Rent vs Buy dilema - need input from those that went through it..

[Paul Gilo]

Hi everyone, been considering purchasing my fist home and the numbers just dont add up for me. So I was wondering if you guys could look over them and let me know if my math is right or wrong. Or perhaps I am missing something

Currently living in Orlando FL, paying 1400/mo for a townhome rental. Plan to be here for another 2-3 years and then probably have to move on to another location, due to job opportunities. So its good for us to be nimble...

Did some shopping for a house and found few that we liked, made some offers and ultimately were either too slow or didn't offer enough... so we didn't get them... 

So I started doing some numbers... and came up with this. 

We found 2 townhomes... few doors down from each other and pretty much same sqft. One is renting for 1600, the other is selling for 290k. 

So to rent is simple... 1600x24mo = $38,400 total. 

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To buy... here is my math. 

290k purchase price.

20% down = 58k + 10k in closing costs.

monthly payment with principal, interest, tax comes out to about 1550. 

monthly HOA is about 350/mo

1% for maintenance (heard thats a good rule.) so its another, lets say,  250/mo

To sell... 

so lets say in a couple years we have to move and we sell it for 300k. 

6% goes to agent = 18k

2% selling closing costs = 6k

interest paid per year will be about 8k a year, so 16k for 2 years. 

Cost of ownership...

now the fun part... 

So to own the house for the 2 years we would be paying. 

10,000 in origination and closing fees to buy.

8,400 in HOA fees, over the 2 years

6,000 in maintenance and repairs, over the 2 years.

18,000 in interest (750/mo x 24), over the 2 yeas. 

6,000 to close on the sale of the house. 
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$48,400 - this is the money I will never see again (cost of owning the house for first 2 years).

$58,000 - I will have tied up in the house, in form of "equity"? :)

I really would like to "own" a home, I like the idea of it. I like the though of stability and doing whatever you want to it... but the numbers definitely kill the motivation :) Some would argue the aspect of appreciation, perhaps that would be true, but we dont know the future, so its kind of hard to say IMO.

Am I missing something?

TIA

[Alexander Felice]

There are people who argue each way. I think ownership does have benefits, but the math doesn't always add up.

As I get older, my position is now this: if it makes you money buy it, if it only costs you money then rent it. I only live in my primary mortgage home because it's going to be a rental soon. I don't plan to buy another house that I couldn't turn into a rental shortly after either.