Flats To Rent Oxford

Archive for July, 2010

The Advantages To Renting Over Buying A Property

It’s true to say that over the years; many people who have bought properties have made large amounts of money due to the rise and rise of property prices.

But it hasn’t all been good news. Many property owners and investors have also lost large amounts of money due to bad investments and choices.

But regardless of whether you may, or may not, make a financial gain from buying a property, there are still many people who choose to rent, rather than own their homes.

The choice to rent can be for various reasons e.g. cannot get a deposit together, travel around a lot and don’t want to be committed to one geographical area, cannot get finance due to bad credit rating, worried about interest rates and not being able to pay a mortgage, don’t want the hassle of repairs etc. The list goes on.

So what are the main advantages to renting your home rather than buying it?

Renting Gives You Time To See If You Like An Area.

Often, when you move from one area to another it takes a while to get used to an area and decide which parts of it you prefer.

Renting is great for this. Even if you have spent time driving and looking around an area, it isn’t until you’ve lived there for a while that you can truly see what it has to offer in comparison with the surrounding areas.

Renting Offers Fixed, and Sometimes Lower, Costs.

Although it is true to say that if you are paying rent it can be hard to save for a deposit on your own home, it is also true that the many costs involved in renting a home are generally lower in comparison to paying a mortgage. Renting therefore can often mean it gives you time to save money.

One of the greatest advantages of renting a home, especially when your family is young, is the potential savings associated with paying a rental fee rather than a mortgage payment.

Another plus, is that although rents to go up from time to time, they usually increase slowly and in increments. During unstable economic times however, mortgage interest rates can shoot up to a level that you may not have foreseen when you purchased your property and cannot possibly afford.

No Repairs or Maintenance Costs.

When you rent a home all of the repairs will remain the responsibility of the landlord. This means that when there are problems with the heating system, the boiler, the electrics, damp issues or the plumbing etc, the landlord is responsible rather than you. Even many of the appliances are the responsibility of the landlord if they came as part of the contract (e.g. integrated appliances).

When you are the homeowner, however, the repair costs and other burdens are yours alone and believe me, those costs can really mount up and get prohibitive.

Short-Term Commitment
Buying your home is a long term commitment because the process of buying and/or selling is not only time consuming and stressful it is also a very expensive process.
You normally rent a property on a six or twelve month lease meaning that if you need to keep moving around or don’t like an area you can move from one property to another much more easily.
Conclusion:
Whilst many people hate the idea of giving their ‘hard earned cash’ to a landlord, there are most definitely many goods things associated with renting a property and is still the choice of many people for many reasons.