Is it better to own or to rent? What are the benefits? What happens when you can't pay the mortgage, will you fall victim to foreclosure? In the present real estate market, one might be apprehensive about investing in your first residential real property.

Let us examine the pros and cons. The very first thing to consider is that the property you own can be rented for profit. Regardless of your financial situation, you should always be able to cover the mortgage, by simply renting part or all of the property and possibly making an income on top of that. If you can't do that - you have probably made a bad purchase or simply borrowed too much against the title deed. So, unless something horrible happens that incapacitates you from making any sort of decisions or transactions, you should always be able to keep the property you own.

Benefits? The list is long. If the market is increasing, you obviously stand to make whatever the property accrues in value annually. Let’s say you have a $100,000 condo and it increases in value at the rate of 6% per year. The first year you would have made $6,000, while your costs remain constant since you are either renting the place to someone who covers them by paying you rent or you're paying the mortgage yourself instead of paying rent to someone else!

The interest you pay on your mortgage is tax deductable! Your first residential property can lower your income taxes by a very significant margin!

Any improvements you make on the property will not only increase your standard of living but will also increase the sale value of your property!

Owning your own piece of real estate will also do wonders for your self esteem and generally motivate you to generate a steady flow of income to make sure you don't lose your home.