There are many reasons to rent rather than buy a property. Many practical reasons, and these are well and good for the short term. But if you’re aiming high and want to make the smarter move, there are reasons to make renting a short-term strategy and go for home ownership as a long-term goal.
1. You can redesign or make changes to your own house
Think about it: this is the place where you can express your personality and customize to suit how you live. Wouldn’t you want to come home to something that is built specifically to your tastes? Most, if not all, rental units – no matter how big or small – do not allow tenants to make permanent changes to the unit.
Most homeowners' associations have parameters, of course, but in the end, this will benefit the whole community and make sure property values don’t drop the moment someone decides to build an eyesore or a structurally unsound renovation.
Like at Victor Consunji-designed Stella Villa at Vie at Southern Plains in Laguna, which lets you re-evaluate and reprioritize your space by adding more kitchen storage, designing your own nursery room, and expanding areas that you think are important.
2. More open and extra spaces
Unlike condominiums and rental apartments, completely built houses have more indoor and open air space. That’s because designers create these spaces to accommodate growing families, hobbies, pets, and of course, entertaining. Some have brilliant design solutions that use modern materials to allow more light and space with smaller footprints.
You likewise have the upside of having additional indoor and open air space, which is progressively conducive to accommodate visitors, families, children, and pets. Houses likewise highlight more extra room including loft.
The design of the Victor Consunji Development Corp. (VCDC)’s Elise Statehouse at the M Residences in Capitol Hills, Quezon City, for example, features open-plan spaces and thoughtfully planned amenities that are functional and stylish. More importantly, the design is adaptable to a growing family’s needs via a configuration that can easily expand living areas with additional bedrooms and bonus spaces.
3. No outrageous association dues
The monthly association dues are substantially higher for condominium units, ranging from P50 to P100 per square meter on the gross floor area. For house-and-lot properties, you only need to pay half of that: about P20 to P50 per square meter.
Association dues for an upscale condominium in Taguig City, at 2022 prices, is about P100 per square meter; thus, a 120-square meter condo would cost about P144,000 annually in association dues!
Compare that with house-and-lot association dues: for an upscale townhouse in Taguig City, like the 110-square meter Aerin House at the M Residences in Acacia Estates, dues would be around P30 per square meter, so a 120-square meter townhouse in a 75-square meter lot area would cost only about P27,000 annually in association dues.
The P117,000 difference is an underlying, annual cost that piles up over time and cannot be refunded.
4. Time becomes your friend
Never underestimate the power of value appreciation. From an investor's point of view, landed properties generally appreciate better in the long-term, compared to high-rise properties.
Land properties in general become rare as advancement and occupant populace rapidly gets up to speed. Consequently, the bigger the populace, the quicker the advancement will be, and the more costly prime land will become.
Also, the expense to reuse previous skyscraper land will dependably be higher than the expense to reuse lands that used to be landed property.
As an example, estimates by real estate website DotProperty reports annual growth rates of 25 percent for landed properties in Quezon City, versus 5.3 percent in condominium properties in the same city. It’s no wonder then that another VCDC property in the metro will be launching by the end quarter of the year as the two VCDC properties in Quezon City -- M Residences in Mowelfund New Manila and M Residences in Capitol Hills -- have already sold out.
5. The possibilities are limitless
How else can you own a luxurious, cliffside villa in the paradise island of Bali? VCDC’s Vie at Uluwatu took away all the headaches of finding the perfect spot and designing the perfect house by building five luxurious villas into a cliffside at an exclusive, spectacular location in Uluwatu Pecatu, on the southwestern tip of the Bukit Peninsula in the famed island of Bali in Indonesia.
The ultra-premium villas are surrounded by old-growth trees, preserved amid carefully landscaped tropical plants and outdoor accents that capture the charms and spirit of this island.
Now imagine just signing the deed and living in this nook in paradise? No rental in the most luxurious spots in the world can match the privilege of having a piece of heaven to call your own.