I’ve heard time and time again about the benefits of owning and the financial stupidity of renting a home. I’ve also heard passion from the other side say how owning a home feels a lot like The house that owns you.
Online calculators and articles usually tend to support the point they are trying to make. So what do we do?
Do we own, do we rent, Firstly?
What does the third option mean to you? Kiplinger contributing editor Erin Burt wrote back in 2007 that yes, you can live for free.
Here are the five sites:
1. The living room
2. Roommate swap
3. Home sharing
4. Moving in with Mom and Dad
5. Apartment management
So let’s just agree that there is a third option. However, we can disagree with the level of lifestyle that each of these options provides us with. Because it’s all about lifestyle. How comfortable will I be, what will people think, how “royal” can I make this place?
Let’s go through them one by one.
1. Sitting house. People do this all the time and all over the world. There are many sites where you can find people who would like someone to live in their home while they are away. Water the plants, feed the cat, pick up the mail, shovel snow off the sidewalk, etc. Being from a college town (Madison, WI) I knew two friends who stayed in a big old house for free while the professors were out on vacation or teaching for a semester abroad. Sitting at home can be a great way to save money on housing costs from a few days to several months. At some point, though, your landlord will return and you’ll have to find your next living arrangement.
2. Roommate swap. I actually see this in two ways. First, you own a home and take in roommates, who cover all housing costs. It is possible. Some people are able to get this through a duplex (live on one side and rent the other + bedrooms on your side). The second way is to live in a house that someone else owns or rents and provides them the service as a housekeeper, maid, personal assistant, etc. So there will be an understanding that the work will be bartered for reduced or free rent.
3. Home Sharing. This option can be great for people who have a serving heart and are willing to take care of someone who has physical or mental difficulties. Both my brother and my husband have set up these stands for people with various special needs. In many cases, the state government has programs that pay you to live in the home as a personal assistant, companion, or caregiver. (I want to differentiate between a carer and a carer – the latter is concerned with the property, not the individual.) Many of these jobs are brokered by an organization or other liaison who must adhere to standards of care to continue to receive funding and are more structured than roommate swap positions—as your duties may expand over time.
4. Moving in with Mom and Dad. Although it is very common outside the United States for an extended family to live under one roof, Americans are not very keen on this idea. We even have somewhat derogatory terms for them like TwixtersAnd Parasite Singles or Boomerang generation. We as a country care about independence, and of all the above options, this one is the most dependable. As blatantly and stereotypically stated in the Paramount Pictures 2006 movie Failure to Launch, kids in the home after the age of 18 are parasites.
5. Apartment management. There is a great deal of responsibility as a homeowner – and even more responsibility when you are taking care of an 8-50 unit apartment building. In her Kiplinger article, I believe what Erin Burt was referring to is a resident on-site manager (RM). RMs can be good or bad – depending on the situation. Since no two locations are alike, it is up to the property owner and the individual to determine the nature of the business in the trade. The on-site manager can choose to become attached to the property and work with it like a parent or they can choose to educate themselves, use technology, organize their work and neglect what they deem not necessary to do.
Everyone needs a place to live. It is entirely up to you to decide how much money and time you want to dedicate to paying for your home and the lifestyle you want to maintain in the process.
Any thoughts? Please comment below; I would love to hear from you.