The average price of a new home as of September 2019 was about $363,000. About 65% of Americans own a home.
However, the great majority of homeowners are people aged between 50 and 65, and over.
Older Americans are more likely to have good credit, fix-incomes and pensions, savings, and good credit.
Everything needed to maintain a home.
After all, the dream of home ownership, often called the last investment of a lifetime, is to own it for at least 10 years.
Or, for a lifetime. When you pay off a mortgage, you own your own.
Even before owning it, you can use its value to leverage loans through a homeowner insurance policy.
Or, you can bequeath it to relatives in a will or sell it for a big profit after retiring and downsizing.
Owning a home is a great way to make money by taking on tenants.
There is so much that you can do with a well-maintained house as a personal finance vehicle.
However, home ownership, especially a brand-new home, is out of reach for young people and working-class people.
Owning a home valued $100,000 or cheaper is not the same. Like many people, I’ve dealt with those kinds of homes.
Those homes are fixer-uppers at best. They require constant attention, repair, and aesthetic maintenance.
You can’t charge high rent to tenants for low value homes.
They are not dream homes. They are not the kind of homes we dream of when we think about home ownership.
So, I have put that ideal on the back burner for the long term for multiple reasons.
Can You Pay For It Now Or Will You Worry About It Later?
I don’t make enough money to maintain a house right. A house needs constant care and time sacrifices.
The average mortgage payment can be anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500 monthly depending on the value of the house and where its located.
If a house is of low value, always in need of constant repairs, and you don’t make enough money to keep up with maintenance, then monthly costs will progressively get out of your reach to handle them.
This situation is what’s commonly referred to as a, “Money Pit.”
As we get older, it’s only natural to compare our own successes against peers.
I stopped doing that a long time ago.
One of my friends nearly had a breakdown because his car was repossessed. His identity was that of a driver. He couldn’t afford the car, but he was so embarrassed at the idea of everyone he knew knowing this.
I have another friend with a family who is burdened with shamed because he had to sell his house and downsize to a 2-bedroom apartment.
Life is what you make it.
I’m going to focus on making my credit better, saving more money, and launching my small-scale business.
It’s easier to keep a house if you already have the finances to maintain it.
I don’t know when I will own my dream house.
I’m OK with that.
P.s. This is more of a reflective article, but if you’re reading it because you are interested in saving money consider checking out the new smartphone saving app called Astra.finance. It basically lets you automatically move money between your accounts – which is handy if you’re busy or temped to make bad decisions when you look at your accounts.
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Allen Francis was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years with no money, no financial literacy, and no responsibility when he had money. To him, the phrase “personal finance,” contains the power that anyone has to grow their own wealth. Allen is an advocate of best personal financial practices including focusing on your needs instead of your wants, asking for help when you need it, saving and investing in your own small business.
