Conventional wisdom suggests that home ownership is always the way to go and it may not be hard to find yourself in agreement with that. Owning your home gives you a certain sense of freedom that you don’t get with a rental. We may be conditioned to think that renting a home is just a temporary stop along the way on the journey to ownership, and it’s hard to argue with those who say that money spent on renting is better spent building equity in your own home. There are a few good reasons to rent, however, and while this is not intended to discourage those who have their minds set on buying their own place, it’s probably worth investing a few minutes to learn about these 15 reasons that renting may be a better idea than buying.
1. Freedom
While it might seem that home ownership offers more freedom than living in a place that belongs to someone else, there are certain freedoms that only renting makes possible. Buying a home has a tendency to “anchor” people to a specific location. Packing up and moving is a lot easier when you do not have a home to sell. For those that are not quite ready to put down roots, it probably makes sense to rent for a while and check out a few potential locations before you decide to stick around somewhere for the long term.