Home Ownership in America
Great article on how home ownership came to be thought of as part of the American dream in the recent decades. It was apparently not always the case even in the 20th century, and that mindset came about partly because of government policies.
I was also brought up to think that owning rather than renting was something you'd do once you had a steady job and were married. Home ownership where I came from is even more deeply entrenched in government policies than in the US. After working in finance for a while, I've changed my mind about the value of home ownership, and I have no desire to leverage myself to the hilt to pay for an illiquid asset with very high transaction costs in the area that I live in. In fact, in my area, buying turns out to be much more expensive than renting, and you'd need a pretty sizeable annual appreciation in the value of the house to even come close to breaking even, something I don't forsee happening for a few years.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409904574350432677038184.html
