Rent a house or buy/build? How did you decide?

A quite important topic: Renting or buying/building? How did you decide and what were the reasons? Rent-free living in old age is not really the case even with a self-used property upon closer examination (constant costs for maintenance, renovations, etc.).

Buy, but so that we can still live and it is later age-appropriate (EG etw), the reason was our fixed rent price expired, the landlord wanted to increase it significantly and we wanted to enlarge the family. The house/apartment should realistically fit the income. Everything paid off stress-free by the age of 50. Not build xxxxl and then constantly have to do things on the house including cleaning.

Living exclusively in rented accommodation in old age - my personal opinion. Why? Own house: ties up capital, constantly costs money (maintenance and renewal) and is labor-intensive. Own apartment: see above, the advantage is that there is always a fixed service charge for the common property, as long as no extraordinary measures are due. Rented: rent is fixed - all other money can be spent on whatever (travel, living expenses, cars, hobbies, etc.). If something breaks in the apartment, I simply call the landlord. What can of course be discussed is the definition ([im Alter]). My mother (68), for example, moved out of her own apartment a year ago and now lives comfortably renting. With the proceeds from the sale, she can live carefree without any restrictions well into old age.

Whereas you always have to pay rent, for a lifetime. And increasing. A loan is fixed for 20 years if you choose a smart financing. And the income increases

With us, the rents are more expensive than our house installment. In this respect, the idea of "renting" quickly evaporated for us, since with renting, an ideal layout on less living space is usually not realistic.

We have a house on two levels, a courtyard with a garage and carport in front, and a garden and terrace behind, offering more quality of life at lower costs than in a 3-room apartment with a small balcony, stairs to the front door, and a rented parking space.

Burden now 775,- per month. Plus a home savings plan with 150,- for reserves as the house ages. In October 2022 we will be debt-free. What remains is the home savings plan, so rent would never be an alternative here. A comparable apartment would be more expensive for us. Karsten