American Dream or American Nightmare

I happened to be listening to a discussion on the radio about homeownership and the changes of the past few years. As we all remember, buying a home, raising a family and benefiting from the stability of putting down roots was indeed the American Dream. And the buying the home part was usually the most exciting. But it must be remembered that owning a home was never really designed to be the greatest "investment" one could ever make. Housing is shelter. It is an asset and it gets older every year. I remember a story my father, also a Realtor, told me when I was about 16 years old. I remember him telling me that real estate is a wonderful thing. "We bought this house (our family home) 14 years ago for $12,000. Now we are selling it for $14,000. John, the house is 14 years older than when we bought it, we lived here and raised a family, it provided us shelter AND WE'RE SELLING IT FOR MORE THAN WE BOUGHT IT FOR!" That was the thinking back in the 1960's. Your home was not designed to appreciate in double-digits and provide a source of cash for things like vacations, cars, TVs, etc. The latter, unfortunately, is the thinking of the 90's and 2000's, and it is little wonder that some homeowners find themselves in an American nightmare. I contend, however, that this is not the fault of housing. It is the result of less than wise decisions, an incredible amount of greed on the part of many, including real estate people, lenders and others looking to "get their share", and a press that couldn't tell you often enough how hot the real estate market was.

I suggest to you that the American Dream is alive and well. If you have an opportunity to purchase a home, raise a family and put down roots, please do so and do so now when we have lower prices, lower rates and plenty of incentives in the marketplace. I promise you that, if you use common sense in your decisions, avoid unreasonable expectations as to the appreciation of your house, make regular payments to your lender and expect to live in you home a minimum of 5 years, you will experience the true dream of homeownership and you may just be as excited as my father was about the "value" it adds to your life. Good luck and let me know if I can do anything to help.