own or rent your house?

[Scar]

Do you own or rent your house that you are living in? Most of you are teenagers and such, so do your parents own and rent it?

The house i live in now we own, and the land, but its really is a crappy house to be honest. i hate it, but its free for us to live in rather than pay rent on a monthly basis so that is good. We only have to pay the property tax which isnt that much in our area every year.

This is the first house and property that we ever actually owned though. Through out my childhood we lived in rented homes. Almost every i know does. It seems to be so hard to get a house nowadays that is actually yours, especially in the USA.

There was home owners spurt or whatever think in the past few years, but most of those home owners are having to sell off their houses because of the mortgage or whatever agreements were so screwed up and now they cant afford it which is sad.

If you do "own" your house, do you still have the loan/mortgage that you are paying off or all paid for?

I'm just curious about this because i read a topic title on here just now about a landlord doing something.

Pretty soon I am going to be getting an apartment or small house in the city so my commute to work wont be so far (gas costs so dang much nowadays, its insane) to save some money, so soon i'll be half owning a house and renting ha.
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[kenoodo]

I live with my parents in our house. It is a trudition for the only son to live with the elders in China.

I like to live outside alone, but I can't afford the apartment now. The rent is getting higher than two years ago. I did live outside at that time. Life was free and everything was in a mess, but I liked it.

[drath]

Right now as I am going to college I am renting an apartment with my girlfriend. It's costing 600 dollars for the rent itself, plus electricity, and of course, internet. Which totals to around $350 for each of us, each month. It is a two bedroom apartment though, sadly the other room doesn't get used (well aside from storage) so it's kind of money-draining in a way. The problem was there was no closer apartments to the school that had nice one bedrooms for us, for this college year. Fortunately we will be possible moving during or after the summer.

Generally, I do think renting a place is a big waste of money. I would rather pay mortgage for the rest of my life rather than rent because then you actually end up owning the place you are living.

Most of my childhood, my mother only rented apartments/duplexes, being a single mother and all was hard to get the money needed to actually own a house.
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[Rashy]

Well like drath I am going to college, so I guess you could say that I am renting my dorm.

[Perpetual]

I still rent, even though I have had a very bad running with landlords (LL). I know more about landlord tenant law then they all have combined. Which in itself leads to problems with me letting them know what they are doing illegal.

Most LL's feel they are the law and that they can do whatever they want...which is not even close to the truth. They like to cash those rent payments and not put any of that money into fixing things wrong with house.

Another part they like to abuse is not returning the security deposit. LL's feel that is is "their' money when actually it is the renters money being held by them in a promise the property will not be damages by the renters.

For those who do not take the time to read the laws that are plastered all over the place, they are taken advantage of and feel the landlord is in the right for doing so.

My advice, take the time to read up on your local landlord tenant laws, it can save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

If you reside in the USA this is a very helpful site http://forums.uslandlord.com

Not only do they have experienced landlords and jilted renters, they have numerous links to show you where to go for info/help.

There is no reason a tenant should live in sub par conditions because a LL doesn't want to uphold their end of the rental agreement. Know your rights and use them.

Like I have stated before, I have terrible luck with landlords. My last house I rented the LL stole and destroyed thousands of dollars worth of my belongings...illegally. The next house I rented, another problem with my LL. The LL was not making payments to the real owner of the house and she lost the house we are renting in the process. She has since then stated she is not returning our $1450 security deposit...simply for the reason she thinks it is hers. Even though she has been mailed and told what the law is...she doesn't care. She is pretty stupid if she thinks I'm just going to walk away from $1450 that is mine legally.My lawyer is going to be one VERY busy guy with all this BS.

I neglected to tell her that when I take this to court, I'm entitled to 3 times that security deposit under local law. So she could have given me my money back and saved herself from a $4350 judgment against her. I could seriously make a living out of this, but I have better things to do with my life.

Until my day in court with her, I have to come up with another $1450 of my money to pay to the real owner of the house for my security deposit. Luckily the new LL is a real nice guy. He is going to eat the $1450 and I don't have to come up with a penny of it. He has already taken the 1st step in fixing stuff in the house...in other words...he is doing his job as a landlord. He has also agreed in writing that any repairs I do, can come off of next months rent payment...PERFECT!!!

This house needs the repairs too. the old LL trashed it big time. I would post pictures but I am sorta embarrassed with the condition of house. Stuff like totally busted out windows, garage door that is not even close to being straight or working and things of the like. Once it gets warmer out, I get to fix it all myself. After that, this place will be looking good with a little TLC.

Forgot to add, whenever you make any kind of deal/promise with a LL, get it in writing. If they are not willing to give it in writing, look for a different dwelling to rent instead and let them know that. It is a very BIG sign of a rouge landlord...I talk from a lot of experience.
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[coralvalley]

We own our house but are still paying a mortgage on it although I will say that you are absolutely right about the skyrocketing prices in the United States making it increasingly difficult for someone to own a home now a days. Where I live we are in a pretty decent area for the most part and there are more home foreclosures here than ever. Each time you go down the street or in the area you see house after house that is bank owned and that is really a sad thing to see because the economy sucks. With there being so many job cuts here it becomes even more difficult for people to obtain a home of their own although I strongly suspect that one day the government would love to have it where everyone has to rent something kind of like they have made it so the majority of the people around here lease a car, but could not afford to buy a car if they wanted to. Things are just so outrageous that it feels like not many people will be able to have homes of their own in the future. That is really the sad part because anyone who has a full time job and works hard should be able to have the opportunity to own their home instead of working only to pay rent on something that is not theirs at the end of the day.

[ruyss]

My parents own this house. I personally would always want to own my house, usually a house is something you stay in for years. The only place I would rent is an apartment, just because most people don't live in an apartment forever and they leave as soon as they get kids and need more space.

I do like the idea of being able to say that you own the house better than renting it.
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[mellymoo]

I own my house - if you can afford it, it's definitely the way to go. Sure, you have to pay council tax, insurance, etc etc, but you have to pay that on rented property too, and at the end of the day, the property will never be yours.

Even if house prices were to plummit, i'll still have "something" to leave my kids when i'm gone.

Renting property is like throwing money down the drain, in my opinion.

[SE13]

Renting is basically throwing money away, as you point out, Mellymoo. However there are those of us who simply can not afford to get on the property ladder, hense why I rent my house from The Local City Council.

My rent is somewhat cheaper than the repayment for a mortgage on this place, and although I shall never own it, that is, unless the housing market takes a bit of a slump, which seems highly unlikely, it will still be mine for as long as I am alive, and I can still pass tenancy to either of my children, so they would always have a roof over their head too.

I am unaware of how other rented properties are affected, but here, I only need contents insurance, which is peanuts per month, as The City Council cover the bricks and mortar side of things. Indeed, some joker set fire to my wheelie bin the other week, causing quite an amount of external damage, and a fair amount of internal as the flames licked through the air vents in the brickwork. The Council had it all sorted within hours, and although there is still a touch of work to be done, the house was habital again the same day.
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[West_ham_hammer]

[SE13]

Aside from a Compulsary Possession Order, in other words the house needs to be demolished for one reason or another, the tenant is protected. Even upon submission of said order, they would be compelled to rehouse us.

They can get a court order to remove us for the like of failure to pay the rent, or drug dealing, or causing a general nuisence, that sort of thing, but under the tenants act, they can not just ask us to leave without some serious justification.

Also, we have the right to have the house signed to the children, or at least they can apply, and it is 99.9% certain they would retain the house, unless there were problems as outlayed above.

Council tenants are quite well protected by various legislations, unlike those renting privately, and although I am not sure of the complete ins and outs, they come under quite different legislations, making is quite risky to be a private renter.
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[martinz]

In my country, the middle class do not own houses, but a lease of the the apartment for 99 years. I owned one small unit that have a life span for another 60 years. And over here, the land belongs to the government. That's because we are short of space. Only the rich, own the land and the house. How I wish I could have one ?

[mellymoo]

[martin]

I live in a house with my sister, my mother and her husband. My father has his own house. Here, in Uruguay, most families own their house. Rent is mostly for students who come from the rest of the country to the capital (Montevideo) to study at the university. Some retired people also rent to live in a better place. And, of course, some people who don't have enought money to buy (because they don't have a good salary or because they are still young), decide to rent.

I plan to live in with my parents until I can buy my own house.
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