“There is no one correct answer,” says Doug Heddings, founder of Heddings Property Group. “Each individual retiree must evaluate their financial portfolio to determine the cash that they will need to live on a monthly basis,” he says. Most retirees grew up with the idea that owning a home is always the best choice. The U.S. Census reports that 81 percent of Americans age 65 and older are homeowners. But that attitude may be changing. Experts agree it’s unwise for retirees to carry over large debts into their retirement years. In 2009, half of retirees carried mortgage debt, a figure that doubled from 2007 when only one in four had mortgage debt. And a recent study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University projects more than 2 million Baby Boomers now entering retirement will opt to rent.

So how do you decide?