Leasing Or Buying A Car/Home

When it comes the time to find a car to drive or a place to live, how do you decide whether to lease or to finance? Chances are most people tend to investigate what the monthly payments would be and choose whichever is cheaper. But do you ever stop to think of all the things that should be a part of your decision? Did you know there are websites out there to help you determine how much you can afford? What your monthly payment would be? There is a lot of information available to you to help make this process an easier one for you. Since finding the right car is something most people do before they find that perfect place to live, lets start with determining the difference in leasing and buying a car.

Since the 1990ÐŽ¦s leasing of cars has skyrocketed which nowadays most people tend to lease their car because leasing offers an attractive and affordable means of driving a new car every few years. In the past few years, car dealership have been running amazing deals such as ÐŽ§no down paymentЎЁ or ÐŽ§low, attractive paymentsЎЁ these advertisements tend to make leasing even more appealing than financing. And because of these incentives you can often buy a more expensive, more luxurious car for the same payment of financing a lower priced car.

Leasing in a nutshell. When leasing you are paying for the use of the car rather than paying for the car itself. In other words, your lease payment covers the depreciation of the cars over the length of the lease. Usually you can lease a car with zero down but the more you put down the lower your monthly payments will be. You as the lessee, are responsible for maintaining the car during the term of your lease and at the end of your lease you have the option to turn it in and walk away from it or choose to purchase it for the residual value of the car. Seems simple enough but there are many other things to consider before leasing a car.

Leasing is not for everyone, but for those who are willing to except the challenge to stay with in the restrictions you are given on the car and like to have a new car every 3 years or so, leasing may be for you. There are five main questions that everyone needs to ask themselves before leasing a car:

„P Do you become easily bored with a car after only a couple of years of using it? Do you feel the need to have a new car every two to three years?

„P Is driving a new car more important to you than actually owning one? Are you comfortable with the car payments, year in and year out?

„P Do you maintain your car regularly, keeping it in good conditions at all times? Are you comfortable keeping your car the way it was when you bought it?

„P Do you drive a legitimate business use for youÐŽ¦re your car? Do you plan on claiming you lease pay as a business expenses?

„P Do you drive a consistent number of miles each year? Are you comfortable selecting and following the mileage limit?

If you answered yes to more than three of these questions then leasing may be for you. But remember with all the positive aspect of leasing come negative ones too. The most important negative to leasing is that at the end of your lease term you must decide whether to turn in the car and walk away or buy the car and take it back home with you. Many people struggle with this decision because neither decision is easy. If you turn it in, you have to get it inspected for any damages or wear and tear on the car over the term of your lease. All thought they do allow a certain degree of normal wear and tear, any excessive wear and tear you have to pay for. Then come miles, when leasing a car you should almost always pay upfront for more miles because chances are you will go over your allotted mileage and then you pay a hefty fee. I believe most car company charge about .15 cents a mile which adds up very quickly. You also have to find that new perfect car to replace the old lease. These things can end-up costing you quite a bit of money up front and all at once. If you decide to buy it, you may be stuck with the car till it dies because with most cars the residual value is more than what Kelley Blue Book will give you. You also now have a car that does not have a warranty or you have to pay to put another warranty on the car. Once again there is the issue of miles, when you buy it, it does not matter how many miles you put on it but you now have a car with lots of miles verse a new car with no miles. And then there is the subject of selling your lease that you decided to purchase. Chances are you will never, ever get what you paid for the car unless you kept it in perfect condition with low miles.

Now financing a car in a nutshell. Not many people know that you can finance a new car same as you would a used car. I think because of this financing a car has a stigmatism because mostly likely when you are looking to finance a car you are not looking for a used one unless that is all that is in your budget. When you finance a car, you are paying to own it. This option does not appeal to may people because it is a more expensive and you are stuck with the car till you decide to sell it.

Remember the questions I asked you on the previous page. Well, if you answered no to three or more of the questions then financing a car might be just what you are looking for. Some of the things that people enjoy about financing a car is that since your monthly payments are applied towards the actual purchase of the car and since a typical financing period is 48-72 months. After that you own the car out-right with no more payments due and youÐŽ¦re free to do as you wish with it. You can opt to keep the car for as long or as short of a time period as you want. Since you are financing the car you have no obligation to maintain the car (although you should keep it maintained for performance and future sale purposes it is completely up to you). There are no predetermined mileage limits which allows you to take those road trips, live a good distance away from your work, and just enjoying driving wherever your car will take you. There are also no limits to modifications you can add to a financed car. If you want to add an air-intake or take off those tacky emblems that come are your car, you will not be penalized for that. Most importantly, its your car to enjoy, to modify, and to choose to do with it as you please. But remember you need to make wise decision so when you want to sell it down the road