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Rent or buy

How renting compares to owning your first home

It's an age-old question – rent or buy? Both lifestyles come with their own freedoms and constraints. But one of the problems with weighing up renting and owning is that there's no fixed set of pros and cons. It all depends on what you want, what you need, and where you’re at in life. Here we look at a few of the ways you might look at the renting/owning divide.

Flexibility vs. security

If you're a renter in Victoria, you're probably bound by a lease that lasts for six or 12 months. That's great news if you're a fan of moving around – you can easily try a new spot, or put your stuff into storage and travel.

The downside is that your landlord also has the power to pull the plug. You could suddenly find out that your rent is going to become unaffordable, or that the house you live in is going to be demolished. Regular moving is also a massive hassle.

As a home owner, you’ll always have a base to come back to you. You can also relax knowing that there’s no landlord to dump you, because you’ll be the landlord. The extra stability can also give you a lot more resilience to handle major life events. When your housing’s secure, so are you.

Unaccountability vs. power

If you're a renter, a lot gets done for you. You don't have to worry about renovations or decorating, and if your home needs repairs, that's somebody else's problem.

But with little responsibility comes little power. Although you’re not accountable for the maintenance of the house, you don’t have much control over the space you live in. And you could still get blamed if anything goes wrong. Everyone hates having to pay half their bond to get a tiny wine stain out of the carpet.

As a home owner, you’ll have to take care of repairs yourself. That might be annoying at first if you’re not an outdoors type. But ultimately, you’ll have more power to make your home more comfortable for you, and the freedom to live how you want to live.

Present thinking vs. future thinking

This is the big one: are you happy renting paycheck-to-paycheck, or do you want to work towards making your life better down the track? It might seem easy to sign that lease for another year, but you’ll thank yourself for getting onto the property market sooner rather than later.

Buying a house is way easier than a lot of people think, and Tick Homes makes it even simpler. We’d love to see you own your own home, so take the first step towards being the master of your own destiny and get in touch with our team today ­– we’d love to hear where you’re at.

Give renting the boot2


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