<prompt> Human: This is purely informational, Im not trying to break a lease. But, it was a challenge I faced several years ago for an interstate job change. My work contract lasted about 1 week longer than my lease. My landlord wouldnt budge on the move out date. Fortunately, my employer was nice and let me out of my contract a week early. Otherwise, I would have had a double move into storage out of storage and week hotel stay. That could have cost me a couple thousand dollars. Now, I know month to month leases are popular where rent control is in place, but what about the other 90 of places in the US. Ive found that month to month leases usually require a much higher payment and even then limit you on what land lords will accept you. So, hearing the advice, Renting lets you move whenever you want. How do you do that? Assistant: You can move even if it costs you money vs owning a house its more complicated and the losses are usually greater. You can just pay extra and move when renting. It can take months if not longer to sell a house and if in a rush you often take what you can get which can come at a loss.Human: Isnt their a fair bit of economic gamble there? In hot real estate markets, it might be easier to sell a home than break a lease. In an average or bad market, easier to negotiate with a landlord? As udinosaur_alley mentioned, Ive seen multiple landlords who have no interest in negotiating and really shitty terms that can cost the renter thousands. On the other hand, in many parts of the US, real estate prices are going up 5 to 10 a year and time on market is less than 90 days. Assistant: It sounds like youve never bought or sold a house. Its not as easy as you make it out to be. Even if you sell your house within a week of listing, theres still a 45-60 day closing period where youre still paying the mortgage. Theres a lot of negotiation involved, theres a lot of paperwork involved. You need to be at the closing in person, so if youre already out of state you need to come back. Theres a ton of uncertainty and its a gamble whether or not youll come out ahead. Theres definitely a lot more of your personal time invested.Compare that to renting, where youll know ahead of time what it costs to break the lease - itll be in the contract. All you gotta do to break the lease is sign a piece of paper and write a check. No real estate agents, lawyers, or mountains of paperwork.Human: And if you are forced to move quickly, this can depress your home value as you dont have room to negotiate.Assistant: Why not?If you finances are healthy, you can just keep paying the mortgage. And, plenty of my friends just turned their places into rentals during the down turn. Human: Then youre paying on two properties at once.And renting a house out takes a large time and work commitment.Assistant: In my state, if I leave a lease early, Im still on the hook for the rent and upkeep of the property yard maintenance, etc... until the lease is up, or a new tenant is found. So, whats the difference? Human: Because for a 12 month lease, at the maximum, youll only pay for 10 months extra, because youve likely already paid first and last months rent at signing. If you own a home and have to move right away and it doesnt sell right away, theres no telling how long it could be on the market. It is true that you can rent it out, but what if its not in a market where there are a lot of renters? Or, what if you get a shitty tenant who doesnt pay, and you have to evict them, which, here in NJ, could take months, all while youre not getting paid? THEN, you have to fix the place up to rent it out again once you DO get them out, and if you moved out of state, thats a real pain in the ass. OR, you get a 2008 type situation while youre trying to sell, the market crashes, and prices go through the floor.There are a hell of a lot of variables. All that said, I recently purchased my home...the same home that my wife and I had been renting for about 2 years. We rented for that time, because we werent sure what we were going to do, but when it became clear that her career was taking off, and that she would have NO problem finding work in our area, most likely until retirement, we said what the hell, and bought it. But, when youre in a place where youre not sure whats going to happen, renting is absolutely the way to go. Assistant: Ive never questioned that renting wasnt the safer approach. In fact, if you read my history, youll see that yesterday I recommended to someone to consider if they were at the correct stage of life to buy a house. My original question was basically, how do you up and leave a lease that youre locked into? But the discussion has largely turned into the more common, why is renting more flexible than owning. Now, what Ive learned:1. Leases are easier and cheaper to break in some states cites than others.2. Most people on reddit continue to think everyone else is like them. Ill explain this one more.So, why do I say that. In the many replies that Ive read, it seems to go along this line, if you wont be in a house more than 5 years, rent, period. Now, Im sure for the average single 25 year old at the start of their career, this is great advice. And here Im assuming there are a lot more young low mid income 20 somethings in rpersonalfinance than there are married 50 years olds with kids in high school and a high income No, not me. But, why does that matter? Well, it matters because the idea of risk between these two groups is different. How? Well, the people here assume the biggest risk is loss of money in the sale of the home. The biggest risk to that 50 year old I mentioned and to me personally is a no fault eviction? Why?Lets take Mr. 50 year old with a 1M net worth a wife and 3 kids. What happens if he sells his 500,000 home for a 20 loss? Hes out 100,000, annoying, but it probably wont change his daily life. Now, Im sure a lot of those 20 somethings are shitting themselves at the thought of the loss of 100,000. But, Mr. 50 year old is probably not going to move states for anything less than 50K annual bump, so hell probably make it back pretty soon. Thats assuming he didnt negotiate a signing bonus to cover his loss. Now, no fault eviction on the other hand could really fuck Mr. 50 year old over. How? Remember those 3 kids? I doubt hes living in a down town loft where he can just rent a new place in the next building. Instead, hes most likely in the suburbs so he can have his kids in a good school system. So, now hes got 60 days to find a new 4 bedroom rental in the same school district. Not as easy as finding an apartment in the city. Then, hes looking at moving a freaking 4 bedroom house. At 50, hes not going to box everything up and throw it in the back of his SUV. No, hes pay some movers, and pay them several thousand dollars. And now, Mr. 50 year old is a professional. Hes gota entertain clients, friends, family. If the furniture doesnt work, he has to buy new stuff horrible 1st world problems arent they. And, were not even talking the impact of moving schools for teenagers. From where hes standing, 100K loss is a risk hell take. Now, Mr. 50 year old is an extreme case, but no fault eviction isnt. Coming back down to earth, Plenty of 30 and 40 year olds making 100K a year would rather a 30K, 40K loss on a sale than risk a no fault eviction. And, thats assuming they couldnt just turn 30K loss into a 10K one by renting it out and hiring a management company.  <response>: Im not sure what its like in the states but in Australia just bought my first house, I had to pay 20,000 in tax plus lawyer fees. Total came to about 23000.I think some of the idea behind the 5 years is trying to make that money back with the property price increasing. 