[ChuckNorris89]

Yes, but renting doesn't give you that sense of security when you are thinking of having kids versus owning your own place. When you're renting the thought of the landlord kicking you out if the rental market should suddenly shift is a huge axe to child planning for most couples. Owning you own place offers a more secure feeling and belonging to a community.

[gridlockd]

This is pure make-belief. You should buy if a purchase is cheaper than renting. Guess what, it never is when interest rates are at zero.

Rent is determined by what people with jobs can pay, property prices are determined by what international investors with deep pockets and easy credit can pay. Which one are you? If you are the former, you will be paying down a mortgage that you can barely afford. You will be a slave to the property. What if you lose the ability to pay? How secure is your paycheck really?

Keep your cash, and invest it somewhere else. You can find a new place to rent. You can leave if your community turns to shit.

[xyzzyz]

property prices are determined by what international investors with deep pockets and easy credit can pay.

The international investors with deep pockets own very, very, very few properties compared to regular people.

What if you lose the ability to pay? How secure is your paycheck really?

What if you lose the ability to pay rent? How does that make you any better off?

Keep your cash, and invest it somewhere else.

I have a mortgage with 75% of the principal left to pay, where the interest on the loan is somewhere between the third and the half of what I'd pay in rent for equivalent property. If I was renting instead of paying mortgage, I wouldn't have any cash to keep to invest elsewhere anyway.

You can find a new place to rent. You can leave if your community turns to shit.

You can also sell your house/condo and move somewhere else, at any time.

[gridlockd]

> The international investors with deep pockets own very, very, very few properties compared to regular people.

Doesn't matter, a rising tide raises every boat.

The point is that property prices have diverged from rental income, because low-interest credit from around the world is chasing properties, while stagnant wages imply stagnant rental income.

> What if you lose the ability to pay rent? How does that make you any better off?

I don't have to foreclose.

> I have a mortgage with 75% of the principal left to pay, where the interest on the loan is somewhere between the third and the half of what I'd pay in rent for equivalent property.

Between a third and a half? That sounds like a lot.

> If I was renting instead of paying mortgage, I wouldn't have any cash to keep to invest elsewhere anyway.

So you're saying your mortgage payment, taxes, insurance and upkeep is equal to rent? Where the hell do you live?

> You can also sell your house/condo and move somewhere else, at any time.

At any time? Yeah, good luck with that.

[kbenson]

Not to mention, you'll still be paying those same mortgage payments (unless you refinance) a decade or two from now after the market has changed, and generally it goes up (even if it should only average going up by the amount of inflation).

I bought my house 6 years ago. Rent prices have gone up about 30% in that time. I used to think my payment was crazy compared to renting, not I know of people renting much worse locations that are paying more, and I'm about to drop the mandated PMI because I dropped below 80% of the principal left to pay, so my payment will go down be a couple hundred more.

[ben-schaaf]

From my experience there's plenty of 'sense of security' when renting, mostly coming from very strict pro-tennant laws: Limited rent hikes, no eviction unless the tenacity agreement is breached, etc. You can't just throw out of your home because someone wants to make a quick buck, you're protected as you should be.

[htruane]

Renters in Munich have very good protections. You effectively cannot be evicted without cause (and evidence), and most contracts are indefinite length (unless you are explicitly looking for <1 year).