Articles are coming out fast and furious regarding the best course of action when it comes to buying or renting a home. CNN released this article Friday Buy vs. rent: These days, buying wins. Well thank you CNN for stating the obvious.

I agree if you do the math then in some markets you will see that on a day to day evaluation renting might be cheaper TODAY. Doesn’t anyone think of tomorrow anymore? It seems the market although it might feel as if it is depressed is simply finding its way back to normal. I remember my first home purchase, not wanting to spend too much on repairs for fear of over spending and pricing the house above the market . Yet with a bit of  normal appriciation I made a wonderful profit on that property.

In our world of instant gratification, many of us don’t even think about the future value of real estate.  But for those who do, I believe there is no need to waste the lead of a pencil to figure out that buying always beats renting over time. Beyond the forced savings plan having a mortgage creates (as long as you pay it every month), think of the tax advantages that still exist today. Going back to buying my first home it was pure pain paying my mortgage that first year but getting a big tax refund that year, what a pleasant surprise that was! The pride one is able to take in their home is yet again one more element that just cannot be valued in dollars and cents.

Here is the point: Sometimes the short term pain of saving enough for a down payment and the belt tightening that is needed to qualify in today’s mortgage market is well worth the long term financial benefit it will create as opposed to simply throwing money out the window that is caught by your landlords bank account creating that same savings plan and tax advantage for them.