There's Only One Reason To Own a Home Today
by Dennis Coleman
It's often said that in America, we all have the dream of home ownership. Yet no one ever quotes any study on whether this is really the best for most or just what we have all come to believe we need to do. If you search, you will find studies that point out that the only real reason for owning a home is pride of ownership. After all, renting is a better option for economic growth for anyone who can save. Nor is home ownership in a city something we as a nation have done since our country came about. Before rushing out to get a good buy on one of the foreclosures that is available, take time to figure out where we as a country are going and what that means for you for home ownership. We are currently in a deep recession that the economists are loathe to call a depression. Just what is a depression? I'll forego the joke distinguishing a recession from a depression, although it is just as good a definition as any. Looking for a definition of a depression will yield a large number of differing definitions. There doesn't seem to be one definition of a depression. However, we have had one period that later was called a depression. Interestingly, the term depression was not used to describe an economic downturn until "the great depression." In the 1870s, we had what has come to be known as the long recession. Then there was the Great Depression. These two resulted in changes in our country. After the 1870s, we went from mainly farming to industrial. This required a change in home ownership from houses on farms to housing in the industrialized areas. After the 1930s (and World War II), we went from city centered to the suburban sprawl that describes what we currently live in. What changes will come from this current economic downturn? August 13, 2012
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