Stop Telling Everyone that They Should Buy a Home - youramericanmoney
Author: Michelle
Description: I’ve stayed out of the buy a home, don’t buy a home discourse online for awhile. In fact, I think that I’ve very rarely commented on those social media threads because I have so many other personal finance conversations that I feel like having. But, this week, I needed to share a recent experience that […]
Date: 2022-09-19T09:00:00+00:00

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# Stop Telling Everyone that They Should Buy a Home

posted on 19 September, 2022

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I’ve stayed out of the buy a home, don’t buy a home discourse online for awhile. In fact, I think that I’ve very rarely commented on those social media threads because I have so many other personal finance conversations that I feel like having. But, this week, I needed to share a recent experience that I had, some thoughts behind why homeownership keeps coming up as a way to build wealth (because it is) and the fact that in 2022 and beyond we have so many other options to build wealth that we should consider that don’t include home maintenance and hoa fees.

In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*

You never asked but I’m going to share that I own a tiny, awkward property here in Denver. The story of why I purchased it is a little woo woo. At the time I was planning on leaving my job. I’d worked at the university for 5 years and was ready to try something new. Then, right before I planned on quitting I had a strong feeling not to. So, instead, for reasons unbeknownst to me I decided to buy a place instead. I’ll never forget looking at the different properties with my realtor. The property that I eventually ended up purchasing had to stand at the end of the block and wait for a couple and realtor who was viewing it ahead of me.

It was small, cute and needed work but it was perfect for my needs at the time and I knew that it would make a fantastic rental. I should also mention that when I decided to buy I decided to borrow half of what I qualified for. Did I mention the year? It was 2007 and the real estate market would implode in spectacular fashion shortly after I bought my place. We would hear stories of people losing their jobs, their homes and other folks who needed to sell but their homes were now underwater (meaning worth less than what was owed) It was a shit show. But, I had bought so conservatively that I was ok and my university job was pretty secure because education tends to do well during downturns.

Over the years my home has been, for the most part, a blessing. But, in owning this property and being a part of the personal finance space-I’ve become very aware of the fact that owning a property is not for everyone, is not the only way to build wealth and should be approached with caution. Listen on as I share some hard lessons learned during my homeownership journey.

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## Show Notes

Last week I had a pretty bad headache. In fact, it was so bad that I lost my appetite and laid down for a while as I tried to fight how nauseated I was feeling. A few hours later I started hearing a weird noise. It sounded like a strange trickling noise and I couldn’t place it and it seemed to be coming from my bathroom.

I decided to investigate. Sweet lord. Several pinhole leaks and broken through the SAME freaking pipe and water was spraying everywhere. I raced to grab buckets, my trash can, anything that could capture all of that water raining down on me.

The worst part. It was almost 10:00 pm on a Thursday evening. I began frantically calling 24/7 plumbers. They were all booked. I probably called 8 companies before I finally found one that could send a plumber over. What was also frustrating was when the companies had some availability it was for the next day between 11-3 pm. My home would be destroyed by then.

Fortunately, I found a reputable company and scheduled a plumber right away. Before they could do that they needed a $150 deposit. Holy shit. Here’s the thing. My place was flooding, there was no way I could wait to get this fixed.

I paid the money.

About 30 minutes later, the plumber came over. He was super nice and told me that the problem was a standard issue that he could fix. Then he proceeded to tell me the price-$830 bucks. Why so expensive? Apparently, working with galvanized steel creates an issue. But, I was trapped between a rock and a hard place. This was the only company that could get the work done.

## So, I paid the money.

Why do I bring this up? Plumbers require payment at time of service. Periodt. If i didn’t have a grand on hand, I would be working my way through Niagara Falls right now. Everyone wants to talk about how homeownership is a great way to build wealth.

It can be depending on a number of things:

- Where you purchased your home-Do you live in a place where your home will maintain a significant amount of its value?

- How you purchased your home, did you pay too much? Or, did you finance it in a way that would be financially detrimental to you?

- Timing

As a Black woman, I actually truly understand why encouraging Black homeownership is so important. If you’re able to:

- Buy a home wisely, in a great neighborhood, hold and maintain it for a significant period of time, it increases in value and you build up equity then, yes, it’s possible to build wealth with a property.

But, I want to address the flip side to the homeownership conversation.

- What if you have access to homes that are in areas that don’t have significant appreciation overtime?

- What if you’re a victim of problematic lending practices or sign up for a home ownership program that seems too good to be true.

- What if you unintentionally purchase badly because you didn’t understand the process?

- Don’t have the money to maintain the property and for a few years during the time I’ve owned my property that has definitely been the case.

- Don’t have money set aside for home emergencies or access to a credit card which is used to pay for those emergencies such as the time when my water heater went out the week that my friends were arriving from Europe and staying at my place.

- Right now I am doing the following:
  - Changing my light fixtures=need an electrician to do it properly
  - Buying a new refrigerator, stove and washing machine. I’ll likely update my water heater at the same time. This will be around $2500 dollars to do and I’m waiting until winter because allegedly retailers have an overstock of appliances.
  - Changing my shower fixture because it’s out of date. This is actually major plumbing work and I was quoted $2,000 by the plumber who fixed the pipe. Yes, I plan on getting other bids.
  - Replacing the plumbing in my bathroom to copper so that it’s up to date. This is around a $4,000 project (plumber gave me the pricing)
  - Fixing some damage to my ceiling.

- Please note: I had to wait on a lot of this because of COVID-these weren’t emergencies, and I didn’t want random people in my house and there were supply chain issues. I couldn’t get some of these items when I wanted them.

- What if your personal situation changes and you need to change jobs quickly due to a toxic atmosphere, lay off or have to help out a family member and in order to do that you have to move.

- What if you have a medical condition that changes how you live your life?

## Homeownership Is Nuanced

Homeownership is talked about so often in very general terms without reflecting on the nuances of someone’s financial life and how life impacts a decision such as owning a home.

I get it, it’s a crazy time with people trying to normalize $2,000 or more a month rent, housing instability and the value of homes in certain markets makes purchasing a home sound good…until it isn’t as good a deal as it may seem.

One thing that I have learned during my time in the personal finance space exploring topics around wealth is that there’s more than one way to make money. Not everyone is going to end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity from a property purchase.

I wish we would talk more about building wealth through:

- Aggressively growing earned income
  - Changing jobs thoughtfully. Downside, changing jobs takes mental energy. I’m fascinated by the fact that we don’t talk more about earning more over the course of one’s career.

- Investing overtime
  - Investing is a proven strategy to build wealth overtime. Downside, it takes time. Upside, the more time in the market the better it is for you.

- Entrepreneurship
  - There are so many ways to make money as an entrepreneur-downside to entrepreneurship, it’s not easy.

I think because buying a home potentially has so many upsides that no one candidly talks about the downsides of being a homeowner. It’s all on you, financially, mentally and also the cost of the time to take care of your home.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t believe homeownership is right for everyone. What are your thoughts?

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#### Michelle

I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.

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