租房好还是买房好

 　　After nearly twenty years of homeownership, I’ve spent the past ten months renting an apartment. I like it. And I don’t. There are pros¹ and cons² to renting a place, just as there are pros and cons to owning a home. For me, one of the biggest cons is the close proximity³ to my neighbors — especially the guy upstairs, who stomps⁴ around like an 800-pound gorilla⁵.

　　At first I thought that buying a home would also be a smart financial decision. The more research I do, however, the more I realize that the notion of homeownership as a magical path to wealth is a marketing⁶ ploy⁷ of the real estate industry. In fact, home prices (like gold prices) generally barely keep pace with inflation.

　　There’s no question that buying a house makes sense for some folks, but mainly for non-financial reasons. Owning a home gives you stability (you’re not at the mercy of a landlord) and freedom (you can do what you want with the place). But financially, it’s not always the best bet.

　　Here in the Pacific Northwest, I’m finding that the annual cost of owning a home — taxes, interest, insurance, maintenance, HOA fees — is often greater than the cost of renting. Sometimes significantly greater.

　　Assuming you want to make a purely⁸ financial decision whether to rent or buy, how do you begin? There are a couple of ways to stay objective.

　　One way to tell whether it’s better to rent or buy is by checking the price-to-rent ratio (or P/R ratio). This number gives you a rough idea whether homes in your area are fairly priced. Figuring a P/R ratio isn’t tough. All you do is:

　　1. Find two similar houses (or condos or apartments), one for sale and one for rent.

　　2. Divide the sale price of the one place by the annual rent for the other. The resulting number is the P/R ratio.

　　Say, for example, you find a $200,000 house for sale in a nice neighborhood. You find a similar house on the next block renting for $1,000 per month (which works out to $12,000 per year). Dividing $200,000 by $12,000, you get a P/R ratio of 16.7.

　　But what does this number mean? Writing in The New York Times, David Leonhardt says, “A rent ratio above 20 means that the monthly costs of ownership will exceed the cost of renting.” That’s a little opaque⁹, but what Leonhardt means is that the higher the P/R ratio, the more it makes sense to rent — and the less it makes sense to buy.

　　During the housing bubble, the national P/R ratio came close to 20 (and went far above that in some cities). In other words, you could rent a $200,000 house for $10,000 a year (or just over $800 per month), which is a pretty good deal.

　　The normal range nationwide is between 10 and 14 (meaning it would cost between $1,200 and $1,600 to rent a $200,000 house). During the 1990s, just before the housing bubble, the national P/R ratio was usually between 14 and 15 (about $1,100 to $1,200 to rent a $200,000 house).

　　Price-to-rent ratio data isn’t widely available. If you search long enough, you can find some recent-ish info on the internet, but for hard numbers about your area, you’ll probably have to contact a real-estate agent.

　　Another way to gauge¹⁰ the cost of housing is to compare it to your family’s income. From 1984 to 2000, median home prices were about 2.8 times the median yearly family income. (In other words, the typical house cost about three times what a family earned in a year.) During the early 1970s, home prices were about 2.3 times median family income. During the housing bubble, this ratio jumped to 4.2.

　　These numbers don’t mean much on their own, but they can give you some sort of idea of whether housing is overpriced in your area. Plus, it seems safe to assume based on past figures that most families can comfortably afford a home that costs about 2.5x their annual income. (So, if your family makes $80,000 a year, you can afford our theoretical $200,000 house.)

　　The New York Times has a great rent vs. buy calculator that can help you decide which is best for you. Just plug in the numbers for your situation, and the calculator tells you how long it would take you to break even if you bought a house.

　　Discussions of homeownership should be grounded in reality. Buying a home isn’t some magical financial panacea¹¹. You can waste just as much (or more!) as if you were renting, and you lose a lot of the flexibility¹² and freedom you might otherwise enjoy. If you want to buy a home, do so. But don’t let anyone persuade you that you’re throwing your money away by renting.

　　As for me, I still plan to buy a home in the next few months. It’s not the best financial decision, but if I’m careful, I should be able to score a good deal, one that makes as much financial sense as renting. Best of all, once I own my own home, I won’t have to put up with the clump-clump-clump of a lead-footed neighbor upstairs.

1 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cons   

n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

4 stomps   

v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This one ends the world, stomps on it, grinds it up and spits it out. 这一部又把世界给终结了，践踏了地球，还碾压她，然后再把她吐出来。 来自互联网

5 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

8 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

9 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

10 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

11 panacea   

n.万灵药；治百病的灵药

参考例句：

• Western aid may help but will not be a panacea. 西方援助可能会有所帮助，但并非灵丹妙药。
• There's no single panacea for the country's economic ills. 国家经济弊病百出,并无万灵药可以医治。

12 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。