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Owning is nice. But it's more limited and more time consuming. There's a cost associated with that. I'm not sure I agree that owning is limiting, it can be mor

Owning is nice. But it's more limited and more time consuming. There's a cost associated with that. I'm not sure I agree that owning is limiting, it can be more time consuming if you don't want to hire people to do the work that the condo gives you "for free", but there are few limits. In my last condo, a neighbor spent months trying to get approval to put a pre-fab sauna on her outdoor patio, she submitted the architectural review forms, made several changes so it would "fit into the character of the complex" even though it was on a back deck facing a natural area, no one would see it unless they walked in that 5 foot strip of land behind the complex. I'm not sure if it ever go approved, I moved out before she had final approval. On the other hand, my wife and I decided on a whim a few months ago that we wanted to put in a hot tub in our new house’s back yard. We talked to a contractor, he came out and did a site survey, then put us on a wait list for a hot tub. A few weeks later, he had a returned unit (new owner didn't like the way it looked) that matched what we wanted, the next week he brought it out and installed it. The whole process took about a month from start to finish, and probably could have taken a week or two if demand wasn't so high.

sokoloff 5y ago
I very much identify with this. During COVID, we wanted to get a trampoline for our youngest kid who really enjoyed using a friend's. How much aggravation was it? We own our house, so it was: Order it on Amazon, wait a couple days, then spend 90 minutes putting it together. The hardest part was finding one with fully enclosed springs that was in-stock. He's jumped on it an average of at least 5 days a week, including sometimes in a light rain if he had excess energy to burn off. If we had a rented place or a shared yard or an HOA, who knows whether we'd have ever gotten it done?
chiefalchemist 5y ago
Limited as in, you can't simply upgrade or down grade in say BRs or baths or location, or yard. Owning is a commitment. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that commitment; other than the fact there are costs associated with that. Those forgotten costs are often significant.
- Johnny555 5y ago
  Ahh yeah, that's mostly true, but it's still possible to add a room to a house, or change the yard to suit your needs, so I still think owning a house is less limiting. Though what you're calling a "limit" is really lack of stability -- you're free to pick up and move at any time when you live in an apartment, but your landlord is also (usually) free to ask you to leave at any time, so you can't count on having a long term stable place to live. I was forced into leaving my last 2 apartments, one was was the owner wanted to stop renting and move back in to her place. The other was when the owner raised the rent by nearly 50% at the end of the lease term. Now that I'm a homeowner, it's much less likely that I can be forced out of my home.

sokoloff 5y ago

I very much identify with this. During COVID, we wanted to get a trampoline for our youngest kid who really enjoyed using a friend's. How much aggravation was it? We own our house, so it was: Order it on Amazon, wait a couple days, then spend 90 minutes putting it together. The hardest part was finding one with fully enclosed springs that was in-stock. He's jumped on it an average of at least 5 days a week, including sometimes in a light rain if he had excess energy to burn off. If we had a rented place or a shared yard or an HOA, who knows whether we'd have ever gotten it done?

chiefalchemist 5y ago

Limited as in, you can't simply upgrade or down grade in say BRs or baths or location, or yard. Owning is a commitment. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that commitment; other than the fact there are costs associated with that. Those forgotten costs are often significant.

Johnny555 5y ago
Ahh yeah, that's mostly true, but it's still possible to add a room to a house, or change the yard to suit your needs, so I still think owning a house is less limiting. Though what you're calling a "limit" is really lack of stability -- you're free to pick up and move at any time when you live in an apartment, but your landlord is also (usually) free to ask you to leave at any time, so you can't count on having a long term stable place to live. I was forced into leaving my last 2 apartments, one was was the owner wanted to stop renting and move back in to her place. The other was when the owner raised the rent by nearly 50% at the end of the lease term. Now that I'm a homeowner, it's much less likely that I can be forced out of my home.