The Wealthy Renter. Alex Avery

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      Every person who reads this book will have his or her own history with housing. It may have taken place in just one house — it may have taken place in two houses, or fifteen. It could have been a farmhouse, a townhouse in the city, a condominium by the lake, a bungalow in midtown, or a combination of several. You might have grown up in an owned home or a rented one. We all have different experiences, but each of us grew up somewhere, and all of us have lived in some form of housing our entire lives. This experience is the lens through which we see housing.

      I myself grew up in the suburbs, on a dead-end street that backed onto a ravine where I spent countless hours exploring and playing with friends. My parents raised us in a house they owned. My sister and I went to the same primary school, the same middle school, and the same high school. We had lots of friends, many of whom are still our friends today. We stayed in this house from the time I was two years old until I left for university. It was a great house and a great neighbourhood. And until I went away to school, it was the only kind of house I’d ever known.

      As the biggest expense of our lives, how well we manage the cost of our housing has a greater impact on our cost of living than any other factor.

      Since I left home for university, I’ve rented more than a dozen places, including rooms in houses, apartments in apartment buildings, apartments in condo buildings, basement apartments, and detached single-family houses. I’ve also owned homes, in two different cities, and I’ve been a landlord, seeing the other side of renting.

      So I’ve lived in many types of housing and I’ve rented and owned. I’ve also talked to family and friends about their homes. Having spent the last fifteen years analyzing real estate investments for everyone from pension funds, to the wealthiest Canadian families, to roommates, friends, and family members, I’ve helped hundreds of people make decisions about their housing. What I’ve come to learn is that, for most people, although the housing decisions our parents have made and we have made form the settings for our lives, we seldom think about the many different ways housing affects our lives. In fact, our housing decisions have much more of an effect on our lives than most people think.

      Where we live defines how we live our lives. Our housing choices determine how long it takes to get to work. How much time we spend with our friends and family. If you have kids, it determines where your kids will go to school, where they play, and who they play with. It can affect how well we do our jobs. It can determine how much money we have for other things, like travel and the nicer things in life, such as cars, clothes, jewellery, electronics, and collectibles. It’s probably the biggest factor that determines when we can retire and how we retire.

      Housing is the largest single expense in life for the vast majority of Canadians. For those who choose to own, buying a home is the biggest purchase of their lives. For renters, the rent cheque is usually the largest monthly expense and over a lifetime is almost certainly the largest expense. As the biggest expense of our lives, how well we manage the cost of our housing has a greater impact on our cost of living than any other factor.

      With all this at stake, how can you afford to not know as much as you possibly can about housing?

      Why is it that so many of us spend more time considering which car to buy or which wireless plan to choose than we do trying to understand the type of housing that makes the most sense for our lives?

      And I’m not talking about the time spent going out to look at five, fifty, or a hundred places before we decide on the home we’ll live in. That’s house hunting. That’s the fun part. Whether you’re looking to rent or buy, house hunting is what you do once you’ve figured out what kind of housing makes sense.

      I’m talking about sitting down and figuring out what’s right for our lives — right for our age, right for our family situation, right for our careers, right for our financial situation, and right for our peace of mind.

      Examples of the choices people make are everywhere. I’ve got all sorts of friends who have made very different housing choices, and the effect of those choices on their lives has been profound.

      Because Andy’s job means he might be transferred to offices in other countries, renting allows him the flexibility to react quickly to opportunities to move where his work takes him, whether for his current company or for others. It also means he can take bigger risks at work because he hasn’t committed himself to paying a mortgage for the next twenty-five years — the kind of risks that will either vault his career to new heights or get him fired, like speaking his mind when he sees a bad decision or choice being made that he knows will hurt the business. Renting gives Andy the flexibility to be bold, and it’s allowed him to be an outspoken leader in his field.