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Home for Life

From the NY Times blog section.

"When did “rm w/a vu” turn into Viking range, cathedral ceiling, granite countertop and four-car garage? At what point did the house become more about the future tenant than the current resident? It’s hard to trace the moment, but let’s hope it’s passed. Because for too long, home design has been hijacked by the allure of resale value. Maybe now we can begin again to think of our houses not as investments but as homes."

...

"Today, it’s clear that resale should not have been so big a driver of residential design. After all, how often do people feel compelled to use their master suite lounge area — or, for that matter, their living room?

As one mortgage broker I recently spoke with observed, “The whole idea of buying with resale value in mind is gone. All the countertops, the backyards, all those things are meaningless."

...

"Perhaps recognizing that they’ll be staying in their homes longer, buyers are starting to look for universal design, ranging from wheelchair-accessible bathrooms to single-story homes — options that will allow them to “age in place” — in other words, move into a home they can grow old in. They want accessory dwellings (a k a granny flats) to accommodate rising numbers children moving home after college and aging parents needing care. So far, the market isn’t offering many of these, a lack one can chalk up somewhat to inertia but also to legitimate obstacles ranging from zoning and code restrictions to difficulties with financing."

...

"I have an old kitchen and not a whole lot of square footage, but I know all my neighbors, shop at locally-owned businesses without getting in the car, and water 15 different kinds of vegetables in my backyard with a simple “gray water” system that only recently became legal. These are things that make me want to stay where I am. What’s outside the front door is at least as important as what’s behind it."

Here's an article I wrote along the same lines, only it came from the 'new lessons in higher education" angle. The pertinents:

What if a house and land were given to you, upon high school graduation, instead of a college opportunity? Isn’t a house and some land the reason why we go to college in the first place? We go to college to secure higher-paying job skills, with the ultimate goal of owning a house along the way…but what if we STARTED with those goals fulfilled?

Granted, you’d have the chance to “get out of the county,” and learn more about the world around you while away in college, learn how to navigate societies and cultures, and learn about other viewpoints and beliefs. The ultimate goal of your being there at all would be to gain the means to get your own place with your own stuff—you’d just be able to get it faster with a higher-paying job.

If you started out true adult life with the house already in possession, though, you could afford to make different decisions regarding the rest of your life. Your main concern then would be how to keep the lights and heat on, and that wouldn’t take as much income as the standard method of doing things: having more stuff and servicing debt for years.

Choosing and maintaining a career would be far easier, in my mind, with less competition and steady demand…and you’d get to have a life outside work. Flying under the radar like this might just be the ticket to future generations’ well-being.

Posted by Cute at 8:38 PM

Labels: financial (non-tax), social issues, taxes