Don't Get Caught in the Renter's Trap

One of the main benefits to owning a home is that you are not a slave to rising rents. As a homeowner, you have the power to lock in your housing cost for the life of a lengthy mortgage.

In today’s growing Metropolitan areas like San Francisco and NYC, it’s easy to get caught in the Renter’s trap and succumb to rising rents as the landlord sees fit. The negative feedback loop occurs when increasing rents make it impossible to save enough for a down payment for a home.  

The top 5 markets where renters have seen the highest increase in rents since 2009 are:

• New York, NY (50.7%)
• Seattle, WA (32.4%)
• San Jose, CA (25.6%)
• Denver, CO (24.1%)
• St. Louis, MO (22.3%)

Homebuyers who were able to purchase their home over the same five-year period and lock in their housing costs were able to grow their net worth as home values have increased and their mortgage balances have gone down.

Still paying high rents? If you can make sense of it financially, now is a good as good of a time as ever to consider a purchase.

Alex Narodny

alex@marinrealestate.net