For the longest time, becoming a “homeowner” has been a staple of western culture. Every homebuyer was sold on the idea of living the “American Dream”. Of course this was mostly a concept that worked best during a time when America championed the nuclear family and honest money. People would become homebuyers not only to have a place to raise their family but to eventually become homeowners too (as much as they legally could). Nowadays “the family home” is no longer the staple of Americana that it used to be, with individuals now being sold on the idea of “starter homes”, flipping houses, and trading places in more ways than one; from one Brady Bunch McMansion to the next - on nothing more than an empty promise backed by an endless flow of debt.
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As I write this, the average three or four bedroom two and a half bath single family home is listed on the Real Estate market for roughly a quarter million dollars, and if built new - costs over a half million. That’s just for the house itself because depending on the location of the property, that asking price can multiply two, three, or several more times over. These are properties that just seventy years ago (ask your grandparents) were bought at a fraction of the price that they’re listed for today. In most instances, we’re talking an appreciation rate upwards of over a thousand percent! What an “investment”, you must be thinking and this must be what the market makers mean when they say “real estate (value) never goes down”. So what the hell was I talking about in the last article when I said homebuyers lose in the long run, if real estate “value” only goes up?