Last year alone people spent an astounding $441 billion in...RENT. That is a crazy amount of money and it's only expected to increase! Over the past 25 years, rent prices have steadily increased, with the biggest jumps coming since the housing bubble (see graph below0.
Many people have delayed buying a house until the economy recovers and while this makes sense, it doesn't make the pill any easier to swallow. Because more people are wanting to rent, the supply of homes available to rent are dwindling so landlords are able to jack up prices. This supply and demand shift has made renting LESS affordable than buying. According to a Zillow report, the percent of monthly income people can expect to devote to a mortgage payment is 15.3% while he percent of monthly income they can expect to devote to rent is 29.9%. Yes, buying a home is still a huge step, but would you rather pay your own mortgage or someone else's? Because, regardless of whether you rent or own, you are still paying a mortgage, the only difference is when you're paying your own, you have all the perks of being a homeowner and less of a cost.
If you're currently renting and don't want to be or just have some questions, call our office anytime!