This is my perspective of someone who is both a landlord and cancer caregiver on why you should own a house, and not rent. Home ownership is about survival, not money.
Renting works only if your life is smooth
You might hear people on social media say that renting is better than buying a house. They make it sound like renting gives you freedom and flexibility.
Renting works perfectly fine when everything in your life is going smoothly.
When you’re healthy and strong, you can move from place to place without worrying too much.
You don’t need anything special in your home, you just need the basics like a bed, a bathroom, and a kitchen.
The place doesn’t even need to be perfect. You can adapt to almost any living situation.
However, here’s the fun fact, some things as important as housing cannot be decided solely by using financial calculation to decide whether you want to rent or buy a house.
Anyway it is debatable whether renting or owning makes more financial sense but when you have a critical illness, it is no debate that owning a house is key to survival.
It is very hard to find a place to rent when you have critical illness
I am talking about severe illnesses like cancer, stroke etc … which impacts your ability to work.
Let’s say you do have to move while you’re ill. Here’s a big problem, most landlords including myself won’t want to rent to you.
Think about it from the landlord‘s perspective. They’re worried that you might die in their house.
They’re worried you might run out of money because treatment costs a lot. They’re worried your employer might let you go from your job because you’re sick too often.
In their minds, you’re too risky to rent to.
Why would they choose you when there are other people applying who are healthy and have steady jobs?
From my perspective as someone who owns property and rents it out, I will only rent to people who I’m confident can pay the rent reliably.
If someone is very sick, I would worry that they might not be able to pay, or that something terrible might happen.
That’s why owning your own home gives you security that renting never can. When you own your home, you don’t have to worry about whether a landlord will accept you.
You don’t have to worry about being kicked out. You don’t have to ask permission to make your home safe and comfortable for your needs.
Well, shit will happen sometime in life
Here’s what I really want you to understand, and this is the heart of everything I’ve been teaching you:
Don’t be fooled by people who say “I don’t want to buy a house” when the truth is “I can’t afford to buy a house.”
There’s a big difference between not wanting something and not being able to have it.
Sometimes, a house isn’t just something nice to have, it’s something you truly need. It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
And please, don’t make plans for your life assuming you’ll always be healthy and it’s important to be realistic.
Life can change in unexpected ways. Accidents happen. Illnesses happen.
And when they do, having your own home, a place where you have control, where you can make changes, where no one can kick you out becomes incredibly important.
The pandemic taught us a lesson
Remember when COVID-19 happened and everything shut down? That taught us a lot about the problems with renting.
During the pandemic, many landlords kicked their tenants out because they were afraid of the virus spreading.
Some raised the rent really high because they could.
People suddenly had to search for new homes during a dangerous time when going outside could make you sick.
Since everyone is doing the same thing, rental rates soared.
Imagine this situation. Your company says you can work from home now. That’s supposed to be good news, right?
But wait, you don’t have a home, because your landlord just kicked you out. You need to find a new place while also preparing to work the next day.
If you are single, it’s not so bad. But what if you have a family? What if you have elderly parents living with you, or young children?
Where will the kids go to school? You can’t just move anywhere. You’re limited to areas near their current school so you don’t disrupt their education even more.
Landlords can sense when you’re desperate. And when they know you desperately need a place right away, they’ll often charge you more money.
It’s like when a store raises prices during a shortage they know you have no other choice.
Here are all the things that could have gone wrong, when you are treating your illness
The landlord might kick you out: Why? Well, maybe someone else came along and offered to pay more money to rent the place.
Or maybe the landlord needs to sell the house to someone else. Or maybe the landlord couldn’t pay their own bills, and the bank took the house away from them.
Or maybe the landlord just decides they don’t like you anymore, even for no good reason at all.
The house might become un-livable: If the landlord doesn’t take care of repairs. The heating might break.
The plumbing might leak. The roof might have holes. It gets so bad that you have no choice but to leave, even though you are sick and moving is the last thing you should be doing.
Other tenants might cause problems: The landlord might rent another room to someone who plays loud music all night, or who’s mean to you or who makes your life miserable in other ways.
When you’re trying to heal, you need peace and quiet, not stress and conflict.
The rent might suddenly increase: One day, the landlord might say, “Next month, rent is going up by $500.” And if you can’t afford it, you have to leave, even if you’re in the middle of treatment.
The landlord might just be difficult: Some landlords are unreasonable. They might make strange rules, be hard to communicate with, or create problems for no reason.
Family Support: When someone is very sick, they need family members nearby to help them.
They need someone to help them eat, to help them walk to the bathroom, to help them get dressed, to keep them company when they’re scared or in pain.
But many landlords have rules about visitors. They might say, “No extra people can stay here,” This makes it really hard to get the care you need.
The list goes on and on .. but you get the idea
Final Thoughts
I know this has been a long lesson, and we’ve covered a lot of ground. If you can choose to rent or buy a home, always opt to buy a home early rather than renting.
Although as a landlord, I would prefer people to rent but I wanted to make sure you really understand why home ownership matters, especially when life gets difficult.
If you have the will to do it, there are ways to overcome the financial obstacles.
Your older self will thank you for thinking ahead and thank me for writing this.
