Time magazine has joined the growing chorus of pundits and talking heads bashing American homeownership. Homeownership, we are now told, was the cause of the economic downturn and financial meltdown that began two years ago.  In this nightmarish version of the "American dream,"  the new ideal is a nation of nomads, wandering from city to city looking for jobs, with no community or famly roots.

 It just so happens that I  was too occupied last week helping clients in their responsible quest for just the right home to respond in a more timely fashion to Time magazine's recent cover story, The Case Against Homeownership. I am the first to advise a new client against embarking on home buying if, after our initial consultation, I determine they are not ready, either financially or in terms of putting down roots, to take this big step in life. But for those who are prepared, home ownership is vastly rewarding, and provides long term benefits to the owners and the community.

Lately, home ownership has been made the culprit for many of our nations' woes. Homeownership is neither a panacea to cure our ills, nor it is the cause of our economic and financial meltdown.

What went wrong, contributing to the meltdown? How about we start with:

- lax underwriting standards  

- Moody's and other rating agencies giving their blessing to real estate junk bonds  

- yield spread premiums that encouraged lenders to put buyers into high interest loans

- buyers who lied about their income to get a mortgage, aptly named "liar loans"

- no documentation loans, "ninja loans" (no income no job)

- all the practices so aptly described in Michael Lewis' book The Big Short

- ARMs with low introductory teaser rates that explode into usurious interest rates

- real estate agents who encouraged their "clients" to buy homes they could not afford because "when the ARM re-sets you can just sell the house and make a lot of money"

- the idea of home as piggy bank instead of nest egg

Please feel free to add to this list!