9 reasons I'm ready to buy my first home

I'm now one of those cliché Millennials whose desire to buy a home is driven more by a pet than a child. In my current apartment, there's literally nowhere to put a litter box. In fact, our building doesn't allow pets at all: according to my lease, adding a furry member to my household would result in a $500 fine or potential eviction.

I really do like my apartment building, but I liked it even better when I thought it was one of those "they don't build them like they used to" buildings with mythically thick walls. Then some new tenants moved in – tenants who party on Thursday nights and seem to always be watching horror films at maximum volume.

Readynest's own rent or buy calculator told me that renting at my current rate ($800/month) would be better for my bottom line over 7 years than buying a $250,000 home with a $10,000 down payment.

But because of the reasons listed above, I've been thinking about moving (again) to a larger apartment that can address some of my concerns. To make a true comparison, I need to compare owning a home to renting an apartment that would meet my new thirtysomething standards.

In my neighborhood, an apartment like that would end up costing around $1,600 a month – double my current rent, but still affordable for me. When I plug that number into the calculator to compare the costs of buying vs renting, buying a $250,000 home with a $10,000 down payment would save me $58,147 over 7 years compared to renting.

The lightbulb finally went off, and now I'm excited about the prospect of finding a home that I can settle into, with plenty of room for my new cat (and litter box, and board games) to boot.