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Home ownership is important in a world where you don't want everyone always strapped down by debt as barely more than a chattel slave. It is the increase of the
by arminiusreturns 7y ago
Home ownership is important in a world where you don't want everyone always strapped down by debt as barely more than a chattel slave. It is the increase of the rentier class of capatalism that is largely to blame for adding millions to the homeless population while millions of homes go uninhabited. Of course I understand in some specific markets this generally doesn't apply (the SV centric nature of HN tends to make this sentiment seem more prevalent than in most of middle America). The small percentage in taxes you would then pay in repairs and taxes per year vastly outweigh paying on a mortgage for the rest of life until you die, and narrowly focusing on people who abuse equity as a line of credit doesn't negate those facts. That same rentier class repacking mortgages in financial derivatives many times over is how we got 07/08, and nothing much has changed other than a slight deleveraging from ~30 to ~11 and the bailouts being automatic next time via Dodd-Frank.
Of course the largest part the problem is that people are trained to think debt is such a good thing. I can't tell you many lawyers I know who make 500k/yr are way in the net negative, while my country/redneck friends are far in the net positive. Their homes and vehicles may not be brand new or as nice, but they own them and have a financial and other type of freedom the rich-but-a-debt-slave can only dream of. Of course they have the means to get themselves out of that position, but they don't think like that for the most part.
tldr - Ownership (on more than just homes) is still very important if you don't want bankers to own the world.
ps: Also, this is one of the reasons why the move more towards a remote-first workforce seems very promising to me. Buy a forever home as young as possible and never have to sell it unless you want to move, as opposed to always having to sell for every new job you take.