Life Goals: Renting or Buying a Home

 Dear Diary Readers,

I have a few life goals, short-term and long-term for myself. One of them is to get my own place. I currently live with family and I do love it. However, learning to be alone in the real world is essential. To make it a reality, saving money will be critical. 

There have to be steps broken down to save up the money. Paying rent or a mortgage is not the only expense to deal with. Having money saved up for utilities, water, heat, etc is crucial to survive. Additionally, location can be a big factor because large cities are more expensive compared to less populated cities. Although I love my hometown, I'm considering moving to a different CT town where living costs are lower. 

Renting or buying a house has pros and cons. I go back and forth with this because I'm not sure how committed I want to be to one property. Renting is perfect because there's no ownership, you can sign for however long you want your lease to be, and it's easier to move when you switch to a new place. The cons would be that you won't build equity over time. The rent goes to the landlord to pay for their mortgage. Buying a home is great because you have complete ownership to do anything you want. Also, equity will build up over time in case you sell your house. The cons are that there's more responsibility for yourself to maintain the property, like for landscaping and repairs.

I don't know what I'll end up doing, but I know I can start to save as soon as possible. I'll see you in the next post!

Sincerely,

Jasmine