Renting vs Homeownership

I write this piece with a great amount of frustration and a fair deal of liberation as being an educator in this subject, well somewhat. By all means I need to start out and say that it’s not a stab at the real estate profession or any realtors that I personally know. However, I am somewhat frustrated at the one liner post and the quick knee-jerk reaction of realtors shame, and renters that it is better to buy without proper information. Now who could say is one better than the other? It’s probably depending on your financial situation and how you are in life if you’re single or if you have a family no matter what your situation is. I think it’s a time to make a careful and long thought. I’ll process before you. Purchase a home or continue to rent.

As being a Claims adjuster for 13 years, I have seen a great deal of homeowners cry to me over the phone because they were unaware of their policy deductible for a wind or hail storm peril of loss. Now this could be very disappointing depending on where you live such as states like Florida in Texas that can carry somewhere up to $13-$14,000 for a roof deductible on a wind or hailstorm. Now should realtors have this information handy when they’re talking to a potential client? Not necessarily so, but I think they should be able to point them in the right direction to help inform them on making a crucial decision versus just getting a quick commission.

This read could get a bit lengthy and I welcome for all realtors to chime in and comment! I don’t wanna lose focus, and I don’t want anyone to believe that I am a duty expert or expert to totally what I’m talking about. I’m just offering my experience when it comes to homeowners trying to repair their homes after a catastrophic loss.

There are so many financial factors that you can think about or even consideration before you dotted line, but I think the crime in crime may be a harsh word that I think about is that a homeowner purchasing a home and not knowing how much their insurance deductible for a storm loss! I can remember my first experience of a Home Buying process with my wife at the time and no one told us anything about the insurance consideration or the insurance deductible in the process. To our advantage, we had an awesome roof contractor that to absorb our deductible and we didn’t have to worry about it. However, there are families that are is not as fortunate as we were when we experienced our hailstorm during our marriage.

So on top of all the pieces that moving before, and after the purchase, I feel that this one is the most that bankrupt families if they do not know their policy deductible! So what do I think all realtors should mention as a part of Due diligence process, informed the potential client that if there is not a considerable amount of money saved up in the bank then there could be some financial hardship coming down the road of travels during your home owner. Yes they are all kind of factors that consider when buying a home, but I am just going to stick with the aspect for now since I have most exposure as I speak to homeowners after a storm.

As most should know when buying a home, the insurance premium is part of the payment and with the cost of insurance going up every year, the possibility of your mortgage going down is not quite a true statement! So this always statement that realtors make about rent continuously going up every year, which is true, but Real Estate continues to go up every year as well!

Again, this is not me versus realtors, but we have to give people a clear picture and map out a road of caution to potential homebuyers as they should take these things in consideration!

Should people continue to buy homes? Of course I think they should! Should they take heavy consideration into market analysis and inventory maintenance on new homes versus established ones? Yes, that is all important!

I personally cannot say one is better than the other because it all depends on the situation of the individual.