Renting vs. Owning Your Own Home

I have moved around a bit. I lived in the states until I was 22, since then I’ve lived in England, Spain, France and Germany.

In Germany very few people own their own home and housing is pretty inexpensive to buy.

In the states I guess it’s the “American dream” to own your own home with the white picket fence, or maybe it used to be.

Here in Spain the saying went “Renting is throwing away money.” (Alquilar es tirar el dinero.)

I always wanted to own my own home so I could decorate it as I liked, make as many holes in the walls as I wished or do just about anything I wanted to it. I never imagined reaching 35 years of age and still renting.

I must admit that when I look at the amazingly cheap home prices now available in parts of the US like near where I used to live in Ohio or Florida I can’t help to feel a little jealous. Here in Spain the bubble burst a couple years ago but not much has changed in terms of prices.

It seems that half the houses on the market are held by banks and they somehow manage to, with the help of the government I suspect, hold up a massively overpriced market. Well there isn’t much market really because not many houses are sold. To get a decent flat in Madrid would still cost €300000 Euros, a ridiculous price considering that most Spaniards don’t make more than €21000 Euros per year.

But in recent times my thinking has been altered somewhat. The truth is I’m quite happy now renting. We have a great flat in the city for  €1000/month rent. Since we became landlords with our investments flats I learned about all the expenses and hassles involved with being a homeowner, especially in an apartment building community setting.

When you rent you don’t have to deal with all that crap and you know exactly how much you’re going to pay each month. You don’t have extra works and unexpected expenses, not under your control, popping up all the time.

Buying a home is supposedly an investment but renting can be a smarter financial decision If it saves you a good amount of cash each month as opposed to buying – and in this still ridiculously overpriced market – it definitely does save us cash.

So for now I’m quite happy being a renter. We live in a nice neighborhood, in a great flat with a nice little view, not a bad deal!