Bad thing 2 is that they cop an attitude, and affect legislation which causes their "investment" in owning a home to rise in price. Executed by preventing competition (zoning laws) and being more costly for everyone else to buy, because they demand and fight for it. *Homestead tax exemption, etc. Their choice to own a home makes them want others to have a harder time to get what they themselves have, through the vehicle of higher prices, and tax benefits to the capital class.
Thus intelligent, useful people, become cockblockers. Houses must become more and more unaffordable for everyone else, because they happen to own one. :( How selfish. Sadly, the idea that high house prices screw over more people than they benenfit is undermarketed, and its impossible to teach a man a thing he profits by not understanding... We end up in a world where no young person can afford to own the home they live in. And if you try to build some new supply, the local captured regulatory agency, vetos you. The zoning board of people who already have nice houses, cock blocks you. Not in my backyard!
Stop cock blocking. Stop expecting your future to be paid for by your non productive, benefits only you "asset." Go forth and benefit others at scale if you desire riches.
In particular as secondly, house ownership means I'll save on rent, rather than to pump money into someone else's pocket I'm accumulating the value. It's a simple calculation that this is in most cases in my benefit if I expect to be in the same spot for 5+ years. Real house value could even decrease over time, the rental costs I'm saving could still make it a good investment.
Thirdly, first house owners are unlikely to try to influence policy just to increase house value. Not sure how you can have such an idea, for most owners this would be unlikely to be worth the time& effort required just to increase house value 1℅ or so. But you can be sure they will fight for their quality of life (think parks, no planes, etc). That coincides with house value but for most average citizens the only (conscious/driving) reason to affect local policy is quality of life.
And lastly I think you're somehow too far from reality if you argue it is in an individual's interest to serve the wider economy. I'm not going to use my money just to benefit an imaginary wider economy - what is the benefit then for me? Why be rich if life sucks (and why risk all my money just to start a company if I have already a good income & life?) Do I live just to nudge Gdp up by 0.00001℅ over my lifetime? Or do I want a healthy life, a garden for my kids to play, etc.
Buying a house is a very rational decision and I"m not sure what you can see as selfish (in particular considering point 1). Your argument really is somewhat absurd and I find it hard to believe you make all your life decisions or buying decisions with such an approach (leasing your laptop? Living in a polygamous commune as keeping an attractive partner to yourself would keep potential value from the rest of humanity?).
The normal background trend is for home prices to rise at about the rate of inflation. We don't really have a special name for this other than "appreciating asset".
How could I invest the equity elsewhere, other than the down payment? I have a monthly payment for housing either way, and with rent it will be larger unless the local market is crashing.
> plus you are spending money on maintenance, which you don't fully recoup when you sell
Owners and renters both pay maintenance and taxes. The difference is that owners pay those bills directly and renters pay them indirectly. The idea that owners pay things renters don't is a fallacy.
If that was the case the landlord would be taking a loss on the property, since rent is the only appreciable form of revenue the landlord gets for the property. How do you think the landlord can avoid passing on the full cost of maintenance and still make money? Don't forget that the landlord still has to pay some amount of maintenance even when the property is unoccupied.
> Yes, the downpayment. The downpayment could be invested in a diversified basket of assets instead.
So it really depends on how much the down payment is then, and how much the down payment reduces the cost of housing. You can't make a blanket statement either way.
There is no fallacy here. For all maintenance done, either the renters cover the costs of the maintenance or the landlord loses money on the property. Trying to avoid performing the maintenance in the first place doesn't change that.
I want more people to own homes.
my distates for homeowners
Home owning is passing the buck around.