[Ed Miller]

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Whatever, isn't owning more financially responsible than renting?

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Not necessarily. It depends on the current real estate market and how the price of renting compares to the price of owning.

Owning also incurs significant fees... commissions, transaction fees, taxes, etc, which tend to be a fixed percentage of the price of the home (that is, the up front and back end costs are typically significantly greater than the recurring costs). That fee structure punishes quick turnover.

Bottom line is that owning tends to make sense (financially) if you plan to be somewhere for a long time, and renting tends to make sense if you plan to move within two years (and sell the property).

Real estate prices in the Vegas area are also currently bloated with respect to rents (for instance, a $300,000 house with about a $2,000 monthly mortgage and tax payment rents for maybe $1,200). So that also tips things in favor of renting.

Bottom line is, if Elaine and I planned to be in Vegas for five or more years, we'd buy a house. In fact, up until recently, that was our plan, and we were house hunting. But we changed our minds, decided we wanted to travel, and aborted the hunt.

In retrospect, I do wish that when we got married we'd have rented a house for a few hundred a month more rather than rented this apartment. Not that I hate the apartment or anything... it's in a nice neighborhood, and it's conveniently located to places we like to go. But we want a dog, and a house would have been better for that.