Can I Really Buy A Home For Less Than I Am Paying In Rent?

While some rental brokers may still be trying to scare people into renting and trying to convince them to renew leases there is no question that throughout most of the country you can buy a home and have monthly payments for less than you are paying in rent right now, and San Diego is no exception. So, can you really buy a home for less than you’re paying in rent? Absolutely!

While the exact savings obviously varies from area to area and can depend on what home you are buying in comparison to what you are renting you could even find that you are saving more than half what rent is in your area. Take Lehigh Acres, FL for example homes can be found here for sale from as little as $30,000 to $150,000. Not old run down homes in need of lots of repairs either. Most of these homes are brand new, never lived in, 3 bedroom plus homes in decent neighborhoods. The average minimum rent for homes like this here is $850 per month. While financing $50,000 to buy one of these homes at today’s average 30 year fixed mortgage rate of 4.8% would only cost $262.33 per month!

What about down payments? A $50,000 home with 3.5% down as required for FHA loans is only $1,750. If you were to rent the same home you would probably have to put up first, last and security to move in, totaling around $2,550. So still cheaper to buy and put down equity in your own home than to rent!

It’s a no brainer really. Plus you have to consider that each month as a renter you are throwing away month that the owner is using to pay that home off for themselves while you could be paying down your own mortgage for a nice nest egg later which could be tapped in later years if you need the cash or left to your children.

Even if you don’t need a home right now think about the benefits of investing. Even if your total housing payment including taxes and insurance on a home like this was $400 a month you could make a profit of $450 dollar each and every month by renting it out to someone else. Imagine if you had 10 of these. That would be an extra $4,500 per month in income than you have now. That is enough for most people to retire reasonably comfortably on or even quit their jobs.