The fight we’ve all been waiting for. Who comes on top of the battle between renting and owning? You need to consider cost, lifestyle, features, privacy, and more. Apartments and homes each have their perks and downfalls, and not everyone values the same things. It’s impossible to say one is definitively winning over the other. It all depends on you.
Find the space that’s perfect for you and your needs.
Flexibility
Do you crave the freedom to pack up and move to another town whenever you please, or do you desire the freedom of painting your walls sunshine yellow? Apartments and homes each offer their own brand of flexibility. If you’re a wandering nomad, you probably don’t want to be tethered to home. But if you’re obsessed with HGTV renovations and designs, you fall in the home category.
Cost
You’re either paying rent or paying a mortgage each month. Rent helps out someone else while your mortgage helps out yourself. But then there’s interest in a mortgage, too. And we Canadians don’t get the hefty tax breaks our American friends do. Then again, your rent in an apartment likely grows each year, not to mention deposits for pets or damages you caused.
Amenities
Apartment complexes tend to offer a whole lot more amenities than homes can. You’ve got a gym, a pool, a laundry room where you don’t have to clean the lint or pay for the water. You might even have a rooftop patio if you’re lucky. But your parking spot is also wedged between a truck and a pole and the dumpster is so disgusting you dread taking out the trash. Oh, and you don’t have enough closet space.
Maintenance
Homes come with the terrible knowledge that one day the water heater will break, and you’ll have to pay to fix it. The roof will leak, and a bunch of cigarette-smoking men will perch on your lawn as they fix it, wafting the fumes into your windows. Don’t even think about the potential of a sewage-flooded basement, either.
What You Need to Know
There are clear pros and cons to apartment renting and home buying. It all comes down to what your current and future needs are. Where you want to live and the lifestyle you want to live in. The best thing you can do is weigh the options and talk to professionals in the field, like local real estate agents.