A home is more than just a roof over your head—it’s a place where you can expand your family and create lifelong memories. Did you know that, on average, homeowners are happier than renters? Here are 10 ways buying a house can boost your happiness!

1. A Sense of Pride 

There’s a certain sense of pride that comes with owning your own home. It’s a tangible symbol of your hard work and success. Plus, when you’re renting, you know you’ll likely move out eventually so you’re less likely to care about the various features in your apartment. 
But when you’re looking around your home, you see your doors, your floors, and your walls. That feeling of standing in the middle of your living room and looking around thinking, “this is mine” is a really special feeling that can never be replicated in a rental.

2. More Control Over Your Living Space

Have you always dreamed of a gorgeous blue kitchen with gold hardware and marble countertops? Now that dream can become your reality! When you’re renting, you’re either prohibited from making any changes or have to go through the effort of putting everything back to the way it was when you first moved in. The result? Most renters don’t put effort into changing up their wall colors, cabinet hardware, or window treatments. 

These small changes make a huge difference in the way your space looks and feels, and go a long way to making a space feel like your own. When you own your home, you’re in complete creative control. Whatever you dream up can come to life with a little elbow grease (or the right handyman). 

If you’ve only rented up until now, just wait for the feeling of standing in the middle of the Home Depot paint aisle contemplating all of the beautiful colors. Or looking at the TV mount that needs to be drilled into your wall and not immediately thinking, “this is going to ruin any chance I have of getting my security deposit back.” 

It’s so exciting knowing that the possibilities are endless and that you can make your home into your perfect little oasis.

3. Greater Sense of Community

Homeownership can provide a greater sense of community than renting. When you own a home, you are more likely to become involved in the local community and put effort into meeting your neighbors. 

Since you’re looking forward to putting down roots, you’ll seek out local neighborhood activities and stop to say hello to your neighbors. If you have kids, you’ll start to meet other local parents at school drop-off or school functions.

It will also become important to have a few go-to community members you can lean on if you’re out of town or want someone to keep an eye on your house. When you’re renting, you’re less concerned about a water pipe breaking when you’re out of town or packages being left in your building’s lobby. But when you have a home, it’s really helpful to have a few people you can rely on to let you know if anything seems off while you’re away.

4. Feeling of Being Settled

When you’re in a rental apartment, you face the dreaded rent increase every year. You know the one… Each year, about a month before your lease is up, you get a letter from your landlord asking if you’d like to renew and letting you know how much your rent is going to increase. Sometimes, it’s only a tiny increase and isn’t a huge deal. But sometimes it’s enough of an increase to have you looking up alternate apartment listings and thinking about moving. 

When you own a home, you’ll never have to worry about that dreaded lease renewal again! Knowing you can stay in your home as long as you like is such a comforting and relaxing feeling. When you’re not worrying about potentially moving every year, you can settle into your home and neighborhood, confident that you now have a place you belong. 

5. Financial Stability

When you buy a home, you often need to take out a mortgage to help you afford the cost of the house. While this can seem like a really scary commitment for a lot of people, it’s actually more financially stable than renting. A 30-year fixed rate mortgage means that your monthly payments stay exactly the same over a 30-year period. 

There are two advantages to this. The first is that over time, due to inflation, your mortgage payment actually decreases. Let’s say your monthly mortgage payment is $1,800. $1,800 today is worth a lot more than $1,800 30 years from now. Over the next 30 years, your salary will increase, but your mortgage payment will stay the same at only $1,800.

The second advantage is that knowing exactly what your mortgage payment is going to be helps you budget. When you’re renting, you have very little control over what your landlord wants to charge you. So every year, you have to redo your budget and figure out if you can still afford to live in your apartment. But when you own your home, you know exactly what you’ll be paying every month for the next 30 years.

6. Tax Breaks

Homeownership can also provide a lot of tax benefits*. In most cases, you’ll be able to deduct your monthly mortgage interest. When you secure your mortgage, if you purchased points to lower your mortgage interest rate, you can usually write these off as part of mortgage interest. If you need mortgage insurance, you can usually deduct this cost as well. 

Property taxes are another big tax break homeowners can get. Depending on where you live, property taxes can be fairly high because they go toward keeping up the neighborhood and funding the schools so it’s nice to be able to write these off on your taxes. 

Additionally, any energy-efficient improvements you make to your home can usually be deducted. These are things like energy-efficient doors and windows, insulation, heating or cooling equipment, solar panels, and more. Just make sure you keep your receipts!

*Remember: you always need to speak with a certified accountant regarding tax benefits.

7. Long-Term, Equity-Building Investment

Did you know homeowners have an average net worth 40x that of renters? One of the biggest financial benefits of homeownership is that you’re building equity over time. As you pay down your mortgage and the percentage of your home that you own increases, you are building wealth that can provide financial security and peace of mind.

Additionally, real estate is a great long-term investment. While property values fluctuate slightly in the short-term, property values tend to increase over time. So the longer you hold on to your home, the more it will appreciate in value from when you purchased it. 

8. You Call the Shots

Have you ever had a leaky sink in your apartment that you really want fixed but the landlord is dragging his feet? Of course, on the one day when you’re juggling a million things, the super knocks on your apartment door to fix the sink. While you’re really happy it will get fixed, you wish the super could have come at literally any other time!

With homeownership, you get to call the shots. That means if you have a leaky sink, need an exterminator, or want a handyman to hang up a new shelf, it’s done on your schedule. Say goodbye to inopportune knocks, inconvenient drop-bys, and landlord delays.

You are in complete control of what gets done and when it gets done.

9. Customizable Place to Grow Into

Usually the house you purchase will be larger than the apartments you’ve been renting. This is really great for having customizable spaces that you can grow into with your family. If you’ve been in a two bedroom apartment, you’ve likely used them as two bedrooms, or maybe a bedroom and an office. But typically, a house will have additional rooms or extra spaces that can become offices, eventual nurseries, home gyms, or even crafting spaces. 

As your needs change or your family grows, you can repurpose these spaces over time to fit your lifestyle. If you end up needing to do construction or major renovations, you’re free to do so because you own the property! Just make sure that whatever you’re doing is likely to help the home appreciate in value in the future so you’re making your money back if you decide to eventually sell. 

10. Place to Make Memories

One of the greatest joys of being a homeowner is having a space to make memories. From Sunday morning pancake breakfasts to notches in your doorway with your kids’ heights, you’ll have so many incredible experiences in your home. 

Renting is such a temporary living situation and you often relocate depending on your income, rent increase, or circumstances. But owning a home is more permanent, and it can be an amazing opportunity to create lifelong memories that can be passed down through generations to come.

Owning a home is one of the most exciting investments you can make. If you’re interested in learning more about purchasing a home, we’d love to chat with you!

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