Should you continue to rent? Or should you buy your first home?

應該繼續租房嗎？還是應該購入第一套房？

This can be a challenging decision.

這是個艱難的決定。

But it need not be.

其實也可以很簡單。

In the next few minutes we'll show you simple way to determine exactly when to make the move to home ownership.

在接下來的幾分鐘裡，我們將教您輕鬆判斷正確的購屋時機。

Let's start with a quick comparison of the advantages of both options.

先讓我們快速比較一下購屋及租屋各自的優勢。

Renting has two primary advantages: mobility and simplified financial obligations.

租房有兩個主要優勢：機動性和簡化財務負擔。

Buying a home has different advantages.

買房則有不同的優勢。

Each mortgage payment builds equity in your house; House payments remain essentially fixed, even as other prices rise;

每筆按揭付款算在您的房屋資產上，其金額基本保持不變，即使其他物價上漲也一樣；

Your tax bill will likely be lower, and your home improvements build upon your investment.

應繳稅額很可能降低，且所有裝修都是裝在自己的資產上。

But when is it best to switch from renting to buying your first home?

但什麼時候從租房轉為買房最好呢？

From a financial point of view, it essentially comes down to two factors:

從財務的角度來看，基本上歸結至兩個因素：

The minimum number of years you plan to own the house and the size of your down payment.

您計劃擁有房屋的最短年限和首付金額。

We'll illustrate this with a spreadsheet we created in Google Drive.

我們將使用 Google 表單來說明這一點。

You can get your own copy of the spreadsheet by clicking on the link listed in the description section below and copy it into your own Google Drive.

點擊下面描述欄中的連結即可獲取表單副本，您可以將其複製到自己的 Google 雲端中。

The cells with no shading contain the all information we need for our calculations.

沒有底色的欄位包含計算所需的所有信息。

The default values are typical of those for buying a starter home with a cost of $100,000.

默認值是購買成本為 100,000 美元的典型入門房。

A summary of the analysis is best illustrated by two graphs.

分析總結使用兩張圖表來說明最清楚。

The first graph shows the projected expenses for both renting and homeownership over the coming years.

第一張圖顯示了未來幾年租金和房屋所有權的預計費用。

The curves show that the projected accumulated expenses for house ownership start out higher,

曲線顯示，房屋所有權的預計累計費用開始時較高，

but eventually drop below the rental expenses at some point in the future.

但最終會在未來某個時間點低於租金費用。

There are several reasons for this.

其中有幾個原因。

First, as soon as you buy a house, you incur the future cost of selling it.

首先，一旦買了房子，您就得承擔未來房屋出售的成本。

Even though this expense won't be paid until the house is sold, we count it as an expense right up front.

即使這筆費用要等到房子賣掉後才會支付，但我們會預先將其計入費用。

It's this expense that makes homeownership initially cost more than renting.

正是這項費用使得擁有房屋的最初成本高於租房。

In most cases, accumulated renting expenses will eventually exceed the costs of owning a home.

在大多數情況下，累積的租金支出最終會超過擁有房屋的成本。

This is because less money is spent on mortgage loan interest as you build home equity.

這是因為房屋淨值增加同時，您花在抵押貸款利息上的錢也更少了。

On the other hand, rental costs generally continue to rise at the rate of inflation.

而另一方面，租金普遍會繼續隨著通貨膨脹而上漲。

By looking at this graph, it's clear that you will need to hold onto your house for at least a few years to break even.

通過此圖表，可以很明顯地看到需要持有房屋至少幾年才能收支平衡。

So if there is a high likelihood of you moving soon,

所以如果你近期搬家的可能性很高，

it's better to continue renting and save for a larger down payment.

最好還是繼續租房，並存下頭期款的錢。

This brings us to the second primary factor--your down payment.

這就把我們帶到了第二個主要因素——頭期款。

A higher down payment means a smaller mortgage,

頭期款越高意味著抵押貸款越少，

which lowers your interest payments, thereby lowering your overall house expenses

這降低了您的利息支出，從而減少整體房屋開支。

Further, if your down payment is less than 20% of the house price,

另外，如果頭期款低於房價 20%，

your loan will likely require the additional expense of private mortgage insurance (or PMI) as part of your monthly house payment.

您的貸款可能需要私人抵押貸款保險（或稱 PMI）的額外費用作為每月房屋付款的一部分。

Now that we know the two primary factors impacting your decision, let's look at the second graph in the spreadsheet.

現在我們已了解兩個主要因素，讓我們來看看第二張圖。

One axis represents the amount of your down payment.

這根軸線代表首付金額。

The other, is the minimum amount of time you plan to own your home.

另一個則是您計劃擁有房屋的最短時間。

If your situation puts you within the shaded region, it's better to continue renting.

如果您的情況處於顏色區域內，最好還是繼續租房。

But if you determine that your situation puts you outside of the shaded region, it's time to consider buying a home.

但如果您的情況處於顏色區域外，那麼是時候考慮買房了。

For example, this graph shows if you put 20% down, you should plan to own the house for at least 2.5 years.

例如，根據此圖，如果頭期款為 20%，您應該計劃擁有該房至少 2.5 年。

You may have noticed that throughout our analysis,

您可能已經注意到，在我們整個分析過程中，

we have assumed that the values in our spreadsheet remain the same over time.

我們假設圖表中的值隨時間仍會保持不變。

But in the world of real estate, nothing remains the same.

但在房地產領域，沒有什麼是一成不變的。

Inflation, mortgage rates, and home prices vary significantly over time.

通貨膨脹、抵押貸款利率和房價會隨時間有很大變化。

So is the whole analysis hopeless and just a matter of luck?

那麼這是否代表分析根本沒用或是只能靠運氣呢？

Fortunately not.

幸好並非如此。

A homeowner has one significant hedge against all these variables.

房主對所有這些變量都有一個重要的安全保障。

That hedge is time.

那就是時間。

According to the famous Case-Shiller index, given enough time, housing prices will on average track inflation.

根據著名的 Case-Shiller 指數，只要有足夠的時間，房價一般都會跟著通貨膨脹上漲。

Therefore, in most cases, you can avoid a loss due to short-term depressed housing prices by simply holding onto your home longer.

因此，在大多數情況下，您可以通過長期持有房屋來避免因短期房價低迷而造成的損失。

As you have seen, the rent or buy decision doesn't need to be overly complicated.

如您所見，決定租或買房無須過於復雜。

By focusing on two important factors, you can start charting your course to home ownership.

專注於兩個重要的因素，您就可以開始規劃置產之路了。

If you liked video and want to continue to learn more about various aspects of home buying,

如果您喜歡這支影片，想繼續瞭解更多關於購房的各種知識，

please subscribe to the home buyer channel.

請訂閱購房者頻道。

If your business involves home buying or financing, we encourage you to embed this video into your website.

如果您的業務涉及購房或融資，我們也鼓勵您將此視頻嵌入您的網站。

Use the comment section to let us know what you think of this video and what other types of home-buying topics you would like to see in the future.

留言評論讓我們知道您對這支影片的看法以及以及感興趣的購房主題。