Renting in today's market. Advice needed

[SeoReborn]

Congrats on the kid Loyol.

I rent too. For the same reasons as stated by Guerilla. As long as the rent per year is less than 5% of the market value of the property, that's good for me (fixed rate of the mortgage is typically around 5%, so I see it as subsidized living). I have 2 kids and feel more stable renting as I could always lower the rent by moving if cash flow is tight, unlike homeowners. Anyway, using the word 'homeowners' is quite a misconception unless you have totally paid off the house, otherwise it belongs to the bank.

I have shown my bank statements to the estate agents but I feel providing the business bank statements is too much.

 

[Aylian]

If renting is good enough for Peter Schiff, it is good enough for me.

As far as I know Peter has bought at least two houses in this downturn, one for his mother in Florida and one for himself in Connecticut, a big one too and refinanced it recently

 

[EmmyWakefield]

Maybe you can offer him a copy of your paycheck stubs instead? Or just photoshop out any purchases you don't want him to see?

The good thing about this is that if you have a new baby you want to be somewhere that you know is safe.

If the landlord is requiring this much of you, he's requiring this much out of other tenants so you're more likely to have safe, decent neighbors.

Good luck!

 

[loyolabenson]

Congrats on the kid Loyol.

I rent too. For the same reasons as stated by Guerilla. As long as the rent per year is less than 5% of the market value of the property, that's good for me (fixed rate of the mortgage is typically around 5%, so I see it as subsidized living). I have 2 kids and feel more stable renting as I could always lower the rent by moving if cash flow is tight, unlike homeowners. Anyway, using the word 'homeowners' is quite a misconception unless you have totally paid off the house, otherwise it belongs to the bank.

I have shown my bank statements to the estate agents but I feel providing the business bank statements is too much.

Thanks SEO,

I agree with everything you said here.




update to thread: I got the place , I did things my way and it worked out in the end. Thanks to everyone's advice here.

 

[cheshire]

I am a lifelong renter. I love it. I am free. I have saved thousands of dollars in interest, and I have had the money to fund most of the things I want to do or try, most of the time.

I'm not so sure you saved anything. You realize your land lord is passing his interest payments on to you in the form of rent, right? When I figure rents for an area I always look to make sure a property will have positive cash flow after mortgage, taxes, insurance and estimated cost of repairs during that time.

Also, unlike most home owners, I have savings and zero personal debt.

This is a problem for people who purchased above their means. It can also happen to renters. You're just smarter than the average bear.

If renting is good enough for Peter Schiff, it is good enough for me.

Also, property comes with a lien, which is property tax. If your house is worth a million but you don't pay your property taxes, you lose your house. No one truly OWNS any land, and convincing people to invest in something they cannot truly own seems like fraud to me.

Again your land lord is passing those property taxes, liens, and other items along to you in the form of rent. Atleast I do when I rent properties. You're paying property taxes, interest and liens indirectly whether you want to or not. Youre also depending on your land lord to pay those obligations for you. If he doesn't for whatever reason you're the one who is evicted by the Sheriffs office.

I say, it is better to acknowledge the reality of [sic] property ownership and rent, because even the guy buying a house, is just renting it from the government at the end of the day.

We're all renters. Try not paying your income taxes, try not paying the goverment anything. We're all really just renting our freedom and lives from the government at the end of the day.

 

[Uzzz]

^^^^
Good counter arguments.

I think in the end, whether you buy or rent, you have to determine the ROI. If your keeping your money under a pillow, and arent going to do anythng with it - buying a house seems a good bet as any. Having tenants in basement etc to pay yur mortgage is also a good strat. Keeping the house, and moving/upgrading after 5-10 years and having tenants pay off house is also good strat. End goal having multiple cash flow properties.

Renting offers more peace of mind, flexibility and mobility. It gets a bad stigma because renting is often associated with lower incomes. But obviously that's not always the case (keep up with joneses). As long as your investing into something else stocks, businesses, yourself etc - renting is a good choice.

You just gotta align this with your financial strategies.

 

[pocketrockets]

If renting is good enough for Peter Schiff, it is good enough for me.

FYI, Schiff stated last year he was renting a house in 2009 until he purchased his home (he talks about why he made this decision starting at the 8:00 min mark)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAaEnXr-SI8"]2nd Qtr. GDP, Bernanke, economists, gold stocks, my crib - YouTube[/ame]

 

[sk8ordie]

MiketPowell said it best.

To add two cents, there are a LOT of deals out there where people aren't paying their mortgage, yet will gladly keep "trying" to re-do their financing deal with the bank by paying lawyers to stall the inevitable foreclosure. This allows them to take your rent money and make something out of their home.

You can also try to do a lease-to-buy deal where a % of your rental payments go towards a future down payment on buying that house. It will buy you time to assess the market. only downside is it does the same for the owner.