government has the right to foreclose on your property and sell it to pay the tax amount you owe. Something to be aware of.
Another financial burden can the repairs and updates a house requires. Most renters don’t have to pay for a new water heater if the old one shuts down, but when you are the home owner it’s all on you. A seemingly small problem can turn into thousands of dollars and drain your checking account in a matter of days.
Possibly the biggest burden of owning a home is that if you want to move and buy another home, you’ll have to sell your existing home first. This has been highly accentuated in recent years since the market prices came down significantly and people found it more difficult to sell their homes at the amount their existing mortgage was at.
While this may seem like a negative article on homeownership, I’m actually doing some people a service by pointing out that home ownership isn’t for everyone. If you’re thinking about buying a home, you need to learn the pros and cons, and educate yourself on the buying process along with the ownership responsibilities.
Related Posts
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment