Buying a home instead of renting requires careful consideration, but home ownership can transform your life in numerous ways. Yet landlords often try to dissuade renters from taking this step, perhaps because you’re helping them making their mortgage payment.

It’s worthwhile, however, to consider advice from mortgage consultants as well when making this momentous decision; please see below 10 incentives commonly provided to encourage home ownership.

1. Owning a home can be less expensive than renting.

Prospective home owners may find a comparative analysis staggering. If you are paying $1,000 per month for an apartment, and you know your rent will increase five percent every year, then over the next five years, you will pay your landlord $66,309. If you are currently renting a house, you may be paying much more than that each month.

2. Home ownership offers intangible benefits.

The numerous rewards and the achievement of homeownership instill a sense of pride, financial stability and confidence in the future. Ownership gives you a reason to work hard and a nice place to come home to after you do so.

3. Making mortgage payments instead of rent payments helps you build equity.

Shelling out monthly rent payments offers no long-term benefit. Your mortgage payments serve as a form of savings because the equity you are building can serve many uses in the future such as funding your children’s education or ensuring a comfortable retirement.

4. Unlike rent, fixed-rate loan programs ensure your monthly payment will never go up.

Inflation, though currently low, may return at any time. And, even in a depressed economy, landlords can capriciously raise rent payments to protect their financial position. Fixed-rate mortgage loans help you to plan for the future by stabilizing a major category of your monthly expenses.

5. Tax advantages come into play with home ownership.

Depending on your tax bracket, owning a home is often less expensive than renting after taxes. Your mortgage consultant can help you evaluate the tax advantages of various loan scenarios and share this information with your tax consultant. Based on this analysis, and factors such as your monthly income, current assets and obligations, you can evaluate what type of home you can afford and the interest rate for financing.

6. Interest payments on a mortgage are tax-deductible.

Interest payments on a mortgage below $1 million are tax-deductible.

7. You can refinance if interest rates drop.

The option of refinancing to a lower monthly payment at some point in the future should interest rates drop means your mortgage commitment can actually go down. When is the last time this happened to your rent?

8. Mortgage loan programs provide affordable down payments.

You can choose from many different types of mortgage loan programs including "low" and "no" down payments. These programs require the borrower to provide less than 3.5 percent of the loan amount as down payment.

9. Purchasing real estate offers a long-term investment.

Despite the recent fall and volatility of the housing market, real estate generally appreciates well over time with little downside for the investor.

10. Home involves more than a place to hang to your hat.

Your home truly is your castle. It represents a commitment to the future, a valuable treasure to pass on to your children, and a stake in the local community. Renting provides a more transitory lifestyle, perhaps suitable for some, but definitely not ideal for families or others who wish to settle down. Even the best arguments for renting fail to refute this central tenet of the value of home ownership.