Housing

The “American Dream” has been defined in a myriad of ways, but one of the more common elements revolves around the concept of home ownership. We’ll try to distill the question of whether to buy or rent, down into a handful of key factors and while we realize that everyone’s circumstances are a bit unique, there are some important elements that apply to anyone making this decision. It is also worth looking at the current market through a historical context, so we have added some additional detail below. We acknowledge for many given the affordability challenges that exist today there may be no choice but to rent for now, but that may very well turn out to be a blessing versus a curse with home affordability at historically low levels.  For someone that spent much of his adult life renting, I can say that decision worked well in that I avoided buying in during the housing boom that would turn into an epic bust at the turn of the century. Had I followed the conventional wisdom at the time, I would have drastically overpaid for a place that I would have resented a few years later. In addition to avoiding that calamity, the excess savings each month allowed me to set aside funds, much of which found its way into the market which has not been a bad thing for the last 15 years. It also meant that I could maintain a degree of flexibility with where I lived which had some qualitative positives. For those of you adamant that homeownership is the best path, all is not lost. The housing market has cycles and it stands to reason in the future there may be better times ahead. Patience is a virtue as they say… Let’s dive in: