Auston Chase Apartment Homes

Many people are told when they are younger that renting is only for college graduates or people who cannot afford to buy.  Many parents hammer these ideas into their children and tell them that renting is equivalent to throwing money away every month.  Fortunately, today people are beginning to finally think for themselves and challenge these ideas.  Here are 4 reasons to pat yourself on the back for deciding to rent an apartment in Ridgeland, SC at an HHHunt Community!
 
1.  Renting can save money

At the very minimum you’ll be shelling out PITI for your home. That is:

1. Principal
2. Interest
3. Tax
4. Insurance

The PITI doesn’t include property maintenance like maintaining the yard, paint, plumbing, repairs, decorating, etc… When you rent an apartment in Ridgeland at an HHHunt community, the monthly payment is almost always quite a bit less than the PITI in your area and there are no maintenance expenses!

2. Homeowners’ tax deductions are overstated

According to research quoted by MSN, “… half of homeowners don’t get a break, because even with mortgage interest and property taxes, their total deductions do not exceed the standard federal tax deduction ($11,900 for couples and $5,450 for singles)”.

For these folks, it’s like spending $100 to save $20. They’re better off saving the difference and investing it.   Even if there is a “break” on your taxes, you typically had to spend more than you would have spent to rent to get back that $20 for every $100 spent in interest payments.

3. Renting gives you flexibility

For the up and coming young professional, you’re better off renting and saving for a few years than to buy a small condo. Who knows how fast you will outgrow it?  When you own a home, you can’t always sell it when you need to sell it at the price you want to sell it in order to accept a new employment opportunity.  If you have owned a home and don’t want the constant maintenance responsibility, renting gives you the opportunity to enjoy your weekends instead of completing that “to do” list.

4.  Our superb service teams!

Most apartment communities offer 24 hour emergency maintenance and technicians who are skilled in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical.  At an HHHunt Community, our service teams take great pride in offering prompt and professional service to you.  Whether you need a light bulb changed or a new compressor for your AC unit, we are there to take care of you as fast and efficient as possible.  We are always a phone call or email away and most service requests are performed on the same day or within 24 hours!

The argument in the press over whether to rent or buy has lately been more prominent than usual. The rent vs buy debate is complex and often the important issues can get lost in the emotion of it all. People forget that buying home is only an appropriate for some. Those who refer to renting as money down the drain are missing the point.

Renting an apartment in Ridgeland, SC provides flexible access to accommodation for many who are not interested, for whatever reason, in buying a home. Unlike buying, renting in an apartment home is less expensive and it is a faster and easier transaction. Renters carry no responsibility for building maintenance and have no exposure to house price risk.

Renting a home also provides options for those for whom it is not appropriate to buy in the current climate, such as those in full-time education, those who would prefer to be mobile, or those who are not interested in home maintenance or home ownership.

Excerpts from Mortgage Strategy

So many Americans today think they should own a home. But there is that argument that disagrees.  While home ownership provides security, it almost certainly doesn't give you the returns provided by equities. Using history as a guide, you can reasonably expect roughly 8% annual gains on your stock portfolio over the long term. House prices, on the other hand, tend to follow the rate of inflation.

Finally, don't forget that even with the tax-breaks of home ownership, you will still be incurring out-of-pocket costs that you wouldn't encounter when you are renting an apartment in Ridgeland, SC. From the cost of ripping down wallpaper to repairing a leaky roof, even gas for the lawn mower, home maintenance can be costly and time consuming. Before you think about buying, estimate how much the costs will be. Don’t put yourself in the position that you are living hand-to-mouth even if it is in your own home.

Draining the 401(k) for a down payment

Even though it is an option, withdrawing money from your 401(k) to fund a home purchase is a bad idea. Assuming you're not at least 59 1/2 years old, you'll owe taxes plus a 10% penalty. You will also cripple your retirement savings, since most plans won't allow you to contribute to your plan for at least a year following a withdrawal. This means you're going to lose out on your company match as well as future tax-deferred contributions, not to mention the earnings on the money you've withdrawn.

Borrowing from a 401(k) isn't much better. If you leave the company for any reason, you run the risk that your loan will be called immediately. While out of your account, those dollars will also miss out on any market gains, and that tax-deferred growth.

Moving to or within Ridgeland, South Carolina? Contemplate renting an apartment in Ridgeland, SC. Contact Auston Chase Apartment Homes for more information.

Excerpts from Smart Money

When deciding whether to rent or buy, you are making the choice to rent an apartment home or renting the capital needed to buy a home. Most Americans don't consider that they are renting equity (from the bank) to buy a home. As you are aware, very little equity is built in the first few years of paying a mortgage. Many people are surprisingly still very unaware of this fact.

This following article explains how renting is financially better than buying in about 75% of cases!

For the Past 30 Years, Renting Was Generally Better Than Buying

If homeownership is the American dream, then the nation had better wake up. That's the message from a new research paper that examines whether buying or renting a home was a better financial decision over the past 30 years. Most would find the result surprising: over the period Americans were better off renting between 65% and 75% of the time, depending on the investment alternative.

The article essentially looks at eight-year periods and assumes that a person invests the money he or she saves by renting. Since buying is generally more expensive than renting, renters have extra money to invest. It also makes a number of assumptions favorable to homeownership, including gains from the mortgage interest tax deduction, the option to refinance, and the ability to walk away -- loss-free -- from an underwater mortgage. Still, renting wins approximately three-quarters of the time.

The staff at economic research organization e21 explains why this result actually shouldn't be so shocking:

Counter-intuitive as the finding may be to some, it is actually quite logical. Unless someone possesses the cash necessary to buy a residence, he or she will be renting one way or another. The choice is between renting the property directly or instead renting the capital necessary to buy the property. The amount of capital to be rented is a function of house prices, while the bulk of a mortgage payment is interest, which is the rental payment on this capital. After 2 years, the typical 30-year amortizing mortgage balance has been reduced by less than 3%. This means that a household that took out a $300,000 mortgage with a 5% interest rate to buy a home has only reduced its mortgage balance by $8,600 after two years despite spending nearly $39,000 in total over this period.

Housing advocates may respond by pointing out that at least the $8,600 in this scenario went towards home equity rather than simply being squandered on rent. But, as demonstrated in the Real Estate Economics article, the principal component of each mortgage payment - i.e. the portion of the mortgage payment that goes towards reducing the principal mortgage balance instead of interest - is an added expense renters don't have.

This turns the real estate industry's biggest talking point on its head: you aren't throwing rent into the wind each month, you're casting away equity.

Of course, that equity also provides a potential benefit. The analysis's eight-year rolling methodology appears to miss the biggest reward of owning a home: living rent-free once the home is paid off. After that 30-years is up, the longer a family remains in that home rent-free, the more buying pays off. Taking this into account would almost certainly change the result in some, if not all situations. Renting may be a better option initially, but there's no eventual reward.

An important point still needs to be made here: buying a home that you don't plan to live in for an extended period of time probably isn't a great idea. The rent you pay in the form of interest on a 30-year loan for five or even 10 years won't be any better than if you had just rented outright. But if you're planning on living in a home for 30-plus years, then you could potentially get some benefit from buying rather than renting.

Original article by By Daniel Indiviglio, The Atlantic