At the moment, I'm renting a rather nice unit in a rather old building. I suspect it would probably be cheaper to buy the place and pay a mortgage, since rent i

At the moment, I'm renting a rather nice unit in a rather old building. I suspect it would probably be cheaper to buy the place and pay a mortgage, since rent is likely to rise aggressively. But it's an old enough place that repair issues aren't just inconvenient - there's a possibility of serious damage, made incredibly expensive to address by historical preservation laws. If the owners get unlucky, they might well be on the hook for repairs costing much of the value of the house. It's been on my mind a lot, and I really can't imagine buying a place of that age and expense. Either I'd be gambling on 100 year old fixtures, or the amount of money I'd need earmarked for repairs would more than wipe out the savings of renting.