If the author wants to live in a singlewide trailer for 15 years while he saves for a house, that’s fine. But it’s not for everybody.

You NAILED it with this comment:

“Our hearts may want to be homeowners, but our heads now tell us that delaying that desire and refocusing our financial priorities will benefit the whole family much more.”

We had no business buying this home, if you look at the numbers. We didn’t have 20% down and so have a 2nd mortgage. (The very next thing we’ll tackle on our snowball!) The payments for our primary and secondary mortgages roughly equal what we would have paid in rent for a “decent” home for a family of five, in a decent neighborhood. However, when you add in home repairs and improvements, etc., I know we do not break even.

But I still have a hard time being sorry that we bought instead of rented. The quality of homes we looked at for rent simply wasn’t of the same caliber as the ones for sale that we could “afford” as a family of five. Our primary focus when house hunting is an excellent school district and a safe neighborhood. What few rentals you find that meet these requirements simply pull a higher rent.

Despite all this, the next time we move (and we will move again) we will likely rent, and we will make a point to try to rent as well below our means as possible to allow as much savings as possible. Our hearts may want to be homeowners, but our heads now tell us that delaying that desire and refocusing our financial priorities will benefit the whole family much more in the future.

I don’t have my spreadsheets in front of me at the moment, but I’ve shown myself that buying is the better option at the end of the day. The driving factor causing that is that rents increase over time, while interest payments decrease, eventually going to zero.

Now, you’ve got a fantastic savings rate, which will let you buy a home for cash in a relatively short amount of time, if that’s what you choose to spend the money on. But you have that savings rate not because you rent, but because you’re willing to live in a small apartment. You are trading a lower standard of living today for a better standard later (when you may own a house without ever taking on a mortgage). Opting to borrow money to buy a house today would be to make the opposite calculation, trading future standard of living for a better standard today.

Both are valid choices, and but they are completely independent of the rent vs buy question.

When our child was born, we got out and bought a house. We plan on having our house paid off early (only 9 years start to finish).

As for the original article comparing a 626 sq foot apartment to a $165k house in Larado — that is not a fair comparison. Equity in a home (in TX) is protected from lawsuits or claims on debt (Homestead protection act) and there are other types of benefits of home ownership. As with everything, you get what you pay for.

Also, 30-year mortgages are just plain not good financial sense — unless you are paying it as if it were amortized like a 15-year.

For many people, your thoughts would be true, but in his case, I disagree with you.

The real question is what do we do today, with the set of parameters we’re now working within. Owning is much more expensive now than years ago. With the housing bubble, every government agency or related business that could has increased their fees or added “required” services to the price of buying and maintaining a home.

The risks of owning are far higher now than in the past. The price risk alone is enormous, and a complete variable. Owning requires a certain level of certainty that doesn’t seem to be in the mix anymore–just look at careers! I think that’s why so many of these threads even exist.

To each their own.

We extended ourselves and bought a small home on five acres of wooded land. It was tough – I worked two, sometimes three jobs, went to college, my wife stayed home, eventually worked while I was home – it was tough! BUT, our sons (four of them!) grew up with the freedom to roam, to play, to grow – safely, just as I did. Seven years ago we sold our home and bought another nearby, on 20 wooded acres, with a creek and a barn. Being mortgage-free is within sight, and we will live on this land and in these woods until we die. Our grandchildren will one day run through this forest and catch minnows in the creek.

If we had waited until we could pay cash for our first home, our kids would have grown up in a small apartment in the city. Things would have been much different for them! I wouldn’t trade the freedom we feel on our own land for a million dollars!

My experience tells me that owning a home can be a forced savings of sorts. If you save on rent and invest – great. Many don’t do this. They may have low rent…but then the spend the rest rather than invest. In those cases, the forced savings element of buying works. And if you take a look at the facts on the ground, most people who do achieve financial freedom own their own homes.

This the reality that I’ve observed at least. I still believe that owning real estate is one of the best ways to achieve financial success.

I was on the inside of the mortgage business at the time, and we all KNEW that not everyone should own a house.

But, there is something to say for owning your own home and being able to do whatever you want with it. We are thinking of moving in the next 2-3 years and we will seriously think of renting a house.