Then you'd be the exception, nationally speaking.
When the market was red-hot for housing, particularly in SoCal, home prices were going up by 20-25 percent in the early part of the decade, whereas rents were only increasing by 3-4 percent per year (based on keeping track of places we had lived before we bought). Now home prices have peaked and are declining, but rents have yet to "catch up". I can understand were Vegas is different because housing prices are SO depressed and there's so much available inventory, apartments really do have to compete. Most areas in the country, they don't because apartment occupancy runs in the high-90's.
Case in point--when we bought out house in CA in 2001, Prop 13 says we were limited to a max 2 percent per year increase, regardless of the home's real value (until someone else bought it and it was reappraised).
So if we bought in 2001 for $300K, the 2002 value would max out at $306K, 2003 at just over $312K, and so on.
Had I managed to hold onto the house until now in CA, it would have a taxable appraised value of about $360K based on a purchase 9 years ago at $300K. However, the PRICES, which peaked in 2006-07, are still well above a 2 percent annual gain...for example, my house sold for DOUBLE the purchase price a mere 5 years after we bought it, and even with the downturn, is still showing a net positive (comps in my old neighborhood are still in the $550-600K range). Or you could be like the poor dumb bastard who bought our house when the prices were at their absolute peak and not get a drop in his appraised value, unless he managed to apply for one--and trust me, the state of California will NOT make that an easy process on you.
Or, if you're like us up here in NH, even when the appraised value of a home dropped 20 percent since purchase (mine actually dropped 17 percent), the town still has X dollars budgeted, and even with mandated spending caps, the mill rates MUST increase to overcome the decrease in appraised value, which is what happened here--my tax rate went from $20 per $1000 appraised to just under $23 per $1000 appraised, yet I managed to (for now) pay less.
It is all a crap shoot now a days.-------Rent VS Owning-----
Benefits of renting an apartment-----little to no yard work---Hotwater heater, winter heater or air conditioning ,stove or refrigerator blows up, not your problem. A bad storm takes off the shingles on the roof, a flood comes along----not your problem.
Noisy neighbors can be a problem, as can the hike in rent each year.
Then come the rules, no pictures hung with nails on the wall, no pets, no smoking no guests that stay more then 7 days.
Buying a home has even more problems. Anything that goes wrong is your responsibility, from needing new wiring, up dating plumbing, major appliances die on you, wondering if your insurance company will drop you due to storm damage or the area you bought into takes a turn for the worse. One can spend countless hours painting the outside, mowing the grass, BUT, if a meths lab moves in next to you, the neighbors allow their property to go to hell, no way can you just move out and sell for anything but a loss.
Then owning has to take into consideration that if you wish to install a garage, put up a high HAM antenna, raise chickens then there are zoning problems and the scum bags that surround you can put a halt to your project are Abattoir's and have no need to put out one penny for a lawyer but YOU do. Every improvement you make will cost you an arm and a leg, build a deck and property taxes go up, put in a pool, ouch, that will hurt on resale as I know of people that when selling had to fill in their $40,000 pools to lower the huge tax hike for a buyer.
All up to you how you wish to live, spend $2,000 bucks on a flat screen TV 0r take a Cruse, buy a brand new car and pay $400. a month or visit a state that you have never been to.
It is priorities here, What do you want to do with your life.??
