Is it really better to buy a home? My husband and I were playing with some figures and were quite surprised to see we are better of renting after for a 5 year period. We don't intend on owning the home after 5 years.
We live in the state of GA where real estate appreciation has been relatively slow but steady compared to other regions( about 6-7% annually).
We will be saving about $1250 mthly if we rented a fairly new 4bdr, 2.5 bath home , which equals $75,000 over a 5 yr period and that is more if we factor a 5-10% return depending on how we choose to invest the money ( about $87,000- $100,000).
If we buy a $300K home, our payments will be about $2750 including PITI. If it appreciates at 6 % yearly, after 5 years we'll have a home valued at $401,500. Assuming we sell for that high, our net profit after agent commission of 6% and 3% closing costs will be about $65,000.
It seems like a slam dunk to just upgrade and rent a nicer home. Are we missing something in this figures?