Benefits of Owning your Own Home

Your home can be the Best Investment you will ever make. As a fairly general rule, homes appreciate about five percent a year. Some years will be more, some less. The figure will vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, and region to region.
Five percent may not seem like that much at first. But take a second look…
Presumably, if you bought a $200,000 house, you did not pay cash for the home. You got a mortgage, too. Suppose you put as much as twenty percent down – that would be an investment of $40,000.
At an appreciation rate of 5% annually, a $200,000 home would increase in value $10,000 during the first year. That means you earned $10,000 with an investment of $40,000. Your annual "return on investment" would be a whopping twenty-five percent.
Of course, you are making mortgage payments and paying property taxes, along with a couple of other costs. However, since the interest on your mortgage and your property taxes are both tax deductible, the government is essentially subsidizing your home purchase.
Your rate of return when buying a home is higher than most any other investment you could make.
It is important to look at many aspects when planning for this major investment: location, floor plan, cost of neighboring homes, amount of work to be done to make it "yours", etc. A good and experienced Realtor can help you look for things that matter. Keep in mind that one thing that is really important is, "Do you like this home and can you see yourself here for some time?"