I've read some discussion of whether to rent or buy a home, and I've had the experience of both. We bought a small fixer-upper in 2006 (housing market peak), for $160K with 20% down. We invested $20K in updates, but the house was a money pit and still needed a new roof and a major plumbing repair when we ended up getting rid of it (Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure...long story). The bank sold it for $89K in a neighborhood that had 5 other foreclosures on our street.
So we lost our $50K+ that we put into the home when we moved out of state and were unable to rent it out, and have to start fresh. For us it was worth the loss to live in this new city where the culture aligns with our values, DH can walk/bike/bus to work, he makes 30% more money, our kids can go to the local charter school (vs. the shitty public school in our old area), we're (happily) further from dysfunctional family members, and so on.
We're paying $1550 to rent a house now (1400 square feet near downtown, 3 beds, 1.5 baths, nice yard where I'm allowed to have a veggie garden, tap the maple tree for syrup, and harvest cherries from the cherry tree!). We are in no position to buy a home anytime soon. The home we're in is worth $200K according to zillow, but most homes in the area are actually selling for $250K+.
Based on what I've read, we should intend to continue renting as DH's income of $90K isn't enough to COMFORTABLY afford a $250K+ home, especially if he intends to retire early at some point.
So we're emotionally prepared to rent long term, but worried about possible rent increases or for some reason having to find a new place to rent (we would love to live in this house another 5 or 10 years).
My question is - what about the longer term? Would it make sense to always rent until we get old and die (or go into a retirement community or nursing home or whatever happens to us), or should we be planning to SOMEDAY actually buy something, even if the goal is to buy it outright?
Buying makes sense in that, at some point if the loan is paid off, we could enjoy NO monthly payment (no mortgage or rent), whereas if we intend to always rent then we will always have to pay a significant monthly amount (even for renting a smaller place in a cheaper area).
So to make a very long story short, I guess my question is, if you are planning to rent long term, should you also be planning to buy at some point in your life?