Why Rent When You Can Buy?
 

Turning the dream of homeownership into a reality can be both exciting and daunting at the same time. Many renters don’t realize they have the means to purchase their own home or the benefits of homeownership as compared to renting. Whether it’s building equity or getting tax advantages, owning a home can be a great investment for your future. For the majority of Americans, their home is their largest financial asset and a major player in their investment portfolio.

Building financial equity is one of the greatest advantages of owning a home.

• Given the leverage in purchasing a home, the average return on a 5 percent down payment over 10 years is usually three to five times greater than stock market returns.
• If you bought a house 10 years ago, it would be worth almost 27 percent more today.
• The typical homeowner’s net worth ($205,200) was 49 times that of the typical renter ($4,200) in 2008, according to NAR calculations using statistics from the Federal Reserve Board.

In addition to equity, homeownership has tax advantages that can help you save a great deal of money, something that renters cannot enjoy.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, rent as a percentage of household income has been rising, while affordability for homeowners has remained stable. In 2009, 51.5 percent of renters spent 30 percent or more of their household income on housing costs, compared with only 37.6 percent of homeowners.

 Here are more advantages of owning your own home:

• Control over your property
• Freedom to decorate and landscape how you like
• Fixed mortgage payments
• Pride and comfort in owning your own home
• Housing security

Renters are the ideal clients for sellers because their offers are not dependent on selling their own home first. The Illinois Association of REALTORS® Partnership for HomeOwnership has a number of mortgage and downpayment assistance programs created specifically for first-time homebuyers.

And owning a home has intangible benefits too. Owning a home adds value to communities and gives you a setting to enjoy your lifestyle with the ones you care about.