Owning Homes

I have owned SIX HOMES since 1969 when I first got married.  The homes were located North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.  My first home was owned 23 years but was sold when my first wife and I divorced.

My second wife and I have purchased five homes, and each time we sold our home, we sold it for more than we had purchased it.

The fifth home we owned we had for twenty years and made the largest profit, selling it because we needed to downsize after retirement.

It was during ownership of this fifth house that we became debt free.

Owning homes on the one hand allows individuals and couples to build their wealth while at the same time, it becomes a huge burden and responsibility.  I found that out when I got divorced.

Owning a home cannot take place WITHOUT you taking the time and investing the money to keep the home in good shape.  It is different from car maintenance to ensure high resale value because the asset with which you are dealing is muti-faceted.  That is to say, there are lots of things that one must deal with, like:

• Outside appearance
• Lawn maintenance
• Inside painting
• Electrical/plumbing issues
• Updating appliances
• Roof and gutter replacement/repair
• Worn out furniture

You can try and do a lot of this yourself but if you don't know what you are doing, then it will impact the future value of the home.

It is said that owning a home is the American Dream and while that might be correct, I am not sure if that is appropriate.

There is nothing wrong with renting as long as your landlord fixing things timely, and the rent does not increase too rapidly.  Renting allows for mobility and allows one to invest the money that would have been spent on updating one's owned home.

The tradeoff:  Would you earn more money from your investments that from the constantly increasing value of your home?  Much of this depends on your geographical location and then specific locations within that geographical area.

For instance, my parents purchased a home in the 1950s just outside of Washington, DC for $18,000 and sold it ten years later for $150,000.  

Homes are still worth more up north than they are in the south... and in any location, there are areas that are growing - those prove to be the best places to buy for growth.