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"The number of families with minor children who own their home has decreased by almost 3.6 million in one decade (2006-2016), while the number of families with children living in rentals has increased by 1.9 million over the same period of time"
I think this happened because of lifestyle choices:
- people are not interested in owning anymore, they rather live somewhere close to work than move to the suburbs; Cause moving to the suburbs comes at a high cost: longer commute hours, mortgage and so on.
- the increasing age of parents having their first child;
- employers still choose downtown locations;
As a former real estate agent(twice), this is part of the reason I got out of it and never intend on going back in. The standards of who can qualify for loans has become so tight, that pretty much anyone paying student loans or other debts not relating to housing cannot qualify.
Also, another factor you're forgetting is that it used to be that if people bought a house, they were not as stuck into it because in only about 5 years paying for it, the value would appreciate a lot more than the balance of their mortgage, so they could move. Now, if people decide they want out of the house and they don't have enough money to pay the difference after they come up short, their only other option is a short sale, and only if they have a proven financial hardship to show they cannot afford to pay for the house.
That has definitely been our situation. When we first got married, it was the beginning of what would be a real estate bubble in our area; almost overnight, little 700 square foot bungalows that were under $100k, were suddenly going for a quarter of a million, and kept on going up. At some point we came to the realization that we couldn’t afford both a home and a family on one income, so we picked having children first and buying a home once they were in school and I went back to work.
Was it ideal to have kids while living in an apartment? No, but at the same time, by waiting we are now able to afford a much nicer home than if we had bought before we had kids.
It's much less about the # of people who own Vs rent and much more about the %. Have the percentages increased or decreased? And whatever the answer, there are multiple reasons why, not just because people are not interested in owning anymore...not even sure what that means.
We play it safe, fiscally, and I couldn't imagine having kids before owning our house. It is the absolute largest wealth-conserving decision we could have made. Even if the house value only breaks even (it doubled in "value" in the 4 years since we bought it), over 30 years of rent increases, by the time the house is paid off, our rent (for a much smaller and shabbier place) would be $10,000/month, while our last mortgage payment will be 25% of that ($2,500/month) taxes and basic maintenence costs included.
The everyday problems of kids+apartments/rentals aside, If we didn't own the house, there would be no hope of paying for any portion of our kids college, our prospects for retirement would be dim, and the thought of helping them financially in the future would be an improbable dream.
We're pretty savvy, financially. We operate with fiscal discipline, and we have business ideas in the works that may pay off well in the long-run, but--at this point--the biggest thing we've done to put our family/kids on stable financial ground is to purchase a home before having kids.
What's also important is, NEVER get pets until you own a house. Your options of renting will be more narrow, and you'll end up having that extra burden that keeps you from finding an affordable place to rent and save for a house
What's also important is, NEVER get pets until you own a house. Your options of renting will be more narrow, and you'll end up having that extra burden that keeps you from finding an affordable place to rent and save for a house
A lot of apartments accept pets as long as you pay a deposit.
We play it safe, fiscally, and I couldn't imagine having kids before owning our house. It is the absolute largest wealth-conserving decision we could have made. Even if the house value only breaks even (it doubled in "value" in the 4 years since we bought it), over 30 years of rent increases, by the time the house is paid off, our rent (for a much smaller and shabbier place) would be $10,000/month, while our last mortgage payment will be 25% of that ($2,500/month) taxes and basic maintenence costs included.
The everyday problems of kids+apartments/rentals aside, If we didn't own the house, there would be no hope of paying for any portion of our kids college, our prospects for retirement would be dim, and the thought of helping them financially in the future would be an improbable dream.
We're pretty savvy, financially. We operate with fiscal discipline, and we have business ideas in the works that may pay off well in the long-run, but--at this point--the biggest thing we've done to put our family/kids on stable financial ground is to purchase a home before having kids.
Everyone listen to that.
Our condo in Boston was crazy expensive when we bought it about 6 yrs ago and it's close to doubled in value. I can rent it out now and cover the mortgage, taxes, etc. - the renters would be paying my mortgage.
"The number of families with minor children who own their home has decreased by almost 3.6 million in one decade (2006-2016), while the number of families with children living in rentals has increased by 1.9 million over the same period of time"
I think this happened because of lifestyle choices:
- people are not interested in owning anymore, they rather live somewhere close to work than move to the suburbs; Cause moving to the suburbs comes at a high cost: longer commute hours, mortgage and so on.
- the increasing age of parents having their first child;
- employers still choose downtown locations;
Sorry but some of your reasons as to why you THINK people rent are wrong. First, I am married with a toddler and we WISH we could AFFORD to own. We rent. Your first reason is wrong. People certaimly don't PREFER to rent. Why would you prefer renting?? Also second reason is wrong. Actually- all those reasons are wrong lol
What's also important is, NEVER get pets until you own a house. Your options of renting will be more narrow, and you'll end up having that extra burden that keeps you from finding an affordable place to rent and save for a house
I kinda agree with this.we have 2 cats and in the past we slightly had an issue finding an apartment to rent that accepted cats and had an affordable cat fee. But obviously we would never get rid of our cats just so we could live somewhere.
Now we are renting a house that accepts pets so its not an issue.
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