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Why is renting the wrong answer? From afar, it seems like there are plenty of thriving countries and cities where renters are much more the norm and accepted than in the US, where they're viewed (to borrow and tweak a quote) as temporarily-embarrassed homeowners?

Some of them, like Germany, struggle through problems with their systems as well. But their problems don't appear to be as devastating as the ones facing the USA.

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People desire to be secure in their home and property. Living in someone elses house, like renting, erodes at that.

In Germany it is quite hard to get a renter out. The rights of the tenant are very much protected, exactly so that people feel secure in their (rented) homes. I can't imagine living in a home where the landlord could easily terminate the lease.

As I read the story, this is not a termination of the lease, but rather an expiration of the lease and an election on the part of the landlord to not offer a subsequent lease.

Tenant and landlord mutually agree to a lease contract of defined term. That term runs; both sides live up to the agreement. Tenant and landlord do not mutually agree a follow-on contract. Tenant moves out.

German renters have much better rights than in many other countries including the U.K.

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