Why Might Home Ownership Not Be Right for you?

You will come across countless articles explaining why you should own your own home.
This is not one of those articles.

Here are a few reasons why homeownership might not be for you

1. You don’t enjoy home maintenance and would rather call a maintenance person when something breaks.
2. You have no interest in landscaping, gardening, or deciding what goes in your yard.
3. You enjoy close community living with neighbors to the right, left, above, and below you.
4. You prefer not having to worry about emergency repairs or unexpected home expenses.
5. You like paying renter’s insurance instead of homeowners, fire, flood, and possibly home warranty insurance.
6. You tend to move around a lot and renting is a great solution.
7. You appreciate having fairly predictable monthly housing expenses.

And now, a few other reasons you may not want to own your own home

1. You fancy the soothing sound of combat boots marching across your ceiling at midnight.
2. You look forward to hearing your neighbor’s favorite music at 2 a.m. every morning.
3. You enjoy parking your car in a carport instead of a private covered garage when the temperature reaches 100 degrees.
4. You look forward to paying monthly storage fees for your belongings that don’t fit in your apartment.
5. You appreciate having rules about the number, size, and type of pets you can own.
6. You like paying pet rent for a five-pound dog.
7. You truly enjoy climbing three flights of stairs hugging two full bags of groceries.
8. You find the thought of speaking with a lender absolutely terrifying.
9. You enjoy waiting for management approval before painting a wall.
10. You like doing your laundry where everybody else does theirs.
11. You prefer sharing a community pool and spa instead of having your own private backyard retreat.
12. You love paying rent every month while your landlord builds equity and buys more property.
13. You enjoy wondering whether your rent will increase next year.

In all seriousness, today there are more opportunities than ever to explore homeownership. There are programs designed to help buyers improve their credit, prepare for loan approval, and purchase a home with surprisingly low down payment options.

The best part? It costs nothing to explore your options. And the next time you move, you could be taking your accumulated home equity with you instead of leaving behind years of rent payments.