08/19/2025
There have been a lot of very rich people posting their thoughts on the internet recently about the Rent vs Buying process, and I think someone normal should weigh in.
This may sound self serving as I do sell real estate, but it is not. When I was in my early twenties, I bought my first house. It was $85000 in downtown CDA and it was a swing for the fences. I had a interest only loan at 9% that I struggled with for two years until I was able to refi.
This gave me a home base to start my life in. Roommates, a girlfriend or two living in, helped me keep it and eventually I was able to afford it on my own. When work took me out of the area I was able to rent it, so I got to keep my investment.
Flash Forward 20 years, I got the opportunity to buy a bigger home for my wife and I and we jumped on it. We were able to use the funds from the sale of that home to buy our new one. That's the only reason we've been able to stay and afford living here is because we took advantage of deals when they were available.
These rich people who own massive portfolios of rentals and investments want to keep you in their rentals building their wealth. Now with that said buying a home is not always the best idea. Sometimes you're working and moving a lot, then it makes sense to rent and that's what you should do.
This market is giving people the opportunity who are priced out before to buy again. Yes interest rates are high but you can adjust your interest rate, you can't adjust your purchase price.
Interest rates are temporary, but your purchase price is forever. That's something people need an extra reminder of.
Worrying about interest rates might make you miss your chance to get into the market. As the interest rates go down, prices will start going back up, you'll miss the opportunity to start building wealth.
Moral of my story is stop listening to rich people telling you to stay in your lane. Those people don't give two sh*ts about you, and I'm looking at the Dave Ramsey's, the Kevin O'Learys and the rest like them. Between them and entities like BlackRock who buy up massive amounts of homes just to control the rent, you have the opportunity to start building your own wealth.
Is it scary? Hell yes. Will it cause you some sleepless nights if a water heater goes out or something like that? Absolutely. But the opportunity for you to own something in your life that if you need to fall back on, you can, is priceless
