Homeownership: More Nightmare Than Dream?

Buying a home—the wrong home, at the wrong time—can wreak havoc in your life. As many buyers know, you can lose money and drive yourself nuts with stress even when you’re not in the middle of a housing market crash. That’s why in a newly emerging version of the American Dream, a lot of people (men especially) are most content renting.

From the NY Times:

For reasons practical, financial and definitely emotional, there seems to be a growing cohort of men … who are falling out of love with the holy institution of homeownership…

“Once upon a time, people bought houses to live in,” said William Clark, a geography professor at UCLA, who has written widely about homeownership. That fairy-tale attitude began to change in the 1970s, Mr. Clark said. And in the housing mania of the last decade, he said, many buyers started to see their homes as speculative investments — high-flying stocks that happened to come with wine cellars and four-car garages.

Today, “with the sudden run-up in foreclosures, you’re starting to see people ask, is housing a good investment?” he said. “In fact, it probably never was.”

Reality has set in with the get-rich-quick speculation aspect of homeownership gone. There aren’t all that many flippers wading into the market nowadays. Homes can bring comfort and stability to your life, but they can also feel overwhelming, more money pit than little slice of heaven.

Conveniently enough, it just so happens that right now is a fantastic time to be a renter, with more options and cheaper rents than we’ve seen in a long time. Per the WSJ:

Apartment vacancies hit a 30-year high in the fourth quarter, and rents fell as landlords scrambled to retain existing tenants and attract new ones.

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[...] Sure, you can get out of either of these institutions. Neither is necessarily permanent—in fact, it seems like more and more, neither is permanent. But whether you're escaping a bad marriage or escaping a bad mortgage via a short sale or strategic default, there are plenty of literal and figurative costs you incur by walking away. Despite that some people claim it's better to married and miserable than never married at all, or that renting is short-sighted and just plain stupid, you're far better off never buying the wrong home or marrying the wrong person in the first place. Homeownership (or marriage) can be a dream, but it can also be a nightmare. [...]
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lelah

These are all true. But the stability and freedom of home ownership is what always appealed to me. Sure, you can’t just pack up and walk away from it – its a commitment. But you can do whatever you want to your home and property (barring some local codes if you’re going to do something drastic), which is rarely if ever an option if you are renting. As a renter, you are also at the mercy of the landlord and his/her financial situation. If he/she needs to jack up the rent, or sell the home to someone who does not want to continue your lease, you’re out on your own.

But all that aside, the stability of staking your ground in a neighborhood has a lot of value for me. The economy may be changing, but I’m not letting go of it anytime soon. So because we all got screwed in the housing market, we’re supposed to just let the middle class lose its sole opportunity to invest itself? To hell with that. Long live the American dream!
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[...] is the obvious alternative to renting, but in recent times owning has become more nightmare than dream for many. Beyond the problem of plunging home values, which have forced millions of homeowners [...]