Rent or Own Your own home?

We rent an apartment. Been doing that since we sold our house we had in Colorado. There are both good and bad of having a house and renting an apartment. But, one thing for sure, unless the house is located on acres of land, there can be neighbor noise just like living in an apartment. We found out about the house neighbor thing from their dogs barking in the middle of the night to two rather large woods owls hooting on the roof of the house behind ours, again, in the middle of the night.
 
Renting is probably the better option for people as they grow older. Just doing the normal house/property maintenance can be more than a lot of people can, or want, to do. The downside is that after years of renting, all you have to show for it is a bunch of receipts. We've never rented, but we've looked at some nice Senior apartments in the area, and if/when taking care of this place becomes overwhelming, we will probably opt for renting one of their units.
 
We owned mortgage-free, to about 3 years ago... One of our kids needed money, and the only way was to borrow off the house, so now have a very small mortgage... Don't know if she'll ever be owned out again... It would be nice but doubt it... Unless we sell her, and there is talk about that too... and buying another right out...
 
I don't have to worry about it. I own a share in cooperative housing. Technically I own one share but really, it's like I own this apartment. I can will the unit to my son or whomever I choose, I can remodel as long as I don't compromise the integrity of the building/common areas. Our board and management sees that the grass is cut, the snow is plowed and shoveled, any leaks to common areas are fixed as well as anything else that is structural and affects common areas. The mortgage is paid off but our carrying charges (HOA-like fees) remain, mostly because of the extreme hike in taxes. For 42 years we paid no taxes due to the PILOT program. Even though we now pay about the same as we did when we had a mortgage, our housing cost is only about 34% of what comparable housing in the area costs.
 
Like many said above, our home is now mortgage-free. (Yay!)

Bottom-feeders have devised numerous ways to scam people out of money. One needn't be a homeowner to be vulnerable.

OP's linked story implies that although this woman lives alone and has Alzheimer's, nobody seemed to be looking over her financial shoulder or watching out for her. :(
 
ClassicRockr said:
We rent an apartment. Been doing that since we sold our house we had in Colorado. There are both good and bad of having a house and renting an apartment. But, one thing for sure, unless the house is located on acres of land, there can be neighbor noise just like living in an apartment. We found out about the house neighbor thing from their dogs barking in the middle of the night to two rather large woods owls hooting on the roof of the house behind ours, again, in the middle of the night.
Click to expand...
Neighbors can be a blessing or a curse no matter where you live.
 
squatting dog said:
Something else to watch for. Like there aren't enough snakes and bottom feeders around. :mad: This actually happened to a woman where she paid the contractor for the roofing materials, but, he didn't pay for the materials on his end. She discovered a lien had been placed on her house by a lumber yard.

edit... turns out there is more than one example of this.

https://budgeting.thenest.com/can-roofer-lien-out-house-permission-32627.html

https://wsvn.com/news/roof-lien/
Click to expand...

This happens a lot more often than people think. This can be a real nightmare if the contractor goes out of business or bankrupt and you can find yourself really holding the bag.
 

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