From Renter to Home-Owner: Learnings From The Experience

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Renting homes is definitely easier than being a home owner, but it won’t make you richer!

Let’s put the age old theory to bed that if you’re a renter you are essentially paying off someone else’s mortgage loan. We boil down the rent vs. own debate down to either you’re paying someone else’s mortgage or you’re not. If only personal finance was that easy. Except it isn’t that easy. Dealing with money never is. 

People make the choice to rent for a whole host of reasons. Same for people who choose to purchase a property. We note down some pointers when it comes to making the switch from renting to owning.

You Need Surplus Money At Hand

Even though you’ve made all of your calculations, you’ve checked and double checked, it might be a good idea to keep some money spare, as it might come into immediate use. Unforeseen or hidden costs can come out of nowhere.

Buying a Home Adds A Lot to the Headache!

Once you become a homeowner you lose the freedom of calling your landlord the moment an issue arises. If your sink is leaking it’s now your problem, you have to solve it. 

You have to hire a plumber, get him to fix it and pay him. All the problems that you never had to think about or deal with are your headache now. It makes you liable for every single thing that’s in your home. On the plus side this gives you more control as it allows you to deal with the workers directly rather than having to rely on your landlord to follow up with them. 

Owning a Home Makes You Rich

As a tenant you pay an amount as rent per month which you’ll never get back. As a homeowner you are still paying an amount per month but in EMI, however, you can always get this back if you choose to sell your home. Additionally, you also get the appreciated value that it has accumulated over the years.  

For example, you bought a house in 2021 for 300k and want to sell it in 2025. The value of the home in five years may increase easily by 30%, which means the net worth is 390k. Also, in those five years you’ve paid 60k as EMI (if 1k a month). Therefore, you gain 150k from selling your home. 

Hence, owning a home for five years will increase your savings by 150k whilst renting a house for that duration will fetch you nothing. 

Owning a Home Will Give You Freedom

As a tenant you aren’t allowed to change the colour of your walls, drill holes to hang artwork, you can’t have pets and many more things that your landlord put restrictions on. On a positive note, owning a home allows you to do all the above; paint, drill and own a pet. 

As with most big money decisions, the confluence of life factors dictate the choices you make. You’re spending money for the lifestyle you want and love. It comes down to having a vision for your life and making choices that best support bringing that vision to life and keeping it there. 

In a nutshell

As read above there are a number of pros and cons to becoming a homeowner however when it boils down to it there’s nothing more fulfilling than owning your own property. With that comes a new found responsibility which is always a challenge and a lesson. 

If you’re interested in buying your first home, do not hesitate to check out our current developments