There are some situations when renting is smarter than buying. You're not necessarily throwing your money away when you rent. I moved to Washington, D.C., in 2010, and I was perfectly happy as a renter. Neither of my apartments were luxurious. But in an expensive city with limited housing, I paid below market rate for my first place (my roommate and I had our own bedrooms, thanks to a makeshift wall). Later, when I wanted to live alone, I landed an underpriced studio in a rent-controlled buildin