This is Optimal Finance Daily. We should have rented instead of buying by Amanda Cruz of

Women Who Money.com. No one likes to waste money. When Alan and I were newly married, we thought

renting was a waste of our money, and we didn't have that much money, so of course we wanted to stop

throwing it away. But our misguided

beliefs on renting versus buying led us to buy a house before we were ready, and before we could

truly afford it. We dove into home ownership far too soon in two instances. In the end, we spent

thousands more than if we'd rented longer.

This article shares our story and why we should have continued to rent instead of buying a house.

The idea that rent is a waste of money.

We bought into the adage that renting is a waste of money.

I can't say precisely where it came from, family, friends,

or society, but no matter, it was there, and to us, buying a home felt like an urgent financial

matter. There's some rationale there. In certain circumstances, buying can make more sense

than renting. Becoming a homeowner might make sense if the mortgage payment

costs much less than rent. You know you'll live there for several years, or you plan to pay off

the mortgage. Yet some folks buy a home because they consider it an investment. That was us.

While it's true that real estate can appreciate, it usually doesn't

rise much more than inflation. And in most cases, it shouldn't be a primary reason for buying over

renting. But we were young and didn't think it through. We wanted to own a home, so we rationalized

it by considering it an investment. Plus, it felt less wasteful

than rent since the principal payment helped pay off the house. This thinking led us to purchasing

two homes within a year, to avoid rent. But in the end, it cost us much more than renting. Why? Most

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