Never Owning Last House (milk, activity, call, NYC)
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Yup, it was always in the back of my mind, the earthquake part. The year before I moved was the 7.2 earthquake in Ridgecrest. It was far away enough that my house shook, but no damage. Nothing was even knocked over.
My condo building in San Francisco (ie, where my secondary 300 sq ft condo is) is a large Victorian mansion converted into tiny condos. It was built in the 19th century, ie, before the 1906 mega-quake, and there are a number of other pre-quake buildings in the neighborhood, suggesting that it is probably on a fairly stable patch of land in case of true badness (plus the building has now been retrofitted for quakes). Another thing, looking at my tax assessment, only a minor part of it is in fact the value of my condo, and about 3/4 of the value is my share in the parcel of land on which the building is located. So, in case the building is totalled in a really bad quake, but the parcel of land does not sink into the ocean (btw, it is far from the ocean), I still retain 3/4 of the value of that property, in the form of land ownership in San Francisco.
Just like living in a hotel... but not as nice or convenient.
Like I said, no emotional attachment whatsoever.
Well yes, exactly. I had no emotional attachment either to my prior house, or the neighborhood, or the town, or the state. My workplace felt like a military deployment. If your job it to go on patrol in Paktia Province of Afghanistan, would you nurture emotional attachment to a house there? That's how I felt! Actually, worse, because in Paktia Province at least I could debate Islamic theology with the village hetman.
On the other hand, I used to do a fair bit of traveling, and accumulated points in the Hilton hotel chain. New trip, new city, new Hilton... but they still gave me the Hilton Honors greeting. My hotel room felt more like "home" than the woebegone house to which I held a title.
And as for doing work around the house, well, I felt more emotional satisfaction in going to other people's houses and helping them with their projects, than working on mine. No, not out of altruism or even friendship... but because their projects felt like they had archival value, that it was a chance to substantively improve something, whereas my own projects felt invariably like throwing good effort after bad, good money after bad.
Well yes, exactly. I had no emotional attachment either to my prior house, or the neighborhood, or the town, or the state. My workplace felt like a military deployment.
Let me be blunt. If you have no emotional attachment to a place, a desire to "settle down", and a willingness to make a commitment to go the efforts in making a house to a "home", you should NOT buy a house.
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On the other hand, I used to do a fair bit of traveling, and accumulated points in the Hilton hotel chain. New trip, new city, new Hilton... but they still gave me the Hilton Honors greeting. My hotel room felt more like "home" than the woebegone house to which I held a title.
I am going to blunt again. If a hotel room feels more like "home" to you, you're emotionally incapable to commit to owning a house.
Rentals were never objects of emotional attachment precisely because I knew they were only temporary. Purchased homes CAN become objects of such attachment, because they CAN be “forever homes” (till we die, of course*). Putting your sweat equity and unique features in a home does make it something more than just a place to eat, sleep, store things. Then you tend to stay longer and rack up memories. So many rich memories, in the case of the home we owned for 15 years.
Easy come, easy go matches rental life. It’s not for me, even though it is no work to maintain. There’s no reward of seeing the fruits of your work, either.
*With recomposing dead human bodies possible, the forever home might really be forever!
Let me be blunt. If you have no emotional attachment to a place, a desire to "settle down", and a willingness to make a commitment to go the efforts in making a house to a "home", you should NOT buy a house.
I am going to blunt again. If a hotel room feels more like "home" to you, you're emotionally incapable to commit to owning a house.
I own a home, but living in a hotel can be nice too -
I am retired military and most of those years were spent traveling all over and spending months in hotels.
You just wake up - get dressed, go down to the hotel breakfast, go to work, come back to a nice clean room.
I own a home, but living in a hotel can be nice too -
Sure! It's just money!!
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I am retired military and most of those years were spent traveling all over and spending months in hotels.
You just wake up - get dressed, go down to the hotel breakfast, go to work, come back to a nice clean room.
You just concentrate on your job.
I was not in the military but as a civilian in the defense industry. I can relate to living in hotels as a way of life. Too many extended TDYs. Another reason that I was married late in life.
Let me be blunt. If you have no emotional attachment to a place, a desire to "settle down", and a willingness to make a commitment to go the efforts in making a house to a "home", you should NOT buy a house.
From a bourgeois viewpoint, yes indeed. The middle class man’s house is his middle-class castle, his pride and joy, his heartfelt aegis of personal actualization. But what if one owns 10 houses – or has the wherewithal to do so? Should each of those lawns be personally manicured?
Consider: if a person isn’t a driving-enthusiast and feels no emotional attachment to a car, ought this person to never buy a car?
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Originally Posted by brightdoglover
Some people buy a house based strictly on the financial numbers of it.
Yes, and in my current situation it's hard to find compelling financial reason to be an owner.
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Originally Posted by Clemencia53
I am retired military and most of those years were spent traveling all over and spending months in hotels.
You just wake up - get dressed, go down to the hotel breakfast, go to work, come back to a nice clean room.
You just concentrate on your job.
Exactly. A house is merely a box where one sleeps and stores one's possessions. Any box will do. What matters incomparably more, is what one does, ahem, outside of the box.
Some people buy a house based strictly on the financial numbers of it.
And there's not a thing "wrong" with that either. For myself, though, I'm a "nester". My childhood nickname was "Susie Homemaker" and it's still characteristic of my personality. I get the greatest joy out of choosing a home that will be my very personal "nest". I don't consider that to be a "bourgeois viewpoint" though.
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