Reddit reviews The Wealthy Renter: How to Choose Housing That Will Make You Rich

I highly recommend reading The Wealthy Renter: https://www.amazon.ca/Wealthy-Renter-Choose-Housing-That/dp/145973646X

Re: "paying rent for nothing" - You're always paying some form of 'rent'. To be super simplistic "Rent" is payment made for the use of something.

1. If I'm renting a house, the math is pretty obvious... my rent is whatever rent I pay, plus any utilities or insurance. My principle form of rent is the literal rent and is paid to the landlord.
   There's no investment I get from it, it's just money I pay to use the space.
   
   
2. If I'm buying a house, the math is less obvious. My rent is a combination of the financing interest, utilities, taxes, and maintenance+condo fees. Usually for schmucks like us the principle form of rent is financing interest (and condo fees) and is paid to the bank (and condo corp).
   There is also an investment I get from it - the mortgage principal payment, and any gain/loss in the value of the home.
   
   
3. If I own a house with no mortgage, I'm still paying rent. In this case, I'm paying the same utilities/taxes/maintenance fees as in #2, and I have another primary rent cost: opportunity cost.
   So for example, if my house is worth $300K, instead of having that $300,000 in an investment account making a conservative 5% annual compound return, I have it tied up in an asset (the house). The math is complicated and assumption laden, but in this scenario the simplest calculation of my opportunity cost rent is ($300,000 x 5% return / 12 months = $1250 per month).
   The investment I get from this is any gain/loss in value of my asset (aka house).
   
   Sorry if that seems a bit pedantic, but I think it's an important linguistic distinction because we're always told (usually from our parents' generation) "don't pay someone else's mortgage with your rent". But the reality is that we always pay rent no matter what. What actually matters is being smart about the numbers and understanding your own assumptions and risk tolerance/comfort levels. I find most people who own really don't know their actual full cost of ownership or their 'rent' cost, but think it's worthwhile information to figure out and think about.

Could check out: https://www.amazon.ca/Wealthy-Renter-Choose-Housing-That/dp/145973646X

TLDR: renting is typically cheaper in the long run than purchasing a home/condo, with greater freedom. Theres more to it than that, definitely give it a read.

I'm personally living at home just because my family home is better than anything I could afford.

I've enjoyed this one. The book contains a lot of good arguments for renting and discusses buying vs renting in major Canadian cities

Maybe check out the wealthy renter if you feel like your wasting your money renting. https://www.amazon.ca/Wealthy-Renter-Choose-Housing-That/dp/145973646X

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