Owning a home of your own has long been labeled “The American Dream” but is this a worthy title or a common misconception? Taking a variety of factors into consideration, we’ve compiled this list of 7 reasons you should rent, rather than own a home.
1. Save Money:
While owning a home is considered by some to be one of the best investments you can make, it does not come cheap. Simply do the math; by adding up your initial closing cost and sizable down payment, your monthly mortgage bill, homeowner’s insurance, property taxes and general maintenance expenses that will inevitably accumulate, there are considerable expenses associated with home ownership.
As you can see, although renting might feel like you’re just giving money away, on the plus side, the monthly payments are substantially smaller.
2. Flexibility & Mobility:
If you’re hoping to make your mortgage payment even remotely manageable, it will require a substantial down payment and a loan lasting in the neighborhood of 20-30 years. Ask yourself; can you see yourself staying in one place for that long? Well, if you’re someone who likes a change of scenery from time-to-time or is considering a career change that might require you to move across the country, keep in mind that buying a home can be an extreme strain on your mobility.
Buying a home can tie you into a multi-decade agreement and location, renting is a great way to stay mobile and highly flexible with your residential options.
3. Less Maintenance Responsibility:
One of the most nagging nuances of home ownership is maintenance. Be it a broken pipe, a leaky roof, a broken window or a blown water heater, when it’s your home, it’s your problem. On the other hand, as a renter, you essentially get all of the day-to-day benefits of owning a home, such as privacy and space; however, you get to avoid the ultimate burden of responsibility. Just call your landlord – the owner.
4. Options & Variety:
When it comes to picking your place of residence for the next month, year or 30 years, you’re entitled to get exactly what you want. Unfortunately for prospective homebuyers, there are always more options available to renters. In addition to the many apartments and condos available for rent, now that the housing market is struggling, many owners are renting out their homes to help pay their mortgage, making for an ever-growing spectrum of rentable residences.
Whether it’s a budget studio or a luxury suite, there are simply more options when it comes to renting than what is available in the buyer’s market.
5. Credit Leniency:
Having less than stellar credit in this world where “Credit is King” makes it difficult to rent and near impossible to buy. That said, for those with a sub-par credit rating, finding a landlord who will accept your score may be difficult but it’s much more likely than finding a lender – the rental market is simply more lenient when it comes to credit scores.
Additionally, a bad credit score will make for a proportionally higher mortgage rate and more interest paid; however, if you can find a landlord that is willing to work with you and your low credit score, they legally cannot charge you a higher monthly rate because of your struggling credit score and you’re therefore entitled to the market rate, nothing more.
6. Renewal Options:
Whenever a 10, 15, 20 or 30-year mortgage is signed, your opportunities to alter your agreement are then few and far between – with the exception of one, maybe two refinances along the way, you’re stuck in an extremely long-term contract. In stark contrast, because most rental agreements are only 1, 6, 9 or 12 months, by renting you now have the luxury of reevaluating your situation much more frequently and, due to the number of options available on the renter’s market, you can simply choose to renew your lease or negotiate all new, more favorable, terms.
Further, it’s worth noting that the penalties for breaking a rental lease are far less severe than defaulting on a mortgage.
7. Simplicity:
Long-term contracts with little flexibility, excessive square footage, unexpected maintenance, frequent yard care, property taxes, homeowners insurance, etc; all of this comes with owning a home and all of this is complicated. Renting, on the other hand, requires one check to be submitted at the beginning of the month and everything else is taken care of, courtesy of your landlord.
The truth of the matter is that owning a home requires an extreme amount of attention to a variety of financial and physical obligations. That said, if you’re an individual who appreciates a life of simplicity, renting is a great way to minimize your cares and live a simple life, free from the complicated duties that inevitably come with owning a home.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article highlighting seven reasons to rent rather than own. While it’s definitely the dream of some people to own a home of their own, we trust that this information offered another perspective, illustrating that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Lincoln Property Company is excited to announce their continued partnership with WhiteFence; allowing future and current LPC residents to find the best pricing for services such as utility, television, phone, and more, in one convenient online location.
Lincoln Property Connect is a complimentary service to make the transition to a new LPC-managed apartment home even easier. Powered by the high-speed Internet service, WhiteFence, Lincoln Property Connect helps users find bundled service packages near their soon-to-be apartment community by just typing in their new street address. Not only can a future resident sign up for their phone, cable, and Internet services with a customized cost-saving package, they can also connect to local moving companies, change of address forms, and useful moving checklists in a single online session. These service providers have agreed to give users a Best Price Guarantee for the products and services that are ordered on the Lincoln Property Connect site making “shopping around” a thing of the past.
Also built for the current LPC resident, Lincoln Property Connect displays local and national service providers (applicable to their specific apartment community) if a resident is looking to make a change from their current provider(s). The Lincoln Property Connect search tool helps find everything an apartment resident may need, including furniture rental, washer and dryer appliance rental, renter’s insurance, maid services, tech support, and home alarm system providers.
Lincoln Property Connect makes moving a simple, relaxing process, saving time and money to make the LPC living experience just that much better.
LPC is focused on helping clients find affordable apartments that fit their needs and acquire to their tastes. Providing a service such as Lincoln Property Connect makes the search that much more personal, unique, and easy. Not only does Lincoln Property Connect display bundled pricing for national companies such as AT&T and Time Warner, the online search tool provides links to preferred LPC providers for services such as furniture and washer/dryer appliance rental. These partnerships allow for LPC residents to benefit from special programs and pricing not found at other apartment management firms.
Whether someone is looking for a new couch for their living room or looking for a new cable provider for a new apartment, Lincoln Property Connect is the one-stop shop aimed at making a resident’s life easy. Links to Lincoln Property Connect can be found on LPC’s apartment website, LincolnApts.com, and most individual LPC community websites.
Arizona State University is preparing for a major expansion at its SkySong Innovation Campus in Scottsdale this month. In partnership with Plaza Cos. and USAA Real Estate Co., the university is embarking on a $44 million residential component known as the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center. This new apartment community will include approximately 325 residential units that are planned to open by October 2013 and will be available to not only ASU students, but to all apartment seekers in the area. Construction of the apartment project will be in four phases that stretch out to April 2014. MT Builders will handle construction and Lincoln Property Company will manage the community.
SkySong project includes approximately 325 residential units that will be open by October 2013.
Click here for more information on this exciting new project!
The 2012 Houston Apartment Association’s Honors Awards were held Tuesday, June 12. LPC is proud to honor Houston team members and award recipients Tiffany Rose and Brittany McDowell! Also achieving a top Honor Award was San Montego located in West Houston. Congratulations to this year’s HAA Honors Awards Winners!
Tiffany Rose received the coveted Manager of the Year award for communities with 150 units or less. Tiffany has served as the property manager in the multi-family industry since 2000. During her tenure with Lincoln, she has served on various planning committees and has received many honors, including, Spirit of Lincoln and was the Gold Medallion winner for 2010. This award is the highest honor one can receive within LPC and she was awarded this is 2010. Additionally, she has scored at the top of multiple audits and has served as a Certified Training Associate for Lincoln Property Company. She has been on numerous Houston Apartment Association committees and currently sits on the Resident Relations Committee at HAA. She was also nominated for a Houston Apartment Association Achievement Award for Property Manager of the Year in 2010. Tiffany excels in the areas of recruiting new talent, as well as training and developing long term successful associates. She has had the honor of watching multiple Assistant Managers under her direction move on to be promoted within Lincoln Property Company. Tiffany stands out in developing and implementing marketing plans for lease up properties as well as properties in distress. Tiffany’s current property is 100% leased.
Brittany McDowell was honored with Leasing Consultant of the Year at this year’s ceremony! Brittany has been an outstanding employee for LPC and has a positive approach to her position and her career and future with Lincoln Property Company. Brittany is great with guests, resident and owners. Brittany uses her knowledge to handle difficult situations at work or to overcome objections. Her supervisores trust that Brittany can handle the property in the absence of the property manager without any trouble. Over the last year Brittany has been promoted from Leasing Professional to Assistant Manager, and in a short time was promoted yet again to Business Manager. During her multiple promotions, Brittany still managed to receive her NALP designation.
San Montego was awarded Property of the Year in the 300+ units built from 1990-1999 category.
San Montego is West Houston’s premiere, luxury community! This beautiful community offers spacious 1, 2 & 3 bedroom, newly renovated, garden style apartment homes which includes private attached garages and a superior list of amenities that give each floor plan that special custom-home feeling. Distinctive design features include Silestone countertops, Whirlpool stainless steel appliances, Konecto style wood flooring, custom stained cabinetry, fossilized stone fire places, 9’ ceilings, master suites with walk-in closets, over sized marble garden tubs with jets and private patios.
Enjoy the Resort Life with lush tropical landscaping, a beautiful sparkling lagoon style pool with waterfalls, as well as a hot tub. Check out the Health and Wellness Center which offers complimentary Pilates and Water Aerobics classes. San Montego’s state of the art gym with sauna also features complementary Strength Training classes. Our newly renovated clubroom offers four flat screen televisions with surround sound, IPOD doc station, full gourmet kitchen, and 15ft bar area, shuffle board table, a resident business station and monthly resident activities. Residents enjoy the conveniences of on-line bill payment and service request, 24 hour emergency maintenance and free on site recycling.
San Montego is located in the magnificent Energy Corridor which is the third largest employment center in the region. Nationally and internationally recognized employers include Mustang Engineering, Shell Exploration and Production, Sysco Corporation, Technip USA, Shaw Group, Dow Chemical, Foster Wheeler USA and ExxonMobil Chemical Company. This great location includes activities like Terry Hershey Park, George Bush Park and Ray Miller Park with the convenience of retailers, drug stores, restaurants, salons & boutiques.
San Montego not only offers free on-site recycling to its residents, but has also gone paperless. All resident communications are completed through e-mail, so that paper is saved. We also make “Green” choices when making purchases such as, energy efficient bulbs and 14 Seer air conditioning units. The right steps in the “Green” way helped San Montego decrease our common area electricity usage by 26,772 kWh (thousand watt-hours) and decreased our natural gas usage by 675ccf (hundred cubic feet) in 2011 compared to 2010.
Hosted by The Business Journals and sponsored by Capital One Spark Business, Social Madness is a national social media competition between 4,000+ businesses in 43 participating cities across the US. Businesses have thrown their names into the hat, vying for recognition for their social media efforts, hoping to move through the competition brackets with ease. Three overall champions will receive $10,000 to donate to the charities of their choice.
Starting June 1, the thousands of participating companies will try to increase their social media reach through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to become one of three national champions in three size categories based on employee count. Each of these three national winners will be able to designate a favorite charity to receive the sizable donation. LPC’s home charity, Lincoln Charities, Inc., is no doubt ready and waiting to receive our potential winnings!
The Social Madness challenge will evaluate Lincoln Property Company and all other nominated companies’ social media mastery by a scoring algorithm that measures social influence. The algorithm will track votes on the Dallas Business Journal website, Facebook activity, Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections for each company during the challenge period.
Click the badge below and select Dallas using the drop down menu. Go to the Large Companies tab and vote for Lincoln Property Company. Fan and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn from the voting page! Both votes and number of fans and followers count!
Newly built in 2010, Flats 130 are new luxurious apartments in Washington D.C. for rent offering countless amenities, inspired views, and top quality interior finishes in the NoMa neighborhood. The NoMa neighborhood gets its name for its location: North of Massachusetts Avenue, an area that is rapidly becoming the core for all things new and exciting within the District. The NoMa Business Improvement District is also home to many large and important employers such as, Sirius XM, CNN, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and the U.D. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Life Changing Apartment Amenities in Washington D.C.
These apartments for rent in Washington D.C. offer unbelievable amenities that will make you never want to leave your community. These amenities include a sparkling rooftop pool, 24-hour two-story fitness center to improve your fitness and create a healthy lifestyle, a multimedia clubroom, a Wi-Fi lounge, and grilling areas with fire pits to enjoy family and friend barbeques! Flats 130 also offers 24-hour maintenance, 24-hour lockout service, and 24-hour concierge service having someone always be able to assist your every need. Joining the green movement, Capital Bikeshare program and Zipcar rentals are also accessible. Top Quality Interior Finishes
If the amenities weren’t enough to draw your attention, the luxurious top of the line interior finishes certainly will. Offering affordable one or two bedroom floor plans, your apartment in Washington D.C. will have modern European style cabinetry, ceramic tile flooring, marble countertops in baths, and spacious walk in closets. You will also enjoy floor to ceiling windows and private patios and balconies. The lavish interiors will provide you with a feeling of extravagance but also comfort since all finishes and floor plans where thought with the satisfaction of the customer as the number one importance.
The Flat 130 Lifestyle
Your new luxurious and stylish apartment in Washington D.C. boasts a walkable lifestyle, that gives residents instant access to the Red Line metro at New york Avenue Station, a 50,000 square-foot grocery store, a Hilton Garden Inn hotel, and extraordinary fine dining, shopping, and fun nightlife. Everything you need from quaint coffee shops, banks, stores for every purpose and employment will be found at Flats 130 at Washington D.C.!
Flats 130 is now leasing at 130 M Street, Washington, DC 20002, contact us today!
