Should you rent or own a home?

First time home buyers are always skeptical and afraid of getting into a long term commitment to buy a home. For most renting is the best option as they know it is a fixed amount they pay each month and then forget about the utilities and other home ownership related costs like utilities, property taxes, landscaping, maintenance, and the like.

But is renting really a better alternative? There are no wrong answers to this question. The tenants may have some issues with their credit, job, and other personal stuff for not going to be a home owner.
There are a couple of problems which come with a tenacy. The ones that I could some up are as below:

1. The safety of your family: How well do you know your landlords? You gave all your information when you rented a home, but did you think about getting homeowners information? No, Most of us don't do that for the fear of rejection. Checking up with neighbours is not a bad thought though.
2. Interference in your life-style: The landlords seem to dictate how you should be living in their basements or homes at all the times. Exceptions are always there. You find unable to host even little parties as this may be considered as noisey by the landlord and then getting an eviction notice or harrassment.
3. Stalking: When you come back from work, you always find as if someone has been through your entire living area, a personal domain and it is a freaky feeling.
4. Instability of life: Though signed tenacies are valid for one year, but under certain circumstances the leases can be terminated. A change in your residence may change your kids' schools, your daily commute expense, and so many inter-related things.

 The following table sums up the equity realization by a home owner vis-a-vis money loss by a tenant.

Particulars	Renting	Break-up (Buying)	Buying	Remarks
Purchase price	n/a		370000	The mortgage calculations are based on full price as CMHC Insurance nullifies the down payment to a greater extent.
Down Payment	n/a		18500	5%
Monthly Mortgage Payment		1790
Monthly Utilities		300
Taxes		329
Total Monthly payments	800		2419	@3.30:% roi, 5 YRS, On $370,000
Rent increase	3.1%		n/a
Total payments in 5 years	51000		107,400
Recaptured Principal	n/a		52538
Effective expenses	51000		54862
Property appreciation @ 4% per year	n/a	14,800
Value of property after 5 years		74,000	444,000
Net return in 60 months	Nil		126,538	This is your gain in 5 years.

Should you have a credit problem and can support mortgage payment only after one year, Rent-To-Own program could very well suit you. To know more on how it works you can call me by using my contact form available here.
Your comments are most welcome.

Disclaimer: Not intended to solicit clients already under brokerage contracts. The information projected herein has been provided only for the sake of research and  no representation of any kind is implied. The user of this information is advised to seek independent legal advice (ILA) before acting thereon. The information is intended only for research purpose. The numbers or data projected herein may change with market conditions beyond the control of sales representative and brokerage.