Financial experts will tell you that owning a home is much better for you than renting. You get a host of tax breaks by owning a home that you don’t get by renting and the home payments help to build up equity. While this is all true, you have to ask yourself how much house you can afford on your salary and how long you expect to be in the house before selling to really understand whether owning is really better than renting.

To understand an appropriate level of mortgage debt, lenders require that not more than 28% or at most 30% of your income go towards housing. On a $25,000/year job you have about $7500/year or 625/month to spend on mortgage. If you end up missing mortgage payments, the bank can foreclose on your home and all the advantages are instantly wiped out, not to mention that your credit is ruined for years.

Making your mortgage payments on time helps to build up your credit history and adds to your equity. If you are short a month, you might have to juggle some bills or take out a payday advance to cover the shortfall. Whatever you do, be aware that missing more than 3 payments can automatically trigger foreclosure procedures. It will also trigger a late fee. All this can be avoided by making those payments on time, even if you have to take out a payday advance to do it.

With the risk being so high, you have to ask yourself: Is owning really better than renting? If you are not going to be in the house at least five years, the answer is almost always no. You have to pay 6% commission to a realtor simply to sell the house and it needs five years to appreciate significantly.

Keep in mind that late payments affect your credit score, even if you’ve only done it once or twice. Finding other sources of income are important in paying your mortgage on time. They can be credit cards, personal loans, or a payday advance.