My Thoughts on Renting Versus Buying By Miles Barr, 6 September 2025 | Reading time: 6 mins --- Overview Miles Barr explores the common debate of renting versus buying a home, emphasizing that behavioral and emotional factors often outweigh the financial math typically discussed. He argues that understanding lifestyle choices and decision-making behaviors is far more important than focusing solely on numerical comparisons. --- Key Points Buying a Home Isn’t Really an Investment Homebuyers often make decisions based on lifestyle (location, school districts, neighborhood, amenities) rather than financial calculation. Home features like granite countertops or open floor plans appeal emotionally but rarely translate into wealth. Real estate investors focus on cash flow, appreciation, risk, and investment returns. Emotionally-driven purchases generally underperform compared to investor-focused buying. People Tend to Overbuy Buyers often try to plan for 5+ years ahead, upgrading far beyond immediate needs. Renters usually prioritize short-term needs and are more pragmatic, willing to compromise. Buyers tend to spend more on furniture and home upgrades to match bigger homes, increasing overall costs. Financial advantage disappears if buyers purchase homes and furnishings that significantly exceed what they’d rent. The Flexibility of Renting Is Undervalued Renting provides flexibility to move easily: closer to work, different neighborhoods, or new cities. Leases are short-term, allowing quick response to job changes, promotions, downsizing, or financial hardship. Homeowners face costly and time-consuming sales processes that limit mobility. Flexibility can indirectly boost net worth by enabling career growth and financial resilience not captured in calculations. Why the Home Investment Myth Persists Stock market investments currently outperform housing investments in most major cities. The myth stems primarily from homes acting as a forced savings vehicle. Mortgages require non-negotiable payments, enforcing savings discipline for many who otherwise wouldn’t save or invest regularly. Homeownership’s wealth creation is more behavioral than financial — it encourages saving rather than generating exceptional returns. --- Conclusion The rent-versus-buy decision depends more on personal behavior, lifestyle, and priorities than pure financial math. Renting generally benefits disciplined savers and investors by offering mobility and alignment with life changes. Buying suits those who value stability, or who need forced savings discipline to accumulate wealth. Buying should be a conscious lifestyle choice, not just a default assumption or financial strategy. Author currently chooses to rent and would consider buying only with full awareness of these factors, aiming for affordability and potential investment upside without illusions of financial optimality. --- About the Author Miles Barr Socials: X | Instagram | GitHub --- Related reading: Why I Don't Believe in Bitcoin