If you have planned to move within a couple of years then it is better to rent a home rather than to buy it. And if you live in an urban area with good public transportation then occasionally renting a car could be a more sensible decision than owning one.
Renting is mostly a big financial trap
But for other things, renting is nothing but a big financial trap. It seems that the fact that is being disguised by the low payments is that you’re giving more and getting less than what you would if you have bought the same thing that you have rent.
Which things you should never Rent?
Here I have mentioned five things for which renting is a terrible idea:
1. Rims.
At Rent A Wheel in Van Nuys, Calif., for a set of VCT Grissini wheels you can pay the cash price of $1,612, or as an alternative you can pay $62 a week for a year — and pay for them exactly double as $62 times 52 weeks is $3,224.
What do you think? would you like to pay a double amount for renting the wheels set or you better buy them.
2. Furniture.
At Rent-A-Center in North Hollywood, Calif., you can get an overstuffed Klaussner couch, love seat and coffee table on rent for $44.99 a week for 83 weeks. This way you have to pay about $2,000 for the set on rent which is more than the $1,657 that you would have to pay for the same if you paid cash.
Alternatives:
You can have used furniture in less cash price
Recently I have seen on Craigslist’s Los Angeles board, that there were 1,453 listings selling couches, 2,269 listings for sofas and 542 listings for love seats. Many of them were gently used and they were selling for $100 or less, sometimes even less than $100. If you are willing to have the same brand, then there was also a listing for a Klaussner couch for $200.
Get a new furniture in less price
If you are not willing to buy a used set then also you can have a new for far less. For as low as $149 you can have a bunk bed set from Ikea. Mattresses start at $69.
You should better save for it by putting aside $23 a week and then you would be able to get what you need in almost three months.
3. Computers.
Being a consumer,it is a terrible idea to rent a computer, especially if you’re renting to own. It is due to the reason that there’s usually no credit check, you would receive the worst possible terms on an overpriced computer.
At the Van Nuys Rent-A-Center, you can get a middling Dell computer on rent for $39.99 a week for 62 weeks, which in total cost you $2,479. Its cash price is $1,100.
Alternatives
Check the Craigslist. Ask friends who are upgrading, may be you can buy their old units. Or you can check out eMachines, who are specialized in low-cost computers. There you can have a brand-new desktop with monitor for as little as $480. For that you could save $40 a week for 12 weeks and then just go and buy it.
4. Televisions.
If you are willing to buy a television. You can buy a 50-inch Toshiba TV for almost $1,200, or sometimes less than that.
At the Van Nuys Rent-A-Center, you can have it on cash price of $1,800. Or if you want to rent that beast than you have to pay $34.99 a week for 116 weeks, total cost $4,000. So what would you choose? Are you willing to give $4,000 for rent or $1,200 in cash.
Do you think that paying $4,000 for just a television is a sensible decision? There is nothing that you can watch on 50 inch and couldn’t on 27 inch TV. So why to waste so much money.
5. Your paycheck.
If you have trapped by a payday lender, then your paycheck is no longer your own. These payday lender lend you cash for a fee.
It seems that the fee is not too much, $45 to cash a $300 check, but it works out to annual interest rates of over 400%.
If you are unable to pay back the loan when payday comes around, then another fee is added. Once you have fallen into this trap, then it’s hard, sometimes completely impossible to jump back out again.
Who rents TVs nowadays that there’s 0 APR financing on most purchases over $1000?
-Jack