True or False: If you can afford to rent, you can afford to buy

Talking about housing here. I heard that on a commercial this morning -- from a mortgage lender, of course. But it got me to thinking. Is it actually a true statement? I mean, your rent is covering someone else's mortgage plus a profit. Unless you have horrible credit, wouldn't you be able to get a better rate to buy?

Obvious caveats are those with low credit, those with roommates, and those renting from folks whose homes are paid off and aren't worried about covering the mortgage. But generally speaking, do you find the statement true or false? And if true, why do so many rent? Flexibility?

Posted: 05/14/2021 at 09:41AM

True or False: If you can afford to rent, you can afford to buy -- Nova Hokie 95 05/14/2021 09:41AM

Mortgage lender here....completely false ** -- HokieJamie 05/14/2021 11:22AM

False. You need credit, you need a down payment, and still need to be able -- HokieHigh 05/14/2021 11:16AM

False ** -- JoesterVT 05/14/2021 10:59AM

Rent is not ALWAYS higher than mortgage -- Beerman 05/14/2021 10:41AM

When I was buying my first home, the default assumption was -- Tafkam Hokie 05/14/2021 11:24AM

The higher standard deduction technically makes home ownership make less -- ME Hokie 07 05/14/2021 12:49PM

I was just barely itemizing before the deduction went up. -- Tafkam Hokie 05/14/2021 12:53PM

Purely comparing new home mortgages vs. new apartment rents here in CLT -- PhotoHokieNC 05/14/2021 10:53AM

I thought you were in Key West rn? ** -- statmanfromHCyrs 05/14/2021 11:15AM

Leaving manana ** -- PhotoHokieNC 05/14/2021 11:27AM

I own a few rental houses...they are smallish brick ranchers we bought a -- Tuckahokie 05/14/2021 10:03AM

When do you plan to sell them? -- EDGEMAN 05/14/2021 10:09AM

Probably keep them...they will be paid off in a few years, then the rents -- Tuckahokie 05/14/2021 10:23AM

Positive cash flow! ** -- EDGEMAN 05/14/2021 12:06PM

Slum lord ^^^^^^^^^ ** -- turkeywinghokie 05/14/2021 11:02AM

A prefer to say I have 3 houses on Baltic Avenue ** -- Tuckahokie 05/14/2021 4:04PM

Probably Frue. Or maybe Talse. -- Tafkam Hokie 05/14/2021 09:56AM

False -- hoosnowahokie 05/14/2021 09:54AM

False. -- ElbertoHokie 05/14/2021 09:49AM

Yep, gave a daughter the down payment on a home, lost her job and now we're -- AZHokie59 05/14/2021 09:57AM

Not sure what that has to do with renting vs buying -- Tafkam Hokie 05/14/2021 1:05PM

True if I read that correctly. At least, with buying, the -- AZHokie59 05/14/2021 2:04PM

Can? Probably. But it takes discipline for things such as down payment, -- turkeywinghokie 05/14/2021 09:49AM

False, assuming a reasonable down payment is required -- ME Hokie 07 05/14/2021 09:47AM

I think we went through this in 2008. ** -- RoswellGAHokie 05/14/2021 09:45AM

True or False: If you can afford to rent, you can afford to buy

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