I ran the numbers to help you decide if you should keep renting or buy now.

Have you been renting for a while and are now considering the possibility of purchasing a home? As a real estate agent, I’ve had a lot of clients come to me with similar concerns. They want to know whether it’s worth it to buy a home now or if they should continue renting. So, I decided to run some numbers and see what I could find out.

First, let’s talk about interest rates. Yes, they’re hovering around 6% right now, which may seem high, but if you have good credit and some money in the bank for a down payment, it’s still a good time to purchase a home. In fact, I ran the numbers on a $175,000 home in our area, with just a small down payment of about $5,000, and found that it’s actually more cost-effective to buy than to continue renting.

“When you buy a home, your monthly output tends to be more consistent.”

One of the reasons for this is that rents are on the rise. Landlords are feeling pressure from the investor market. They typically have higher interest rates and property taxes to contend with. As a result, rents tend to go up every year or two. When you buy a home, however, your monthly output tends to be more consistent.

If we run the numbers, after two or three years of being in the home I mentioned earlier, you could have built up equity of about $15,000. That’s money that you wouldn’t have if you were still renting. Instead, you would have been putting out an additional $645 a month in rent.

Of course, every situation is different. That’s why I encourage you to take a look at my home buyer’s guidebook, which you can access here. It can help you run the numbers for yourself and see if buying a home makes sense for your particular needs. Everything figures into a math problem and a solution, and I’m happy to help you gauge through that.

Don’t give up on your dream of homeownership. If you’re unsure whether it’s the right decision for you, give me a call, send an email, or come by the office. We can sit down and talk about what it looks like for your situation. I look forward to hearing from you!