As interest rates have continued to rise, home ownership has eluded many who previously would have bought.

Many people are therefore renting rather than owning the home they live in. Renting tends to have a bad rap, and many people look down on it. But is it as bad as it’s made out to be? Well, it turns out there are some pros to renting. In this article, we will look at both the pros and cons of renting.

Pros of renting

1. It offers greater flexibility

If your lifestyle is not stable and you move around a lot, renting could be the best option. When you buy a house, you essentially commit to staying there for an extended period. A lot of time and effort is involved in buying or selling a house, decorating it, and making it feel like home. If your lifestyle or work requires you to move around, renting may be better until your lifestyle is more settled.

2. Affordability

Renting is typically more affordable than owning a home, although this is not always the case. A recent report by Zoocasa showed that renting was more affordable across all of Canada except for three cities; Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Saskatoon. Typically, renting is cheaper, though, and could enable you to save for a down payment on your own home or invest and utilize your income as you would like.

3. No maintenance and insurance

When you are a homeowner, maintenance and repairs are your responsibility. With renting, however, the landlord is typically responsible for the upkeep of the property. Homeowners’ insurance will be the responsibility of the homeowner as well. When you are a renter and pick up a problem in or around the house, you typically call the landlord to fix or resolve it.

Cons of renting

1. No return on investment

When you pay rent, you receive no return on your investment. The money you pay for rent leaves your hands and never returns to you. As a homeowner, you are at least paying down your mortgage and building up equity in your home.

2. Rental increases

Your tenant can decide to push the rent up whenever he wants. Usually, this happens once a year, but it could happen more frequently. When this happens, you can either pay the increased rent or move into another property.

3. No guarantee or stability

Because the landlord is the owner of the property, he decides what to do with the property and when to do it. This means that if he decides to sell, that is his decision, and you are at the mercy of his choices and decisions.