1. Do you have strong positive family ties to the area? Including in-laws. 2. Is your area where you’re currently living your querencia, your place of the hea

1. Do you have strong positive family ties to the area? Including in-laws. 2. Is your area where you’re currently living your querencia, your place of the heart? As contrasted against just the first place you landed after university. 3. Do you have or expect to have kids in the near future, or does your ideal potential mate want kids? If the answer is yes to any of these three questions, lean towards house. Overheated markets? Not your querencia? Want your family raised in a detached house in a decent area but priced out for the foreseeable future? You have a relocation decision, not a rent/buy decision. Bonus question: Can you support two mortgages, or rent+mortgage? There are a lot of paradises where you can build a house pretty cheaply. Rent for work, and build/buy for life. There’s a Buddhist calm that comes over your life when you own your own house free and clear in a place you love.