36 
House & Garden 
SHALL YOU BUILD, BUY OR RENT? 
Facts That Will Guide ) ou in Deciding the 
Oil Which You Acquire a Home 
EMMA GARY WALLACE 
I T is well known that whenever housing 
conditions are poor, strikes and unrest 
occur. Certain cities in the United 
States which are notorious for their poor hous¬ 
ing conditions, head the list also in the way of 
strikes, mobs and disturbed conditions gener¬ 
ally. On the other hand, as soon as a family 
owns a comfortable home, that family becomes 
a part of the community and interested in its 
welfare and progress. 
A great many times families who have rented 
and who have been accustomed to large homes, 
find that they can get along very comfortably 
with less space. Both expense and upkeep are 
saved, and in the end everyone is quite as well 
off. There are those who have rented for many 
years, following the line of least resistance. 
There is no particular reason why they should 
go on doing this, but they have not quite dared 
to assume the obligation of buying or building. 
As a rule, the long term renters are of the type 
who are gun-shy of responsibility. Most of 
them wake up some day, though, to find out 
that they have paid out large sums of money 
for which they have received a temporary roof, 
to be sure, but their estates have not been in¬ 
creased to the extent of a single penny by the 
outlay of the rental money. 
The remark is often made with a good deal 
of truth, that “It is cheaper to buy than to 
build.” This depends upon whether you can 
find what you want, at a price you want, and 
in a location you want. With the present 
shortage of houses, there are not buildings 
enough to meet the calls of all who are looking 
for homes, so a large number will be compelled 
to build. 
Where it is desirable to buy a home outright, 
a moderate payment can usually be arranged 
to make one a property owner, the balance re¬ 
maining on a mortgage held either by a bank, 
an investor, or even the former owner. There 
is plenty of money in the country, and many 
people who are seeking safe investments for it, 
so a person of character and reliability will 
have no trouble in securing a loan of this kind, 
and the money paid for rent will slowly but 
surely wipe away the entire indebtedness. 
E VERYTHING considered, there are ad¬ 
vantages in owning a home of your own 
even now. Many have the idea that 
building at the present time is simply pro¬ 
hibitive in point of expense, but this is a 
superficial judgment. Building involves three 
things: The possession of the land, the pur¬ 
chase of materials, and the hiring of labor. 
This is true whether the house is built by “day 
work” or on contract. 
Land values have been surprisingly stable 
for the simple reason that so little building 
has been going on that few people have cared 
to buy land just to pay taxes on it and have it 
stand idle. In fact, some of our keenest busi¬ 
ness minds lay down the fixed principle that 
investment property must be yielding property, 
for to buy land with the expectation of a rise 
in values is a purely speculative venture. 
There never was a time when it was really 
easier to buy a building lot than at the present, 
for many land-promoting companies have seen 
the need of more homes and have forestalled 
the coming building boom by opening up allot¬ 
ments or so-called “parks” or parcels of land 
on easy payment terms. These tracts are care¬ 
fully chosen, surveyed, and subdivided so as 
to allow for streets, community breathing 
spaces, and transportation facilities. Many of 
these allotments provide for easy and small 
payments, so that almost anyone who wishes 
may own a lot. The sooner building is begun, 
the better pleased the promotion company is, 
for it adds to the value of the whole tract to 
have people living there. 
If there is no such land promotion company 
at work opening up new tracts, individual lots 
may nearly always be found, or a desirable lot 
with a ramshackle building on it purchased 
cheaply, the building torn down, and the good 
parts salvaged. One man who did this was 
able to make enough out of the materials from 
the razed building to get his lot without ex¬ 
pense except the time and trouble involved. 
Even if money is not on hand to buy land 
outright and there are no easy payment allot¬ 
ment sections at hand, it is still possible for 
the person of reputation to purchase desirable 
property. There are no less than seven thou¬ 
sand building and loan associations in the 
United States, and these hold mortgages to the 
stupendous sum of two billion dollars. The 
combined business transacted by these associa¬ 
tions during the past year totals one billion 
two hundred and fifty million dollars, and sur¬ 
prising as it may seem, this enormous business 
was transacted at a cost of three-tenths of one 
per cent. 
So, if you become a member of a reliable 
Building & Loan Association you are a part 
of a co-operative concern which is helping you 
to become a property owner at a minimum of 
administrative expense. Further than this, 
local banks are willing to furnish reasonable 
sums of money to reliable persons for building 
purposes, always, of course, being well se¬ 
cured by the property itself; and the Govern¬ 
ment is working out other plans to this end 
to further the Own Your Own Home move¬ 
ment. 
N OW let us look at the cost of materials 
and the comparative increase in prices 
since the war began. It is but fair to 
say that this table of relative increases was 
given out some months ago, and in some cases 
values have advanced since then, but the ad¬ 
vance has about kept pace on the different 
commodities, thus maintaining much the same 
Basis 
ratio in the end. Fuel and lighting have in¬ 
creased 79%; metal products, 83%; food, 
99%; general commodities, 107%; farm prod¬ 
ucts, 136%; clothing and cloths, 151%; 
building material, 58%. 
I he average individual builds but one home 
in a lifetime. It is true that the building of 
a home means a considerable outlay of money, 
but a house will last, if well built, for fifty 
years or more, and the amount of money re¬ 
quired by a family for food in twenty-five 
years will extend the amount necessary to 
build a home. Why put off the home 
building? 
According to a good many experts in the 
field, now is really the time to build, instead 
of when the necessities of life have all re¬ 
turned to an approximation of the old levels. 
When that happens, the purchasing power of 
the producer’s dollar will be much nearer the 
purchasing power of the building supply 
dollar. 
When we consider the matter of labor, we 
will have to be ready to pay more than would 
have been necessary in earlier years, but this 
difference can more than be made up by two 
factors. The first is the real saving possible 
on building materials—relatively speaking; 
and the second is the simplified home plans 
which are now in favor. 
J UST the type of home which is to be 
built should be given careful thought, 
and to a marked degree the needs of the 
family will determine just what this type 
should be. Many people favor the bungalow 
style, because they think of it as attractive 
and inexpensive on account of its abbreviated 
size. 
The bungalow is somewhat spread out on 
the ground and so needs a great deal in the 
way of masonry work, and this calls for an 
equivalent amount of roofing. If the upright 
timbers are only a few feet longer, they will 
furnish an upstairs, which makes more privacy 
possible, and is a factor also in economical 
heating. When all is said and done, the ex¬ 
pense of building a bungalow is about the 
same as a house of a story and a half or two 
stories. An attic is an advantage for storage 
purposes and makes a house warmer in winter 
and cooler in summer. 
Those who wish to can make arrangements 
to borrow money for home-owning purposes 
and meet the interest on the indebtedness, 
taxes, upkeep and a small payment on the 
principal in the form of a monthly rent check. 
At all times, their equity in the property will 
equal the amount they have actually paid in, 
or they will have a claim in just proportion 
to the resale price. 
It must not be forgotten that those who own 
property for the purpose of renting it expect 
(Continued on page 76) 
