- My husband and I bought a house in the suburbs instead of renting a home or apartment.
- There are plenty of reasons to buy instead of rent, but if I had to do it over, I would just continue renting.
- Costs add up quickly when you buy, and we ended up with way more junk than if we had rented.
I live in a townhouse in suburban New Jersey with my two children, husband, and a cat.
My husband and I got pressured into buying the house by well-meaning relatives who insisted that renting was throwing away our money. They also kindly helped with the down payment. We have a garage and a basement, which is great for storing all those bikes, hand-me-down clothes, boxes of unsorted papers, and other things we want out of sight and mind.
But if I had it to do all over again, I think I would just continue renting.
Every choice you make cuts off the what-ifs of how your life might have turned out. I wonder what else would have happened if we had been free to settle elsewhere without feeling like we were "pulling up our roots." What life decisions would I have made differently if the house was not weighing me down?
Here are my biggest regrets after buying my home instead of renting it.