Why renting is always more profitable than owning

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What if we overpay in vain every time we buy instead of rent? Do we really need all these purchases, if it is often cheaper to rent a thing?

"Do you have an apartment?", "And a car?" - the answer to these questions somehow immediately changes the attitude towards a person. It is believed that if you bought something expensive for yourself, it means that you have achieved a certain position in society. Somewhere it is, because for all these purchases you need to make money. But what if the purchase is, in principle, not necessary?

A few days ago, I suggested that my new friend take a boat ride down the Dnieper. From my previous communication with her, I concluded that she was from a wealthy family. And here's the dialogue we got:

I go on a boat once a year or less, so buying a boat has always seemed foolish to me. But this dialogue made me think about why some people want to buy and own everything without fail, while others live as they like and, if necessary, rent things.

Ownership is essentially the same lease.

When a married couple buys or takes on a mortgage an apartment, in the society it evokes approval or at least understanding. The young family wants to equip themselves with a nest, they want stability, so that the children have a place to live and so that there is something to be inherited. Anyway, real estate is one of the few more or less reliable ways to invest capital. After all, if you have the means, why not buy an apartment?

We will not even consider examples of some wealthy people who do not buy apartments for themselves, but live in rented housing (like Artemy Lebedev). Apartments are now painfully overvalued, this is understood even by people who do not have deep knowledge of real estate and construction. If we calculate the cost of an apartment (let it be $ 200-500 thousand) and compare it with rent (let it be $ 10 thousand per year or $ 500 thousand over 50 years), it turns out that the costs of buying and renting are approximately comparable. Of course, owning an apartment, like renting it, has its obvious pros and cons. The only catch is that ownership is essentially the same lease.

Nothing I have really belongs to me.

Dido

How long will the house you bought last? 30, 40, 100 years old? If you think that in 50 years everything will be fine with your apartment, look at the Khrushchevs. In general, very few houses outlive their owners. It turns out that buying an apartment is like a long-term lease. It is not for nothing that in China, for example, buying an apartment gives the right of ownership for only 70 years.

How about a car? Are you buying a car - forever? Even if you don't change it, how long will it last for you? 10-20 years old? Then he will go to the junkyard, and once he was all yours. It turns out that buying a car is also a long-term lease.

How about human life? The human body, which is given to us completely free of charge, is also not eternal. We, in fact, rent our bodies - some for 30 years, some for 60, some for 90 years. We ourselves do the European-quality repairs inside, choose high-quality "gasoline", drive the body for "technical inspections" to the doctors. But the body is still not ours, because it is not eternal. We cannot possess something for centuries, therefore we cannot call it possession in the full sense of the word.

Is there at least one thing in this world that we can truly possess? Unlikely. Houses will collapse, cars will break down and rust, and the former "owners" will go to another world.

Why do we buy?

A person living in a world of instability is ready to pay double the price for any guarantees. When buying an apartment, we hope that no one will evict us from there and that the repairs can be done to our liking, without entering into disputes with the owner. When buying a car, we want to be sure that it will always be available when needed. And we buy new clothes to be sure that no one has worn them before us and that they will always be at hand.

A person has only 24 hours in a day. How much time can you devote to your belongings? A couple of hours for a car, 10 hours for a suit, a few hours for a phone and an e-book, 20 minutes for a bike. The rest of the time these things are idle, while they could serve someone else. But you paid for the full time - isn't it an overpayment?

When buying something that can be rented, we pay extra for a sense of confidence. And this feeling often has little to do with reality, as in the case of cataclysms, wars and earthquakes that can raze your house to the ground, and in the case of ordinary everyday troubles like a stolen car or accidentally torn jeans - there are no guarantees anywhere.

Therefore, if you see a person who lives in rent with a calm soul, take off your hat. He has a steel endurance, he does not need guarantees. But if a person has an obvious love of shopping and an excessive desire to save up for a house / yacht / boat / plane, then it is possible that he thus seeks to compensate for his fears, to feel safe and to establish control over his life. Pat him on the shoulder.

Morality:

By renting, you do not overpay for guarantees and confidence in the future. Therefore, renting is more profitable than buying.