You might sometimes feel frustrated with renting, as though you’re wasting time and money. This is especially true if you’re considering buying a house. Our culture often treats home ownership as an end goal, and if that’s something you want, that’s wonderful. However, it might serve you well to consider renting before buying a home. Here, we’ll lay out all of the reasons why this might be the right choice for you.
Save Money
This is the biggest and most obvious reason many people end up renting before buying a home. In general, renting is cheaper––especially now, when the price of houses across the country only grows higher and higher due to the pandemic. Waiting to buy a home instead of rushing into it will allow you to ensure that you’re on solid financial footing before you jump into buying. You’ll be able to buy a nicer home in your own time this way, rather than having to go for anything that fits your price range.
Try Out Different Types of Rentals
You might not know exactly what type of home you want to buy. Do you want a condo, an apartment, a townhouse, or something else? You don’t have to know right away. Renting allows you to experience different rental homes without having to commit to one. If you don’t like the type of home you’re renting, you can try out another one. Eventually, you’ll find one that fits with your lifestyle, and then you’ll already have some idea about what you want to buy when the time comes. It’s much better than buying a certain type of home because you think it will work, and then finding out that it doesn’t. You have room to experiment this way.
Experience Different Areas
The situation is the same when it comes to geographic area. Although you may have a good idea of where you’d like to live, you might want to try living in a few different places before you really settle down. Living somewhere for a little bit might change your mind about whether you could live there long-term––in a negative or positive sense. The only way you’ll really know is by becoming one of the locals for a while. Renting allows you to do this without committing to a location for good. When the time comes to buy, you’ll have a location in mind, just as you’ll also have a rental type. This way, renting before buying will likely save you time and money.
The Flexibility to Move Quickly
Working remotely has completely changed the way our jobs anchor us to one geographic area. If you think you might find yourself moving as your job changes, renting will make it easier. As a renter, you don’t have to worry about selling a house on top of everything else. Instead, you can simply pack up and go. Then, you’ll be able to buy when you know for certain that you’re rooted in one place.
Time to Find the Perfect Home
When you rent before buying, you’re also giving yourself some time to find the perfect home to own. This way, you can look at as many options as you need to, ask all the right questions, and spend time going over the details. You’ll know that you have a nice rental home to come back to, even if finding the perfect place to buy takes longer than you might have anticipated. It’s less likely you’ll make mistakes or miss things if you’re not rushing ahead of yourself.
Have You Ever Considered Doing Both?
Even after all of this, you might still be determined to buy. That doesn’t mean you can’t still rent. Maybe the right path for you is to do both! Check out our blog post on how to own your home and rent it, too.
We hope this list showed you that renting won’t stop you from eventually buying a home––and it may even help you do so. Best of luck as you figure out what’s right for you!
Check out Dwellsy’s blog.
Looking for a new rental home? Dwellsy has your back.
