5 Lifetime Renters Share Why They Choose Not to Buy a Home

If Richard Kahn, 71, a financial professional, won the lottery tomorrow, even that wouldn’t tempt him to buy a home. “To be clear, I’m not giving up on anything,” he says. “I’m not losing anything that I would personally attach any value to.” He’s among a growing number of lifetime renters, people who can’t or have little desire to swap their lease for a mortgage. About a decade ago, he was a homeowner, but a lot has changed in his life since then: His kids have all grown up, he got divorced, and decided that he wanted to live in New York City again, where he was born. “I’ve been a full-time renter for the last 10 years, and I plan to be for the rest of my life,” he says.

In the United States, home-buying is among the prime indicators of not only personal success, but the economic strength of entire generations. It’s the backbone of the American dream, considered a fundamental rite of passage, and generally touted as the gold standard of financial security. So people who are consciously removing themselves from the property ladder can seem like an affront to the societal lessons that have been taught for so long.

And yet, it’s a decision more and more people are making. New data shows that renting is cheaper than buying in almost every major US metro area, and a 2023 study from GOBankingRates found that 26% of people surveyed preferred renting over buying. In 2017, Pew Research revealed that renters occupied a record-number of US households, and 32% of those individuals were renters by choice. According to The Hill, Gen Z in particular favored renting, with more than 50% saying it was a better financial decision. Could they be right?

Renting is better for certain lifestyles

Richard Kahn lives in Anagram Columbus Circle, an apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan just steps from Central Park, which he says is his favorite place in the world. He loves that renting affords him access to a number of amenities in the building—such as a rooftop, an impressive gym, and a number of community lounges—that would be hard to recreate in a single-family home.

Additionally, the community he’s found in the building is an irreplaceable gain. “There’s a social connection, which in the post-pandemic era we’ve all come to value and understand,” he explains. He enjoys sharing his home with people in all stages of life and the constantly changing cast of residents that comes with people moving in and out. “I couldn’t duplicate the community in this building, and it has such a profound and positive impact on my life in New York City,” he says.

Elizabeth Aldrich, 35, a personal finance journalist at Forbes Advisor who lives in Portland, Oregon, watched her dad purchase nearly a dozen homes and retire early off of the rental income. She witnessed firsthand that buying property can be both lucrative and liberating. And yet, she has no plans to purchase a home herself. “I still prefer renting at this point,” she says.

An avid traveler, Aldrich spent most of her 20s visiting different corners of the globe. “I really like having the freedom to jump around, travel, and potentially move to another country for a year or so if I want to.” She prefers novelty over normalcy and doesn’t feel the pull to settle in one place. “I like to be able to switch it up,” she says.

For her, renting lets her mold her home to her current interests and lifestyle, which she says changes every few years. Right now, she wants to live in the middle of a city. Maybe in a few years, she’ll be craving a more secluded retreat deep in nature. “You can renovate, but it’s expensive and time-consuming. I would rather just spend a week packing and move to a totally different place that suits my needs more.”

She even sees renting as a benefit for those interested in design. “I love the ability to move around every few years and have a completely different canvas to work from,” she adds. She and her partner are moving soon and have been looking for new apartments. Recently, they toured a unit in a high-rise building that looked like an 1980s time capsule. “It had a wall of mirrors and so many fun features, and I was really inspired by the idea of being able to decorate it,” she explains. “But I also know I wouldn’t want to live there for 20 years.”

Renting can offer greater convenience

Derek and Jackie Bauer, 46 and 45, a couple who live at 95 Horatio Street in a rental building called The West Coast, say the convenience of renting is another major draw. Their building is located in the Meatpacking District, a waterfront neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan, and they’ve called the same address home for the last two decades. “With owning, there can be so many unexpected fees,” Jackie says. “I think people underestimate renting.” If something breaks, help is a call away and they don’t have to pay to fix whatever is out of service.

Renting also means less time worrying about chores, like lawn care or repairs, which, as Aldrich explains, can be extremely important. “I consider time my most valuable asset, and I like having that free,” she says.

The Bauers have twin daughters, and one of them is a competitive figure skater. “We travel so much for that,” Derek says. “We once spent months in Lake Placid and felt comfortable doing that because we didn’t have to worry about maintaining a home.” They’re open to the idea that one day, their child’s Olympic dreams could take them to a new city or state. “If that time comes, we don’t have to worry about selling everything,” Derek says, “It’s just easy.”

The financial myth of renting

Though renting can support a number of lifestyle preferences, money is often the core of home-buying conversations. Chloé Daniels, 32, who runs a financial literacy company called Clo Bare, is trying to destigmatize renting and rebuke the idea that owning is always a better financial option.

Daniels lives in San Diego and could buy, but “right now, it is not a financially smart decision, even though the traditional narrative is that it always is,” she says. Currently, she spends $3,000 per month on rent in Southern California, which affords her 1,000 square feet of space in a central location and access to a fully furnished backyard. To buy something similar, she’d expect to pay at least $600,000 for a condo. “I don’t like the idea of having to save $120,000 in cash for a 20% down payment and tie that all up in one asset,” she says. “And if I don’t do that, then I’m looking at having a $6,000 a month mortgage.” Of course, that doesn’t take into account HOA fees, property taxes, or repairs that may come up down the line.

Because she’s choosing not to put homeownership above all other financial goals, critics might argue that she’s throwing away money, but she disagrees. “We don’t think about that in any other way that we spend money,” she contends. “Renting is not a liability for me. It’s just a cost to live somewhere.”

By the same logic, there are many places where homeowners “throw away” money too. In 2023, Zillow found that buyers can expect to pay around $15,000 annually in “hidden fees”—things like property taxes or utility payments—in addition to maintenance or other bills. In some markets, this can go up as high as $22,000.

It’s for many of these reasons that an increasing number of personal finance experts have denounced home-buying and prompted the public to rethink a primary house as a guaranteed path to financial stability. Robert Kiyosaki, author of the popular personal finance book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, agitated many people when he wrote that a house is not an asset, but rather a liability. When the book came out in 1997, this contrarian advice was heavily scrutinized. However, within a decade, the United States was in the midst of one of the greatest housing market crashes in recent history, proving his point. Others like Ramit Sethi, host of Netflix’s How to Get Rich, and Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung, authors of Quit Like a Millionaire, have also questioned the viability of home-buying as a financial tool.

Building wealth without owning a home

Daniels recognizes an important distinction that is often left out of the traditional home-buying narrative: Housing doesn’t have to be a money-making venture. It can just be where you live, ideally a place that makes you feel happy, comfortable, and safe. “Could I go buy a home in the middle of nowhere? Yes, I could,” she says. “But do I want to do that? No. I want to live in San Diego.”

Instead of trying to squeeze her finances or settle for less than she’d expect from her home, it makes more sense for her to invest money elsewhere, such as in low-cost index funds or mutual funds, which generally keep pace with, if not outperform, the real estate market anyway. She says that knowing exactly how much she’ll spend on housing each month—without any hidden or unexpected expenses—helps her plan the rest of her monthly liabilities better, including how much she can invest in other places.

Aldrich, the journalist, shares a similar opinion. She lives in Portland, Oregon, one of the most renter-friendly cities, and with the current housing market, she says renting is cheaper for her than owning. “I can invest the money that I would have spent on a house in the stock market that makes comparable returns to what people make on residential property,” she explains. “But I have a lot more flexibility, and I don’t have to wait until the house sells to realize those returns.” In addition to investing in mutual funds for long-term goals, she also takes advantage of CD laddering.

Kahn, the New Yorker, prefers renting because it takes away pressure from uncontrollable variables, such as unexpected market changes or drastic life shifts. “There’s a sense of lightness attached to being a renter,” he says. “If everything in my life were to change—and I’m optimistic it won’t—I know I just have to make it to the end of the lease.”

Should you never buy a home?

Kahn doesn’t want to own a home again, but that doesn’t mean he thinks no one should. “Owning a home was great when I was raising kids and wanted to give them stability,” he says. “But I’m in a different place in my life now.” Most people interviewed agreed that there are benefits to owning a home, and that in a number of cases it can make sense. But as they also argue, it’s not the only way to cultivate a secure, stable, and happy life.

Renting, of course, does not come without its own drawbacks either. Management can change rental terms at the end of the lease; renters often have less agency in making major renovations or changes and are frequently at the mercy of their landlords (unfortunately, some simply don’t follow through with their side of the bargain). But as the affordability crisis in the United States worsens, the discussions surrounding lifetime renters will become even more prominent. It’s for this reason that Daniels hopes to show others the ways they can use renting to their benefit. “I want people to be able to afford a home if that’s what they want,” she says. “But that’s not an opportunity for everyone, so, while we’re trying to change systems, we can explore other financially smart and lifestyle-supportive options.”

Among the most important questions that potential home-buyers should ask is, do I even want to own a home? If the answer is yes, then it can be a fruitful endeavor. But if one is leaning in the opposite direction—either by circumstances or choice—there shouldn’t be a stigma in that decision either.

And as Kahn argues, though there can be financial arguments in favor of renting, the psychological ones might be even more compelling. As he puts it, “Having that feeling of lightness, portability, and flexibility are foundations of a happy, healthy life and can have a profound effect on your outlook on everything.”