Rent or Buy? Rent or Buy?

My wife gets tired of me iterating on this argument, but an interesting piece on today's SmartMoney.com again makes the case for renting over buying. We own (full disclosure), but as others have maybe heard me say, this is for reasons other than purely financial ones (which, the author points out, don't necessarily hold true over time).

It may seem economic mumbo-jumbo to some, but it's an important decision calculus to contemplate. My own analysis: one must view a house as a consumption item and choose to spend the money on it for the benefits of consumption, not for purely economic or financial benefits. Because if one is acting based solely on economic benefits, the author's right that the advantage may fall to renting. One gets utility from living in one's home even if thatutility is not purely financial. One chooses to consume through owning or renting, but must do so based on different bases.

Article here: Renting Makes More Financial Sense Than Homeownership.

[Postscript: with all the above said, I still think Seattle is a great market in which to "own shares" of real estate (i.e. to own a home). At least in the short run.]