Also, with children, living in an apartment is hard. We were evicted from our second apt because our rambunctious 2 year old liked to jump off beds, run throughout the place and throw tantrums. I gave birth to our second child while we lived there and between the toddler and the infant, they “disturbed the peace” and our neighbors complained to the landlord. Living in a house, my kids could make all the noise they wanted and they never bothered anyone.

Two years ago we had to live in an apartment in another city when my hubby got a new job. My kids had a drink accident on the carpet and the rental office sent us a bill for $1200 to replace the carpeting because it stained. I’ve learned with my kids, it is better to have our own place because if they ruin something, it is up to us to replace or repair something, which we can do on our own time when we can afford it.

A couple other pluses for us include writing off the interest we paid on the mortgage, which results in a higher refund; having a place for all our stuff, including 2 bins of baby stuff that I refuse to get rid of and all of our seasonal stuff and my stockpiles, not hearing someone elses activities through the walls (because just as someone doesn’t want to hear my kids crying, I don’t want them waking my kids up at night because they decided to come home drunk), and being able to run extra cables or phone lines if needed – or get one of those cable dishes on our house if we wanted to. The last apartment did not permit those because the dishes were not consistent with their uniform appearance.

You mentioned saving money on utility bills – valid point, but as a homeowner, you still control your usage and have control over the efficiency of your furnace /air conditioning unit and other appliances. When we lived in that last apt, we had a very inefficient gas dryer that made my bills more than I ever paid in our house. We weren’t allowed to hang to dry outside off the balcony and there weren’t laundromats. So, I hung to dry in the apt and it saved me $200-$300 a month on the gas bill, but what an inconvenience that was.

Our homeowners ins is $54 a month, vs the $22 a month we paid for renters. Number wise, it is cheaper, but we’re getting what we pay for. More money covers the building AND our contents. Should something happen to our house, the insurance will pay for us to stay in a hotel until the house is livable again, fix or rebuild the house, replace our belongings, and then we will be able to move back into it. If you’re renting and something happens to the building your lease is terminated and you have to find a new place to live – but the ins will buy you new belongings.

In my experience, renting is just like throwing money away. Everything is on loan and there is a charge for everything. Even though my house is technically on loan from the bank, they don’t care what I do to it as long as they get their money.

But if you’re single or don’t plan to stay in one place very long, it’s a good option.

Jamie’s last blog post..An Open Letter to My House

I am a happy permarenter, because I am never home, don’t need much space, and like to be nimble in changing circumstances, and to travel light through this life–no excess stuff (very ecological!). My money doesn’t go to mortgage interest, it goes to investments that outperform real estate appreciation.

I pay the same rent I did in 1994 and only $40 more than what I paid in 1989. It’s so damn dirt cheap. Nice place too, great neighborhood, a river and unspoiled mountains in my back yard, nice landlord who loves me (I’m a great tenant), and I have three cats. If I want anything, all I have to do is ask. Without asking, I have new paint, carpet, roof, and stylish kitchen faucet within the last couple of years.

My investment program is going well and I will have enough assets to cash flow renting for life. Those who say you need a paid off house to afford to retire…wasted their money paying mortgage interest instead of investing for greater wealth accumulation. So they’re stuck with an illiquid asset at retirement…no wonder they need a free place to live. LOL

Plus I have free time. No mowing, house repairs, snow shoveling, etc. I do what I want with my free time. That leads to a very high quality of life.

- Having nice neighbors who don’t mind telling you politely you’ve left your key in the door for the millionth time.

- ‘Free’ pool and fitness room

- Can use the grills anytime you want without having to keep refilling the gas tank.

- Packages are stored in the office rather than left on your doorstep.

Sarah mentioned you’re not paying interest when you rent, and while that’s true I would argue that paying interest is the same as paying rent. Either way, you’re paying money that you’ll never see again. There are a lot of reasons to rent and I’m not bashing it at all. I think we disagree about whether to finance 100% or not. We are comfortable doing that if we need to – it’s not ideal, but then again a lot of things in our life haven’t been ideal and we’ve had to live with it. We have decided that if we buy a condo, we want our mortgage to be less than our current rent (to account for the increases in other costs). That way, we won’t be getting in over our heads, and the money would be paid out anyways. Might as well have the money go towards something that will bring us some money when we sell it. We have other reasons too, but if we can’t find exactly what we are looking for then we will stay in our apartment.

It’s hard for me to see the benefits right now, because I feel like with every positive I have a negative. :-) I guess for us the biggest thing is being able to pick up and move on if and when our needs change. (Forcing myself to stop there and not give a “but”!)

We have problems occasionally with loud neighbors and skateboarders, but the rental office is always on top of things when we complain. I’ve lived in this apartment since 1996, if that tells you anything! Our rent is RIDICULOUSLY cheap because we’ve been here for so long!

Granted, we’ve run out of space, so we’re going to rent a storage place…

You don’t have to worry about home improvement projects- you can just move out when you’re no longer happy with your kitchen, bathroom, etc.