Sociology 101: Renting vs. Owning

My husband and I just purchased our first home. We close next week. Life is good.

I truly believe that owning a home makes me a better member of society, I have a vested interest in the general outcome of things in a very tangible way. With unemployment rising while real estate prices and living expenses spiral upward, a majority of Americans are unable to stake their claim to something permanent.

Does a shrinking middle class breed indifference? Does ownership breed affluenza? Does Bush's abysmal dog and pony show finally put the mythic utopia of an "Ownership society" to rest? Or did they just go about it the wrong way?

What will happen in the United States if another depression occurs? Will we continue sleepwalking into servitude and endless war?

...and maybe a few rooms after you've lost yer jobs, just to keep the payments on the house current!

Pay down that principle as quick as you can--always add a bit more on your payment each month. Even a small increase reduces your total costs down the line.

I've always felt that buying my home worked out well for us. Good advice above...pay down the principle when you can. It will save you $$$.

:hi:

:)

Im not trying to be snotty. :hug:

Are you sure that's what you meant to say?

I've never thought of "renters" as bad members of society.
:shrug:

It was just a self imposed label. I should have put it in "". My mistake.

Maybe it is social conditioning, but I now feel like a card carrying member of the American Dream. I guess there is a point when you wonder what part you are of the greater game? What part are all of we? Is it a rat wheel our reality..

Or maybe too much wine.

If you Wikipedia "Ownership Society" it reads like a really bad social experiment. It made me think about how there is nothing new under the sun.

:rofl:
I actually heard this on a broadcast news program, when a bunch of people recently shared a large lottery payout. The breathless blonde anchor actually referred to the win as "the American Dream."

:eyes:

we are incredibly lucky and refuse to pay those robber baron taxes on a mortgage when we can just hunker down and live meagerly but responsibly for 5-10 years. Currently, it doesnt seem that many are as lucky due to both circumstances of their own accord and/or random chance.

There has to be a critical mass. I guess I just wonder what happens next.

People are over extended and underinvested.

So that when you retire, you'll have your home paid off, and another one for retirement income.

Myself being one of them. I am far more active in my city than most home owners ~ and will never be able to afford ownership even though I have worked all my adult life, raised 3 kids and am now raising my 4th, my 6 month old grand niece. This is because I have never worked a job that paid a livable wage and rent here takes over half of most working poor's income. I have paid more taxes out of my paycheck than most upper income people have, and they gripe all the time about paying maybe 10% of their incomes when most low wage workers pay almost 20%, such as myself. See, Washington State is a regressive tax state and only 15% of our taxes come from property taxes, almost 60% comes from excise taxes.

Why do I bring this up? Because renters can be good citizens too. I will say however that I have little investment in any neighborhood here, and this reflects in my kids who have moved around a lot and have no idea what it is like to "belong" to any neighborhood. I have lived in Seattle almost all my life and have noticed a decline in neighborhoods because over half of them are renters. I think this is because we are never really part of the area intimately. Why invest any energy working in the Community Center when we are treated like temporary residents ~ which we are?

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle <---who would love to be a homeowner but never will because even though my rent pays property taxes, the costs makes it impossible to raise children and save enough to buy a home.

I think Ive moved something like 32 times in my 28 years. No place ever felt like home until I moved here. It makes such a difference in your life when you live in the place you love and are able to make roots in a community that lasts for more then a lease.

Maybe another depression would create community again. The great equalizer. Poverty.

roof needs to be fixed, you can fix. I live in an 8 unit condo (owner) and the supplies arrived on the roof in Dec. and it still isn't completed. Every wind storm blows materials and booms. I think the big misnomer is that you have to do the unexpected repairs when they occur, but at least you can.

My advise, like the others, put as much as you can additionally in equity payments every month, it is amazing how much equity in such a short time you can earn (from someone who learned the hard way and 10-20 can make a dent). I thought that I would be out of here 10 yrs. ago. When you have equity you can take tax deductible LINE OF CREDIT loans, not to be confused with generic home equity loans (which are tax deductible, but based on credit card policies)!