The Benefits of Home Ownership

Home ownership may be the biggest investment you will ever make. Buying your first home can be both exciting and a bit scary. There are many benefits of buying and owning your own home, which are outlined below.

The most important thing you can do when deciding to purchase a home is to take your time and do your homework. A Coldwell Banker realtor can help you understand all the consideration factors in order for you to make a wise choice.

There are many benefits to owning your home. Below provides a list of the top benefits:

Security

When you purchase and own a home, your mortgage payments will not change drastically over time. Therefore, owning a home protects you and your family against rent increases.

Lifestyle

When you own a home, you have greater freedom to decorate and renovate your home as you wish. In some cases, you might even get a financial return on your renovation or decorations when you go to sell.

In addition, owning your own home may afford you more privacy.

Lastly, many homeowners get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from owning their own home.

A financial investment

Home ownership is often the cornerstone of personal financial wealth. Once you own a home, you can often borrow against this equity when buying future investment properties.

When you carefully choose a home you can afford, the payoff can be great. Each month when you make your mortgage payment, you’re building equity. Equity is the portion of the property that you actually own through your payments, versus the portion that you still owe the mortgage lender. The longer you stay in your home and the more mortgage payment you make, the more equity you’ll have. And unlike most things you buy, a home can actually appreciate or increase in value as time passes, building more equity. However, there is no guarantee that the home will increase in value.

Lastly, there are also tax advantages. If you sell the home at a profit, the capital gains (profit) is tax-free.

In some cases, less expensive

Owning your home may actually be less expensive than renting, especially in Yellowknife. Your monthly mortgage payments may be less than what you would pay in rent for a comparable home. However, there are also additional costs associated with owning your own home including insurance, maintenance, utilities, etc. that you will need to consider when determining whether to buy or rent.