So I've been thinking a lot lately. Growing up, my parents had money. They had a good amount in savings. Never had to worry about money. I guess I sort of picked up on that because me and my sisters have a good chunk of money (at least for people our age) in our savings accounts.

So yesterday I was doing some calculations. If I bought a house and deducted the amount of money I'd use for the down payment was well as a couple grand for some things I would need for the house, I'd be left with almost nothing (at least to my standards) in my savings account. That terrifies me! And then when I started to think about the real reason why I wanted to BUY a house, buying didn't seem so ideal to me. I want to buy a house for pretty much 3 reasons:

1. I'm not happy living in my current rental house with my roommates. I can't live with people who just want to party and who have no goals in life. I want a roommate who has goals, is fun to hang out with, but at the same time have their own thing going on, and someone who is clean.

2. I want to be able to decorate my own way. My current landlords let us paint the walls. The floors need some work though. All I really want in a house is hardwood floors, being able to decorate my own way, and I'd like it to be somewhat bright in the house. My current roommates love to close the blinds and it just puts a damper on my mood.

3. I want to grow up! I don't want to be a kid anymore. I want to have my own house that I love coming home to.

I realized that I could do all those things renting a house and I'd still have a cushion in my savings account. What do you guys think? What are the pros and cons of both renting and buying?