Video — First Time Home Buyers: Buy Now Or Keep Renting?

Buying a home and renting a home are quite different in the long run. Monthly cost is only part of the picture.

Renting does not involve the long-term financial commitments of buying. Renters generally have less responsibility for maintenance.

These short-term advantages can cost long-term leverage, though. Renters do not build equity (ownership); where part of each dollar a homeowner pays in a mortgage is coming back to them in equity, rent payments are purely an expense. Home owners also have tax advantages not available to renters.

Individual situations aside, home ownership has historically been financially advantageous. The costs — insurance, taxes and upkeep — are generally outweighed by the freedom, security and stability of ownership over time.