Date: Friday, April 15, 2016

Participants (from 15 countries):

Host: Rick

Co-Host: Johny

Teams

Panel PRO (Team A): Soso, Skycraper, Marwa
Panel CON (Team B): Robin, Mohiuddin, Johny, Boboty, Grace, Salima, Seif,

Audience (Team C): Rojhano, Zeynab, Behnam, George, Ramarao, Feycel, Noorola, Heytham, Mhikie

Team A summary:

If we buy a house it may be much harder to move to another city if are offered a job opportunity. If we have to roam from city to city, we may lose a lot of money due to have relocate all the time, if we decided to buy in a certain area, and there economic issues such as the housing market crashing.
Renting is a good business from the owner’s stand point.
The renter has no responsibility over the property, the landlord has it. This means things like appliances breaking down, plumbing issues etc, are the responsibility of the owner.
The taxes go to the landlord, and the renter doesn’t have to pay for them.
Renting gives us freedom. Sticking to one place for the rest of our lives may well be too boring. Most people would like to roam from place to place and experiencing living in different places.
In many cases, the "traditional" family does not exists anymore, and people are not necessarily rooted to one spot. Mobility is becoming more important.

Team B summary:

Having our own home makes us feel more comfortable and it gives us a sense of belonging.
Buying a house gives us stability. Renting a house can be better but only for people who travel a lot or for people who cannot afford it.
Selling your own house may give you higher returns than normal funds. Of course, that is dependent on the location but we cannot sell something which is not ours.
When renting, we are at the whims and laws of the landlord. Meaning that they are the ones who decide the visit limits in terms of the time and number of visitors.
Every now and then, the land owner increases the amount of the rent, often times for no reason. This can impact our budget.
When presenting a house related problem, we always have to rely on the land owner and many of them do not want to spend any money in reparations or maintenance.
Sense of belonging: There is a time in our lives when we want to come back to the place where we call “home”.
Buying a house will not prevent us from traveling. We can still travel.
Buying a house is an achievement. It’s one of the goals most people strive for.
Flexibility of changes: If we own the place, we can do anything we want with it, because it’s ours. We cannot do the same if the house does not belong to us.
When we buy a house, we can modify it, reconstruct tire down walls and add to it. We cannot do that with a renting house, apartment or land.
In many cultures, having a home is a sign of stability, and can be necessary for entering into a relationship with someone and gaining approval from her family.

Team C summary:

We are not a tree; we should be able to move from places to places if we wish for. But feeling that we are tied to one place is a matter of the culture, not the house or apartment itself.
It’ important to have a place which we can call home.
If we have our own house, we can increase the amount of the price if we want to rent it out, because as owners, we decide the price.
Having our own house gives us stability and security because you know you have a home which you can call it your own.
Inflation and the fluctuating economy in all countries are always changing. So it’s risky to rent.
Buying or renting a place is not so easy thing to do either way.
Renting give us flexibility in terms of taxes. In some places, when people rent, they are exempt from paying taxes.
Having a stable situation in this life is better for us and owning a house gives us that stability.
We can always travel and use the money from renting out the house, at the same time, we always have a place to return to if anything goes wrong in our travels.
It’s a life style choice: it’s a matter of how people want to live. Some people want to have a place where they can raise a child. Maybe some people don’t want to worry for managing the expenses, and don’t want to be tied on something or one place necessarily.
In some countries people cannot afford to buy a house. It depends on either the countries laws or economy status.
The best thing we can do as parents is to teach our children to be independent.

Votes:

Zeynab voted for team B.
Behnam voted for team B.
George voted for team B.
Noorola voted for team B.
Rojhano voted for team B.
Heytham remained undecided.

Team B won this debate. Thanks everyone for participating. Below are the links to listen to this discussion:

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Renting vs buying a house |Recording File | April 15th 2016