20 Real Estate Markets Where It Doesn’t Make Sense to Rent
Image via Wikipedia
The recent housing market problems have led to a situation where home values have fallen far enough in some areas that it just doesn’t make sense to rent. While it still costs a little less to rent in some places, the difference is small enough that you might as well buy and capitalize on the mortgage rate tax deduction and the possibility of appreciation when the housing market picks up. In the top two real estate markets on the following list, though, it actually costs less money than it does to rent. Here is the list, from BusinessWeek, of real estate markets that offer great buying opportunities right now:
- Detroit Metro, MI
- Pittsburgh Metro, PA
- Rochester Metro, NY
- Memphis Metro, TN (also MS and AK)
- Tampa Metro, FL
- Cleveland Metro, TN (apparently the OH side isn’t that great)
- Dayton Metro, OH
- Columbia Metro, SC
- Orlando Metro, FL
- Dallas-Forth Worth Metro, TX
- Las Vegas Metro, NV
- Riverside Metro, CA
- Providence Metr, RI (also MA)
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale Metro, FL
- Little Rock Metro, AK
- Atlanta Metro, GA
- Jacksonville Metro, NC
- Boston Metro, MA
- St. Louis Metro, MO (also IL)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro, MN (also WI)
Of course, you have to be moving to these areas to make it work for a primary residence, and who knows whether you have available jobs there. For example, Detroit has the highest unemployment in the country. How can you get even a cheap house if you can’t find a job?
Of course, if you are looking to buy as an investment, renting it out for cheap and then hoping to sell it on the recovery, it might be worth it. But it can be difficult to manage investment property from a distance if you don’t have a management company to help you out. In the end, it’s about what you think will work best.
However, if you are planning to buy sometime soon, you can find good deal almost anywhere — not just in these metro areas that have been the hardest hit.
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September 16th, 2009 at 4:35 am
[…] 20 Real Estate Markets Where It Doesn?t Make Sense to Rent Image via Wikipedia The recent housing market problems have led to a situation where home values have fallen far enough in some areas that it just doesn’t make sense to rent. While it still costs a little less to rent in some places, the difference is small enough that you might as well buy and capitalize […] […]