What are the advantages to renting instead of buying?

Whilst there is an urge for many to reach the first rung of the property ladder there is a huge appeal to renting rather than getting chained down by a mortgage. First and foremost, renting provides flexibility across the spectrum.

You can choose the area you want to live in and for how long. And if you don’t like your new home for whatever reason, then you can move on once your tenancy agreement has expired. Plus if your family expands and you would prefer to move to a bigger or quieter part of town, you can achieve this very quickly.

This suits a number of people. Those who are tied to a location for employment purposes for only a set period and those wishing to test living in a new part of the city before they buy the property. It even could be that you want to try out living in lots of different places in the city or that you know in a couple of years you will need to move closer to your child’s next school.

The same ethos applies if you want to buy property, but you aren’t 100 percent sure on which building to invest in, why not try before you buy. There is no better way to understand how a building operates than living in it.

That way you can gauge the level of maintenance, and how much your utilities cost each month. This will give you the chance to also figure out what configuration of layout works better for you as well as the direction that you would prefer to live in. Sometimes even renting can afford you to live in a location or building that you could not afford to buy-in.

Tenants are bound to look after the place that they rent, but they do not have other responsibilities such as paying for the common area fee or having to pay for the costs of any repairs. If you would prefer not to incur these costs or the thought of having to arrange repairs, then renting is for you.

Finally, if you are feeling risk-averse then renting rather than buying could be a good option. There is no investment to lose plus you know exactly how much your monthly outgoings will be each month. This is exactly why renting is so popular.