Do you ever really "own" your home? Interesting blog post (incentive, investment)
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Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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As a former home owner (owned for decades), currently sitting on the sidelines, I've been going back and forth about buying ever again. I still don't know what's right for me, but this author makes some really good points:
We're willing to put up with heavy restriction of property usage, the virtual elimination of economic use, the imposition of high and growing taxes, and the potential for legal attachment in exchange for tax incentives and the ability to sell the property at a higher price in the future.
Good deal perhaps, but it seems more like renting with the option to sell at a profit at a later date. Owning a home today is more like owning a stock: you hold title, but you have no impact on how the business is run, and your primary advantage is the ability to sell at a higher price. That means a house has morphed into something more like a tradable commodity than the traditional family homestead that could nurture a family for generations.
The dirty little secret in the housing sector is that over the past few decades price appreciation?has become?everything when it comes to homeownership.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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That's what's so great about buying a home. If you select wisely, it serves your needs well as a place to live and raise you family, and then you make a lot of money when you eventually sell it.
We bought our first in California for $50,000 in 1978, when there were just two of us. We sold it for $105,000 and bought a bigger one in 1985 when our second kid was born for $132,500. Then after our 3rd kid, we sold that one for $190,000 and bought here in Washington State, a house newer, twice as big and on a lot 3 times bigger for $190,000. Now having been here 27 years it's valued at $1.2 million.
True, we never really "owned it" since we still have the (30 year) mortgage, and won't since we will be selling in 1-2 years, but it's served us well both as a home and an investment.
Last edited by Hemlock140; 07-23-2021 at 12:20 PM..
As a former home owner (owned for decades), currently sitting on the sidelines, I've been going back and forth about buying ever again. I still don't know what's right for me, but this author makes some really good points:
We're willing to put up with heavy restriction of property usage, the virtual elimination of economic use, the imposition of high and growing taxes, and the potential for legal attachment in exchange for tax incentives and the ability to sell the property at a higher price in the future.
Good deal perhaps, but it seems more like renting with the option to sell at a profit at a later date. Owning a home today is more like owning a stock: you hold title, but you have no impact on how the business is run, and your primary advantage is the ability to sell at a higher price. That means a house has morphed into something more like a tradable commodity than the traditional family homestead that could nurture a family for generations.
The dirty little secret in the housing sector is that over the past few decades price appreciation?has become?everything when it comes to homeownership.
Consider the alternative to "owning" a house. And that would be "renting" a house. When you rent a house, you still pay all the expenses for maintenance, utilities, upkeep, repair, taxes of various kinds, etc, plus a profit to the landlord. All those things are included in your rent. Then, after your paying of all these expenses for umpteen years, the landlord boots you out and sells the house and pockets the profit for himself. You're left with a stack of rent receipts.
So, by renting, you've benefitted from not having a lot of your money tied up at any one time, but over the long run, it is YOU who is still paying all the expenses, but someone else will get to reap the profits when it's time to sell.
And another point that's important to many people, a renter is very limited in what changes he is allowed to make to a property. If you don't like the interior color, don't like the appliances, don't like the floor covering, don't like ANYTHING, there's little or nothing you can do about it. You MIGHT be able to get the landlord to make some changes for you, but that's generally rather difficult to do in most cases. Changes are usually made AFTER you move out to make it more appealing for the next renter.
As a friend of mine used to say, "When I own a home, if I want to dig a big hole in the front yard, all I need is a shovel." Try doing that as a renter and see where it gets you.
I love "owning" a home as opposed to renting. I rented for part of a year after my husband passed away because I couldn't take living in our home that we shared; it was alright, but I didn't like how I couldn't do what I wanted cosmetically (although I have been able to paint a rental once upon asking). I couldn't wait to buy again and I probably moved too soon. But I love moving. Thinking about moving again here hopefully within a year (just moved here 2 years ago). I love buying a house that needs a "makeover" then improving it and selling it for a profit, unless the market's not right; in that case, I would stay there for a while longer until it improves.
LOL at superstitions about ownership.
Dang right I own my home.
Owned it before it was paid off and after, with all the rights and privileges of ownership.
I have protections as an owner, built into the law and the deed.
As a former home owner (owned for decades), currently sitting on the sidelines, I've been going back and forth about buying ever again. I still don't know what's right for me, but this author makes some really good points:
We're willing to put up with heavy restriction of property usage, the virtual elimination of economic use, the imposition of high and growing taxes, and the potential for legal attachment in exchange for tax incentives and the ability to sell the property at a higher price in the future.
Good deal perhaps, but it seems more like renting with the option to sell at a profit at a later date. Owning a home today is more like owning a stock: you hold title, but you have no impact on how the business is run, and your primary advantage is the ability to sell at a higher price. That means a house has morphed into something more like a tradable commodity than the traditional family homestead that could nurture a family for generations.
The dirty little secret in the housing sector is that over the past few decades price appreciation?has become?everything when it comes to homeownership.
While I agree that some of the restrictions cited in the article can be overly excessive (an example might be a restriction that someone is not allowed to have a vehicle more than 10 model years old parked in the driveway, even if it drives perfectly fine and is in excellent condition).
But some of these are to prevent a homeowner from infringing on their neighbors' right to enjoy their home, or to be free from safety or health hazards. For example, the open burning of yard waste is not a good idea when houses are feet apart, and it could cause a wildfire, aggravate someone's respiratory problems, or aggravate air pollution on a day when it's already too high. Or certain kinds of home businesses, involving chemicals or other noxious uses, could contaminate the groundwater of a neighboring property. There are good reasons for some of those restrictions and most people don't live on hundreds of acres in the middle of a corn field anymore like it's the 1800's.
With more people clustered together, there have to be some sort of common sense rules on certain things without having a board meeting to decide what color welcome mat someone is allowed to have at their front door.
And people can choose whether they want to live under a restrictive homeowners association (which is good for some people) or if they want to live somewhere with fewer restrictions (which also means their neighbors have fewer restrictions too).
No, you never 'own' your own home/property, you are merely renting it from the State. If you don't pay your 'rent' (property tax) they boot you out and 'sell' it to someone else who *will* pay it.
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