How do we emphasize the importance of home ownership to renter nation? Many folks are paying their landlord’s mortgage instead of putting money in their own pocket each month! There is a common myth that one needs a 20% down payment. You don’t need hardly any down payment and there are programs to assist buyers. Most of us here don’t have to worry because we know this stuff and we own but how can we reach those, even family members, who don’t yet understand the important advantages of owning vs. renting? In many or most markets it may not make financial sense to own, but in California the numbers usually work out, can’t speak for other states. I realize some people can’t afford to own but if you can pay market rent you owe it to yourself to at least explore the possibility. One hindrance seems to be folks who want to live in a palacial setting in a top notch neighborhood, thereby forcing themselves into a lease obligation because prices for those types of properties are unaffordable to most buyers. Too bad all students aren’t taught the simple key to financial success: home ownership! Not much good on the news and they are always “teaching” the audience, too bad they don’t mention the importance of home ownership and tell us all about the free programs designed to transform renters into owners.
I look at hundreds of rental applications a year…Most cant afford to rent let alone to own…Most hopefull tenants have no or poor credit. No money in the bank and low paying jobs…Most are a paycheck away from being homeless. I currently have a tenant that makes $82k a year and can’t or wont pay her $1400/m rent…Gambling problem? I have had so many dead beat tenants that I am getting completely out of the rental business in 5 years.
I think the homeless problem will explode because there is a whole generation of tenants that do not believe that they should have to pay rent or make a comittment, promise or obligation to anything or anyone.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Home ownership can build wealth only when population (implied formation of households) is increasing and housing stock is less than the number of households at any one time. Are we sure these factors remain in the future?
Good point, one can’t expect to build wealth simply by owning a home but if the alternative is renting and if the market is fully investigated and confirmed to be fast growing and meets certain criteria, the choice is obvious if you consider that the re market is irrational and mostly swings up or down due to speculators and investors. Bay area is not where I invest, too low returns. I like to see who is buying property, I notice a lot of LLCs
LLCs are for liability protection.
It’s amazing to me how many people think they need 20% down to buy a house. Nice to see some reports on ABC news about home ownership programs. I wonder if part of the problem with declining home ownership is over-regulation. I say de-regulate re industry. We should be able to just log on and buy or sell a property with a very small fee like a stock. I have bought and sold property directly without any rep and it actually worked out better, faster, cheaper and without all of the headaches. Many unethical practices in current state of affairs. Better to have an even playing field (automated exchange)? If California we to de-reg r.e., home ownership would advance by 10-20% within 2-5 years according to my estimate.
You didn’t understand my comments. People today are less credit worthy because they are not morally obligated to pay their bills. Society in the last 50 years has lost its moral compass. We need bigger down payments are more penalties on people that don’t pay rent or their mortgage not less regulations.
We don’t need a repeat of the 2008 mortgage crisis.
You’re probably right but I was just trying to brainstorm on how we can give a helping hand to our brothers and sisters less fortunate. If we all work together maybe we can come up with ideas. Thank you for your input
Ouch
Lol. Yes, loan tons of money to people with subprime. We already know how that ends.
You got to buy RE and stocks cheap 
That’s how you become a millionaire 
Edit, multi-millionaire
This author lives in Maine. A state with stagnant growth and limited potential appreciation.
He fails to mention in his rambling unreadable treatise that location is key to homeownership.
He is big on comparing homeownership proponents to anti communist hate groups, though. Typical east coast liberal self loathing nut job.
If you buy a house in Portland, Maine you will be lucky to get much appreciation. That is why it is easy to find a $200k house. Living in California is a totally different experience. Prices are high but at least there is hope for appreciation. In vast areas of the country appreciation will be less than maintenance costs. The difference in costs in maintaining a $200k in Maine and a $2m home in CA are very little. But if both get an average of 5% appreciation the CA house will kick butt in net IRR.