If you’re considering buying a home instead of renting there are many factors to consider. This is not an exhaustive list but here are few things to keep in mind when making that decision.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, today's quick video is about buying versus renting a home and a few things you should consider. First of all, if you’re considering buying a home: one, be confident that you'll stay there for at least five years, ideally seven to 10 years at a minimum.

Number two, your total monthly housing costs, which include mortgage, insurance, property tax, and maintenance of the home should be less than 28% of your gross income. Now if you are a screenwriter or director how do you figure that out? Just take what you made throughout the year and divide by 12. That's your monthly gross income.

Number three, understand that the value of your house could actually go down. There are no guarantees that it will go up. Now we know, historically, that buying a home has generally been a good investment and the values do rise. But there's no guarantee, and it could go down.

If you want to continue renting, just know that some of the benefits are: you have a fixed monthly expense. Now landlords are going to landlord. I know that. They could raise the rent next year. But basically for 12 months you know about what your monthly expenses are going to be and it’s not really going to fluctuate that much.

Number two, you have geographic flexibility. You can move wherever and whenever you want to.

Number three, zero maintenance costs. If something breaks you make a phone call, you send a text, you send an email. Done. There are no maintenance costs for you.

So those are just some of the reasons to consider, but it's certainly not all of them. I do hope that you found this helpful, and most importantly do what is right for you.