Tom Durning really thinks you should read this one.
From Atlantic Cities:
“I can’t help but wonder,” Atlantic Cities colleague Richard Florida has written, “if this dream (of home ownership) doesn’t belong to a bygone industrial era.”
He sounds so convincing. All of this does.
Still, I can’t get over this feeling: I want one anyway.
Just my personal opinion but I think a huge part of this anxiety and unfocused angst about renting stems largely from the pressure society places on its members. Homes and homeownership is a very large part of how a person’s social status is out society is rated. Combine that with a runaway consumer culture pressuring us to conform to its demands that we constantly improve or change out material possessions and a rental culture that treats even the most responsible of renters as though they were serfs and it’s no wonder homeownership is considered so desirable.
What I think is interesting is that most businesses do not own their buildings (unless that happens to be their business) and leasing is the dominant form of obtaining premises. Obviously the two situations aren’t exactly the same but I think that is still a useful comparison when considering the economic merits of individual homeownership.