[rm999]

Renting is the best option for flexibility. Want to add a bedroom? Want to change neighborhoods? Just lost your job and want to downgrade? Want to move closer to your new job, or an entirely new state? These are all good, common use-cases for renting. BTW, a lot of landlords will let you modify your place - some will even chip in for the costs or pay it all.

>Plus why spend money on somewhere you don't own?

People have this mentality that renting is throwing out money. It's not - it turns your housing into another explicit cost like food and travel. I like this, I think too many people make the biggest investment decision of their lives (often by orders of magnitude) so lightly. And anyway, when you own, the costs that would go to renting are priced in, like: taxes, upkeep, opportunity costs, and interest payments. There is no free lunch - even the home ownership tax benefits get priced into housing costs.

[saiya-jin]

There are locations, and I live on one of them, where finding an accomodation, even with stable long term 150k USD/year single pet-less guy is a few month effort of chasing 100s of appartments, until one will work out. You are nto in position to actually pick anything.

On this thread it's visible that people try to promote their own decisions in this topic (and we all have been into it deep down). Let me put mine - I took loan 8 years ago, in a different country, on a small appartment that when looking back, wasn't the best idea (but neither really bad). Mind you, it was in 2007 :) Surprisingly the price didn't drop below the one I paid, but the pressure to bring every month enough cash to make it through was... not nice. THe perspective to have similar setup for next 20 years was a bit sould-crushing though (it was 50m appartment, so nothing to raise your family in).

But, this pressure forced me off my lazy but, I temporarily moved to another country to earn more and pay it off asap, realized that this country is SO much better than previous one (which wasn't my home anyway), so I decided to stay. 5 years forward, probably the best decision of my life (and there were heaps of people saying I should settle where I am instead of move).

[vonmoltke]

> BTW, a lot of landlords will let you modify your place - some will even chip in for the costs or pay it all.

Where are all these landlords, because the ones I have experience with in Florida, Texas, and Virginia get pissed if you so much as nail a picture to the wall.

[edj]

Providence, RI: interior paint.

Fairfield, IA: all maintenance as well as on-going renovations at $25/hr plus materials.

San Francisco, CA: interior paint, garden, chicken coop, converted garage into bedroom.

Portland, OR: extensive tear out and renovation, removed walls, renovated kitchen, new wiring and lighting, converted attic into bedroom, finished basement and added bedroom -- all on the owner's dime. Also, we built a kiln and a giant skate ramp in the backyard.

So it is possible. Although admittedly, I do have a knack for finding laid back landlords.

[bhayden]

The Portland example is dangerous territory, because now they have a home they can rent for much more per month and might kick you out. Then you just lived in a construction zone doing free labor for a year for nothing.

[aroch]

Hanging paintings with nails is typically considered part of legally defined normal wear-and-tear. If your landlord is getting angry at you using the place you're renting in a reasonable manner, than perhaps you're renting from the wrong people.

[vonmoltke]

So, that seems to be an open question in Texas. The Texas law leaves a lot up to interpretation, so reversing charges for nail holes would require suing your landlord. I'm not sure, but I think the situations in Florida and Virginia are similar.