Former homeowner reveals why she would rather rent now

A former landlord has revealed why she ditched her mortgages to become a renter in 2024.

Owning a home has long been the Australian dream, but one young Aussie has revealed why it isn’t all it cracked up to be.

Lacy, who lives in Melbourne and works as a service adviser at a car dealership, bought her first property when she was 20.

A few years later, she sold it to purchase a house with her then husband and later an investment property.

“We then sold that house and our investment property due to separating. This was in March 2020, right when Covid hit,” she told news.com.au.

Lacy’s knee-jerk reaction after selling was to climb right back onto the property ladder, but it didn’t go to plan.

“My offer was knocked back, and in hindsight, I’m very happy it was because I wouldn’t have been able to afford the constant interest rate rises on my own income,” she said.

Now, she’s renting with her new partner and young son, but she’s completely relieved to be a tenant and not a landlord right now.

“I love renting,” she said online.

Lacy has owned three properties. Picture: TikTok/texsmum

She's now renting. Picture: TikTok/texsmum

As someone who has owned her home, been a landlord, and now owns no property and is back to renting, she’s learned to appreciate being a tenant.

“I truly, at this point in my life, enjoy renting so much, especially with the cost of living. The thought of having a mortgage right now, honestly, makes me feel sick,” she explained.

The mum, 33, said that for the previous home she owned with her ex-husband, they were paying back $450 a week for the mortgage, which was over the minimum repayments, and that was for a “good house, like three bedrooms, and we lived in a good area”.

The current official cash rate in Australia is 4.35 per cent. At one point in 2020 the cash rate was at a low of 0.10 per cent.

She knows now the repayments would be so much more and unmanageable and she’s not interested in paying for the upkeep of a property in the cost of living crisis.

“The thought of paying rates, water fees, all the maintained on the house, anything that goes wrong,” she said.

Even with her investment property, although she her tenants were covering the mortgage, which was “so good”, she still had to pay for upkeep, and things do always go wrong.

Lacy said that renting to her feels completely “freeing” because you can pick up and move whenever you want too.

“I just feel like let’s normalise renting, and if you want to rent, invest your money in other things. It is like if you don’t have a house, you haven’t made it in life. Sometimes renting is better than having a massive mortgage,” she said.

She said the idea of owning right now makes her feel ‘sick’. Picture: TikTok/texsmum

Lacy pointed out you don't just have to invest your money in real estate. Picture: iStock

Lacy said, in retrospect, owning her own home and an investment property wasn’t expensive because she managed to sustain a good lifestyle.

“We managed to pay more than the minimum repayments, go out for meals, buy materialistic items, contribute to our savings and go overseas every six months. Food and utility bills back then were so much more affordable,” she said.

“I feel like we didn’t really go without. The only stressful expenses were if something at the property needed immediate repair or when our rates were due.”

Now, though, Lacy doesn’t think home ownership or even being a landlord would come without severe financial stress,

“Back when I owned my house, I was happy to be working towards paying off the mortgage, but I was also working very long hours and doing overtime shifts because I believed that’s what would make me successful and happy,” she explained.

“Now my beliefs on that have changed since Covid and spending quality time with friends and family or filling my cup in other ways are more important to me than making extra money.”

She's happy not to own right now. Picture: iStock

She is enjoying renting so much because she’s renting a four bedroom home with two large living areas and a backyard.

“In the town we live in, if we were to purchase this size property, our mortgage would be thousands a week. Our house is 20+ years old and some things are needing to be fixed but to us it is worth it for the location,” she said.

“I find it a lot less stressful because if something major goes wrong, it’s not up to us to fund the repair. The rates on our property would be very expensive and then we also don’t need to pay water fees.”

Renting comes with its stresses. You are often at the mercy of a landlord’s whims. What if they want to sell the property? But for Lacy, being a tenant is more manageable than owning.

“I’d much rather this than my minimum mortgage repayment constantly going up and then having the stress of selling. We have had friends and family put their houses on the market and unfortunately not sell for months and therefore having to drop the price,” she said.

She doesn’t plan to be a renter forever; right now, her son is young, but she’s not prepared to rule it out.

“I do think I will buy in the future but it’s something I wouldn’t consider until my son is school aged. Right now I would prefer to spend my extra money on making memories as a family while we can,” she said.

“There are also other ways to invest money other than buying property and I think a lot of people look past this. Sometimes renting is a lot more beneficial than buying, and it’s important to properly weigh up all options.”