Why I'm glad we bought a house

Why I'm glad we "bought" a House

Yes, bought is in quotes, because I've always thought that a funny name for signing your life away to a bank and holding a mortgage until you move (most likely) or the house is actually paid off .  Technically, you are renting-to-own, from the Bank!  There are definitely times I wonder if we did the right thing "buying," but there are definitely advantages to "owning," some of which I thought I'd point out here.  :)


1. I'll start with the obvious... there is hope that we will live here long enough, and the neighborhood will grow and improve enough, and that luck will be on our side so that we might actually make a dollar or two when we are ready to move out.  There is never any guarantee of this, as millions learned the hard way when the housing bubble burst, but the "investment" is always the number one reason the "experts" always tell you when you ask about purchasing over renting.  There are people who have made thousands of dollars in home sales, so it can happen!  Of course it's never happened to us, but hope springs eternal. ;)

2. We can decorate however we please.  When you rent, there are always restrictions on painting, hanging things, putting up wallpaper, etc.  When you "own" the home yourself, you can decorate in whatever weird and wild way suits your own personal fashion sense.  All you need to do is find a buyer who likes it too, or be willing to change it back to boring renter colors (when you are ready to move out).

3. There is a certain amount of pride and accomplishment in owning a home.  It is part of the traditional American Dream, after all!  When you own a home, you feel like you are genuinely a "grown up" and that you have "arrived" at a certain level of financial and life success.  As long as you can maintain that mortgage and keep paying the bank for the privilege of living there, you can brag to people that you "own" your own house!  Someday, if you live there long enough, you really will own it outright, and you can even pass it on to your children or grandchildren!

4. One of the nicest things about home ownership is that there are fewer restrictions to what you do with the home.  Some cities are trying to regulate homeowners also, granted, but in general there tend to be more restrictions when renting (from both the landlord and the government).  When you own a home, you can have as many pets as you wish, for example.  If the kids prefer to sleep 3 or 4 to a room so they can have the extra bedroom as a play room, they can do that.  If you want to install a slide in the middle of your house, your only restrictions are money and imagination!

5.  There is much more stability in home ownership.  For most people, owning a home means you never have to move until YOU want to move.  There is no landlord who is going to suddenly decide to sell your house under you; no apartment owner who suddenly decides to convert to condos; and best of all no one else who has a key to your home unless YOU give them one!   When you rent, your landlord has full rights to access your home whenever s/he wishes, and s/he can even demand inspections to ensure you are maintaining the property in the way s/he wishes.  If the home is yours, the only person you answer to is you (and your spouse, of course!).