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We’re always led to believe that buying a home is the best option for us. Regardless of whether it’s a house or a small apartment, we’re told that owning something beats renting it. However, is that really the case?

Below, you will find a few arguments against this as I’ve come up with three reasons you should rent instead of buying:

More Affordable

No matter how you look at it, renting a home is more affordable than buying one. Houses and apartments aren’t cheap, and you’ll need hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase one. This often means you need a mortgage, which leads to you paying back a massive loan for decades. Essentially, you’re still making payments every month, just for this mortgage instead of rent. Plus, miss a rent payment and your landlord will probably let you pay it in a few days or when you have the money. Miss a mortgage payment and you might get hit with penalty fees and increased interest rates. Renting a property is more affordable and easier to manage when you rent a place that’s well within your budget.

More Choice/Freedom

I decided to couple two things into one point as they kind of relate to one another. When you rent a property, you have a lot more choice available. There are full apartment complexes like WaterStone with dozens of properties up for rent. Complexes like this are seen everywhere in every city. On the other hand, you see far fewer properties up for sale compared to those up for rent. Plus, you have more freedom to move when you rent. Rental contracts can sometimes last as little as 6 months. This means you’re free to pack up and move somewhere else if you want a change of scenery. You can’t do this when you own a property, you’re stuck living in one place unless you want to go through the effort of selling a home.

Less Responsibility

When you own a home, you’re responsible for everything. If the electricity goes, it’s down to you to fix it. If your washing machine breaks, you have to go out and buy a new one. When you rent, a lot of things are the responsibility of the landlord instead of you. They’re the ones that have to provide you with a home that’s good to live in. So, if issues come up, it usually falls on their shoulders to resolve them for you. If you have issues with your plumbing, they’ll have a plumber come in and take care of it for you, without you having to pay.

Granted, there are plenty of reasons you might want to buy a home instead of rent one. The purpose of this article isn’t to get everyone to start renting. Instead, it was more to show you that buying a home isn’t the be all and end all. If you can’t afford one right now, don’t worry! You will see lots of benefits to renting that will put you at ease.