Luc,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I’m glad you liked the article.

However, I believe that you have actually fallen for the trap of assuming that renting a multi-family unit and owning a single family house are imminently incomparable.

I think they are perfectly compatible, and that the dream of owning a home has been marketed to perfection. This has left us with a population that strives to buy a single-family home, never asking themselves if it’s what they really want.

You mention that buying a single family home will leave you better off financially than renting, but you offer no numbers. I think you woefully underestimating the expense of maintenance.

Also, the average person only lives in a house for 10–12 years. Those mortgage payments have the highest interest and create the least equity. Then you need to use that for another down payment.

The other cost of owning a home is the opportunity cost, especially early in life. Gone are the days of graduating school and working for the same company in the same town for 30 years. Renting provides minimal cost and effort to take the opportunities to advance your career, much lower than selling then buying another house, if you even decide to move.

You talk about the quality of life that comes with owning a home, but whose life are we talking about, and by what metrics are you measuring the quality?

• Does freedom to decorate equal quality of life? What about the fees and responsibilities of HOAs? What about the paradox of choice?
• Does a yard to myself equal quality of life? What about the time spent mowing and maintaining it, where I could use that same time to play with my kids in a common area already taken care of by the company?
• Do quieter neighbors equal privacy? How many lawnmowers, leaf blowers, circular saws, and other random noises will I have to put up with every day of the week when I buy a house? Isn’t it nice to know that I only have to worry about everyone’s lawn being mowed on one day…while I’m at work?

I responded to an earlier comment about my experience with maintenance issues here, but here is the summary.

• Maintenance at multi-family town homes has been wonderful, with very few complaints.
• Maintenance at apartment buildings has been acceptable, but nothing to write home about.
• Maintenance at the one single-family house I rented was abysmal, and we quickly left.

My main contention about maintenance is that many (I would argue most) homeowners have neither the funds nor the interest in maintaining their house, and that most projects are driven by the pressure to keep up appearances.

Who wants that?

You mention that improper maintenance is a huge drawback to renting. I’ll agree. But I’ll also say there’s a solution for that.

I’ll be the first to admit that moving sucks, but if your landlord (either individual person who large company) doesn’t live up to their end of the bargain (with maintenance or any other reason), you can always find another place.

This is the invisible hand of the market at its finest.

Lastly, you mention getting kicked out of a house so the landlord can sell it out from under you. That is a horrible way to do business, and the landlords should be ashamed. I will also wager that this is more of a local problem, possibly amplified by your proximity to it.

There are always going to be assholes in any industry. If this has happened once, shame on the landlord. But if you walk into another situation and have it happen again, then I say reread your lease.

All in all, I still contend that at least half of the current homeowners in America would be better off financially and psychologically, if they gave renting the good old college try. It isn’t the perfect solution, but it’s oftentimes a damn sight better than owning a home you can’t afford and maintain.