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  juliepippert About a dozen years ago, when talking to a financial planner at my company about which funds to invest in, I told him my husband and I still rented our house, rather than owning it. He was appalled. "You really, really need to buy a home," he said, "At this stage of life and income, you absolutely need the tax write-off. It's a waste to rent."
  
  I knew this was the typical belief of the time, and I also knew that people had expected my husband and I to buy a house as soon as we married, but...we didn't. We preferred renting. It provided mobility, which we wanted, and our careers often needed. It gave us the opportunity to try out a region before committing to it. It left us with a low stress lifestyle, because the landlord was required to maintain the property.
  
  I understood everyone thought we were throwing money down the drain, but it felt fine to me.
  
  My husband, though, began to internalize it and it started to be a real stress point. So we decided to buy. Now on our second owned house, we're really missing the renting. Yes, even though we're a double income two kid family. Even though we can "do anything we want" to our house.
  
  And now, more than a decade after our happy-go-lucky renting days in which we were so very judged (badly) for renting rather than owning, experts are saying maybe we weren't crazy; maybe home ownership isn't always the best option for everyone.
  
  Have a read through: "Post-Mortgage Meltdown, Where Do We Go Now?
  As finance experts rethink federal housing policy, some say homeownership isn't what it used to be." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129348144
  
  and
  
  "Couple's New American Dream: Rent, Don't Buy"
  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129331482

  about 1 year ago - Comment

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    Emily Julie, you raise such good points here. It really was the mantra and there you knew what was right for your family all along.

    about 1 year ago