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Pros and Cons to Renting
Hello, I am a 22 year old female and I'm dating a 24 year old male. We've been together for about a year and a half and have been discussing moving in together. We've been looking but not very hard, he said starting in January, we will start looking harder and get finances and everything together and get this show on the road.
For the longest time, I've been so excited to do this and get my own apartment and everything but I've kind of been glamorizing it in my mind - decorating it cute, having my own place to make mine, buying all of my own things with only having to discuss it with my boyfriend. I haven't really thought about the having to get my own health insurance (I'm still on with my parents whom are self employed so they get it through a third party), having to get my own car insurance, but the one thing that I've been thinking about non stop is rent - the pros and cons of renting and so on.
My mom tells me that she isn't a big fan of renting an apartment because our money would go to the landlord and he does whatever he wants with it whereas money we pay on a house would go toward my boyfriend and I buying a house together. So my mom proposed that my boyfriend move into my house and we pay my parents rent and they will put it away for us to save for a house. Though, when my mom brought it up to my dad, he did not seem too thrilled and that made my boyfriend very uncomfortable and now he definitely does not want to live at my house. Another thing about my mom is that she was born and raised mennonite religion. So, her father was very against spending money on unnecessary things, having my parents be together over night let alone, move in together before marriage so that is just what she now believes. Now that I've told her that I'm not disrespecting her or demeaning what she says, that just isn't how relationships are and how people work these days. My boyfriend told her that we need to get out on our own to see if we are still compatible without having my parents or his mom to lean on and now I think she does understand it a bit better. My mom though, also has two best friends that have daughters that moved out to live in apartments and now they are both back home because they realized how much money they "wasted," so I also believe my mom is just afraid for that to happen with me as well.
On the other hand, my boyfriend's mom thinks that renting is the way to go. She said even if we just get a lease for a year, it will be a lot of money but she said that is the only way we are going to learn how to live together and get our money in order. He makes more money than I do but I like to think that even though I don't make as much, I'm very good at saving my money. I think we are both doing okay for our ages (not bragging or anything at all and I'm sorry if you think that's what this is but he has 9,000 dollars saved up and I have 11,000 saved up) so as of now, I don't believe that we would really have to worry about money. Though my boyfriend has also stated numerous times that if I fall behind on anything, he will pay for what I cannot, although I hate being that girlfriend that would let him use his money to pay for my portion, it is nice to know that he would catch me if I fall behind. His mom said living together would also be a very determining factor of if we can stand each other 24.7, if we can deal with how to other one lives at all times, how the other person cleans up, you know, all of those things that I don't really see with just the occasional sleepovers.
Although, I don't doubt that he is the guy I want to be with forever, I also think that living together would be very beneficial. I just cannot get over what my mom said about money for an apartment versus a house. We both know that we do not want to buy a house together at this stage of our lives so I guess this entire lenghty back story to my life was just leading up to my one small question of : what are the pros and cons of renting an apartment? Have you or someone you've known gone broke by renting? Have you or someone you've known tried it and hated it or maybe they loved it and have lived in an apartment for years on end and plans to for a long time. I want to hear all about your stories and why you would like it or hate it. Thank you!
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Your mom is both right and wrong. Renting anything is throwing money away as you will never own it. Where she is wrong is there are times when renting is appropriate. Buying a house before you and your boyfriend are sure you are headed to a life together is wrong. If six months into owning the home you find you can’t live together unless one of you can afford to buy the other out you must sell the home. At best you might get what you paid for it minus taxes and closing cost. Those fees add up to more than what it would have cost to rent an apartment for a year or more until you are both sure you both want a life together.
Now on to the other things you are concerned about; Health Insurance. You may be able to stay on your parent’s health insurance until you are 26 years old. They would need to check with the policy holder’s insurance company. If not you would need to pick that up either through your work or through the Obama care insurance exchange.
Now as to what it is going to cost to live together? This requires sitting down and listing everything that goes into living on your own. In other words make up a budget. At the top of the list goes the rent and insurances. Make sure to include renters insurance which covers your property in case of fire or theft. Your landlords insurance only covers the building and the landlords’ property not any of the renter’s property.
You and your boyfriend are already one step ahead of most couples your age as between you in savings you have $20,000 which is more than enough to cover the rent on a nice apartment for a year. The rule in budgeting for an apartment and what a landlord wants to see is three to six month’s rent in savings. Below is an example of what items should be budgeted for. Bear in mind a budget is a plan and not always carved in stone. Meaning sometimes you must rob Peter to pay Paul. If you budget properly you won’t or shouldn’t need to move money around to cover expenses.
Budget Items
Rent
Insurance Renters
Insurance Car(s)
Health Insurance
Utilities (Phones, Gas, Electric)
Food-Groceries, house hold items
Car Repairs*
Gas*
Pet’s needs (If any)
Dry cleaning
Savings
Entertainment (This is a must item you
Don’t want to be apartment poor)
Unexpected Urgent Matters (This would include urgent travel
To see a sick loved one, Funerals, Weddings, Etcetera)
*These two could go under the heading of transportation
You should include anything you feel I left out. Phone around and get quotes on the insurances. Since this is a first budget figure high as it is better to be under budget than over budget. After 3 months look at your budget and make corrections where needed.
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