Thread: Home Not-So-Sweet Home

Op-Ed Columnist
Home Not-So-Sweet Home

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: June 23, 2008
“Owning a home lies at the heart of the American dream.â€

Not to mention when you own a home you have everyone and their brother trying to take it away from you. Whether it be from ever increasing taxes, or some code violation they randomly decide to enforce, to medical bills and credit card companies.....to eminate domain.

Home ownership was something people used to do once......a life investment, now it's a matter of a couple years and you're to do it again.

Owning becomes an illusion when it takes very little to take it away. Even when you do own it completely, there's never an end to the money spent out to still keep it. You still end up essentially renting the property your fully paid for home sits on so you never get to sit back and say it's mine.

I do agree with the fact that it does limit you in your ability to leave. You make decisions as to where you want to live and you have no control as to how that area will change. You can't just give notice and leave on a whim because the risks are too great. Just a few years ago people in my subdivision barely had their house on the market for any longer than 2 weeks. Now we have 6 up for sale and have been for quite awhile.....2 they have left vacent because for whatever reason they had to go. I can't tell you how the value has dropped and not much hope it's going to get better any time soon.. I'm sure these will be bought up eventually and turned into rental houses, and well......after that it is true that the committment to the neighborhood and quality of life definately changes. Too many don't care about getting along because they've made no real investment. I was a renter for a long time and both sides have definate benefits and pitfalls.....I used to be on the side of homeownership till I discovered you are trapped and how quickly the vultures arrive to try and get a piece of it when you have down times.