One of the basic needs of man is to have a house over his head. Once one comes of age one of the first things that come to mind is to leave your parent's house and get a house for yourself. Now getting a house for oneself isn't always an easy feat. Depending on a number of factors(money, location, e.t.c.) one has to choose the best housing option for them. One of the major decisions to make is to decide whether to rent a house or buy a house.
RENTING A HOUSE
If one decides to rent a house they are a number of factors to consider. One has to factor in how long they plan on renting the house, whether it'll be better to buy a house, and how long they can continue to pay the rent, there's also a chance that the landlord could raise the price unnecessarily, or they could get into a fight with the landlord and get chased out as soon as their rent expires. Which could be catastrophic if there's no plan in place.
Renting is not all that bad though as it offers flexibility, and could also help one save money if done strategically.
BUYING A HOUSE
Buying a house is usually the more expensive option, one has to decide whether they want to build the house from scratch or they want to buy one that has been built already. Building from scratch will take some time to be completed and will also need to be monitored to ensure that one is getting exactly what one asked for. Buying an already made one is not so much better as one may end up buying a poorly built house which becomes a liability.
Now when one has their own house they're free from constantly paying rent every month or every year and now they can focus those bills somewhere else. One also has to factor in maintenance costs.
WHICH IS BETTER?
For me, I would rather buy a house than rent. My peace of mind is something I treasure, the fewer bills I have to pay the better. One may argue that having a house reduces how flexible one can be in terms of movement but seeing as I don't travel a lot having a fixed house is not an issue for me.
For someone who travels a lot a fixed house may not be the best option, but for someone who is looking to settle down and has a lot of money, why not? The decision is not always as straightforward as that, but ultimately choosing to buy a house or rent a house all comes down to the person. For me, the better option is buying.