Reply to Validate my view that long-term renting is a valid lifestyle choice

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a renter by necessity since I've moved around so much for work, now staying in the DC area for the long term and wondering this myself. I'm happy enough renting and can't really afford a townhome or SFH with the commute I want here currently, suspicious of condos as not much of an improvement on renting financially or in quality of life terms, but concerned that rents are going to rise faster over time than my salary while home prices also rise faster than my savings ability. I'm really not aure what the right answer is, keep renting for the lifestyle or buy somewhere far out and hate it for the sake of security.[/quote]

Here’s the problem - you’re living in an area you can’t afford.  You say you can’t afford to own with the commute you want.  But farther out is where you should probably be living given your financials.  Yes, rents will keep going up over time and eventually you’ll be a renter FOR LIFE.  If you want to be financially responsible, you should rent a cheaper place farther out and sock away money.  [/quote]

I'm living in an area where I can afford to rent perfectly well; my rent is around $1k less a month than the mortgage would be on the townhouses selling down the street. But going from a 1 hour to 2 hour commute when you have little kids...well, financial costs are not the only ones to consider, that's a huge amount of time to lose for the sake of (if I'm reading you right) renting somewhere cheaper to save more to buy slightly sooner. Rents don't get that low within public transit commuting distance, I doubt I could save more than $500/month at the absolute max end-of-the-commuter-line, and that's not going to make the difference between buying and renting in the DC area.

I get what you're saying, I just think that for some of us it's not quite that simple a calculation.[/quote]

You don’t get it.  To save money while renting you have to live in a smaller place than you’d own or live farther out then where you’d buy.  You can’t rent the same property you’d buy.  That’s why you’re only 1k per month less than buying and why you can’t save enough money.  Yes, it’s 1k cheaper, but they are probably paying 1k less per month in federal taxes.  
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