Ever wonder what it is that makes so many folks want to become homeowners? I always tease first home buyer clients that owning a home is all about being in debt up to your eyeballs and spending every spare minute and every spare nickel on fixing, decorating and maintaining, but it isn’t too far from true. My wife and I have been homeowners for 37 of our 38 married years, and the list of projects never seems to end.

So why do people buy homes? The reasons are as varied as the buyers themselves, but there are some commonly recognized sentimental and financial benefits. In the former category, the “joy of home ownership” is a frequently heard phrase. This presumably refers to the freedom to turn the domicile into an expression of your individuality. If you want to paint your living room walls day-glow orange with big, purple polka dots, no one is going to stop you, except perhaps your more sober minded spouse or partner. Being able to point to a piece of Mother Earth, no matter how tiny, and say, “This is mine,” is no small matter, however. Our forefathers were driven to undertake great hardships for the sake of owning a place of their own.

While sentiment might work well for us baby-boomers, the gen-x & y people usually require more tangible benefits, though, if pushed, I believe they, too, would allow for a certain amount of emotional charge from owning a home. More importantly for these groups, however, is the fact that homeowners get a stake in one of the greatest wealth-building mechanisms there is. According to data from the Federal Reserve Board, an average homeowner’s net worth is 46 times that of a renter’s.

On top of that, owning a home is often cheaper than renting when tax benefits and appreciation are factored into the equation. The ability to deduct mortgage interest and real estate taxes (normally the two largest line item costs of home ownership) from taxable income on your federal return represents a potentially huge tax savings. Further, according to statistics furnished by the National Association of REALTORS®, homes double in value every ten years on average, market ups and downs notwithstanding. No wonder the X-ers and Y-ers are lining up to buy houses!

There are other factors that speak in favor of the home ownership experience, too. Homeowners are typically more motivated to stay abreast of local issues to protect their investment, for example. Research reported in the NAR study, Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing, shows that homeowners are more likely to vote and that they volunteer time for political and charitable causes more frequently than renters. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, owners do not move as frequently as renters, providing more neighborhood stability. In turn, involvement in community quality-of-life issues helps prevent crime, improve childhood education and support neighborhood upkeep

In all my years in the real estate profession I have never heard one single convincing argument against home ownership, the” fixing, decorating and maintaining” aspect notwithstanding. “Under all is the land,” as the Preamble to the REALTORS® Code of Ethics says, and they’re not making any more of it, even though the world population keeps growing and growing. This in itself is a compelling rationale for home ownership as a great investment, but it is only one of many reasons why over 68% of Americans own the homes in which they live.

Bob Dohn
www.BobDohn.com
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
140-A South Roselle Road, Schaumburg, IL 60193
Direct Phone: 847-301-3126