Ramit Sethi compares renting a place for $3,000 a month to owning a similar property that would cost about $6,400. He invested the $3,400 monthly difference and made more money that way than he would have by building equity in a home.
When I was living here, I kept a very close eye on real estate and the place right next to me. Same square footage, same number of bedrooms, same everything. It would have cost 2.2 times what I was paying in rent. So just to give you an example, if I was paying $3,000 a month, it would have cost about $6,400 a month to own. I said, you know what? I like renting. If I have a problem, I just text my landlord. I took the $3400 I would have spent over owning when factoring in phantom costs, maintenance, interest, taxes, all that, and I simply invested. And I made more money doing that than I would have owning.
