看看舊金山休斯頓三十幾歲人的新思維：Why own when you can rent?

The conventional real estate wisdom holds that owning a home is a better investment than renting. Real-estate values tend to appreciate over time (despite temporary negative blips in home prices) and homeowners who hold mortgages Renters don't have the same certainty.

But some renters say that the price hikes they may face when they renew a lease are manageable, especially in light of today's housing-market troubles. Several areas across the U.S. that saw substantial home-price appreciation during the housing boom also experienced steep property-tax increases, and mortgage costs for adjustable-rate or subprime loan borrowers can be tough as rates push higher. What's more, home buyers who bought at the top of the market can find themselves with high mortgage payments for an asset that has lost much of its value. With the housing market in flux, it makes sense to hold off on buying, renters say. Now, these renters are asking, "Why own when you can rent?"

ake Jim Kollross, vice president of finance at Telephia, a consumer research firm in San Francisco. In 2003, he and his wife bought a 2,000-square-foot house in the city's Inner Sunset neighborhood for $825,000, but sold the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home two years later with plans of renting a home indefinitely. Their property went up in value approximately 60% during the two years they owned it, and they wanted to sell while its value was still high. Such steep appreciation signals an unstable market, Mr. Kollross says, and he'd rather rent than risk watching his home's value balloon, only to stagnate, or even worse -- fall.

Mr. Kollross, 37, told his mother that he planned to sell and rent an apartment instead. He recalls that her first question was, "Did you lose your job?"

He and his wife sold their place for just over $1.3 million in 2005 and currently lease a 1,700-square-foot flat in San Francisco's prestigious Laurel Heights section. Their new neighborhood is nicer and affords him a faster commute, Mr. Kollross says. Plus, their two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment has city and San Francisco Bay views and includes a garage parking spot and off-street parking. While the rent is a steep $3,000 a month, he says the price of owning a comparable home in his area -- where home prices start at $2 million -- is three times higher.

To put his cash to good use, he's invested his profits from the home's sale in the stock market, where assets are easier to transfer or sell during market fluctuations than in real-estate, he says.

Not everyone who can afford to own needs to, some renters say. Ben Cheng, a 30-year old manager at an oil services firm in Houston, could have purchased his own place in 2000 -- when he returned to Texas after college. But rather than buy, he's using money saved by renting to pursue a masters of business administration program at The University of Chicago. He has a good deal on rent, he admits, paying $400 per month to a friend for an apartment worth $650 in rent monthly.

"If I was paying $800 to $1,000 in rent per month, I'd have definitely looked into buying by now," he says.