The cover of this month's Time Magazine reads "Rethinking Homeownership". It goes on and on about foreclosures, walkaways, neighborhoods plagued by abandoned properties and its economic woes. I know that there is doom and gloom all over. The housing market isn't recovering anytime soon. It so much worse than any of us could have imagined, yet I still believe in homeownership.
Although the article speaks truths about what has happened to homeownership in the past few years, I still truly believe that owning a home is so much better than renting one. I love my house that we bought in Palmetto Bay, Florida in 1996. Before that, we lived in Pinecrest, Florida, another wonderful community.
At first, I didn't even like the Palmetto Bay home, but it was in our price range, close to good schools and had a good floor plan. If I had been only renting the house, I wouldn't have done anything to make it more of a representation of our family. I would have kept the walls gray, the windows steel, the roof dirty and the bathrooms old. I would have felt like I was living in a large hotel room. My clothes were there, but not my presence. That only comes from homeownership.
Also, I would have been at the whim of my landlord. What if he stopped paying his mortgage payment? What would happen to my family? What if someone offered him higher rent? What if he sold the house? What if....? You get my drift. We would be out on the streets again and always looking for another house to temporarily park ourselves. Security in your home only comes from homeownership.
About the neighbors around my Palmetto Bay home. I love them all! There isn't a bad neighbor anywhere! If I rented the house, I wouldn't have even bothered to introduce myself to our neighbors. Many of us had kids the same age and in the summer we would have block parties. Someone would haul out a BBQ grill, someone would bring the burgers, someone the veggies, someone the chips and so on. Now that the kids are all grown, we still wave, see their children's children visiting and it's absolutely wonderful. This only come from homeownership.
So, that's my two cents about homeownership. It can't be beat!
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