Let's Ditch the Home Ownership Dream (Let's face it: Not everyone deserves to own a house)

Investors Business Daily ^ | 97/14/2010

[Grunthor]

I mean’t Constitutional right.

[dfwgator]

It is a long steep climb and those who complete the climb can be called owners.

We'll see how much you "own" it once you stop making property tax payments.

[hinckley buzzard]

There is nothing wrong in principle with people wanting to own their own piece of property. The Founders understood implicitly that those with a physical stake in governance could best be entrusted with the process of governance. It is elementary that on the whole, homeowners pay attention to a lot of things that renters freely ignore. Responsible home-ownership is something to be encouraged for a host of reasons.

The distortions generated by the government the last twenty odd years are the problem, and the perfect storm of the subprime mortgage scams. There were no good guys in that disgrace. And a lot of people ended up with untenable loans that never should have happened. But that should not be reason to discount the importance, for a variety of reasons, of citizens holding a stake in their communities.

[Erasmus]

Even now, as they try to clean up their portfolio, they are favoring potential homeowners over investors - that is, would-be landlords.

When a house goes to rental, the landlord has to work like hell to keep it from getting trashed, and losing the equity that would keep his loan above water.

Even if he's selective in his potential renters, he's rolling the dice. And guess what the gubmint calls 'being selective in your potential renters?'

Of course, when Fanny/Freddie or some other lender is 'favoring the [resident] homeowner' over the investor, they're all too often going to get the type of owner that a wise landlord would reject anyway.

I guess what I'm saying is, it's a mess. ≤}B^)

[Erasmus]

"McCain is a Ron and Nancy Republican: Campaigns like Reagan, governs like Pelosi"

McCain is a Reagan Republican: Campaigns like Ron, and governs like Ron Jr.

[hometoroost]

I try not to think about Jr.

[hinckley buzzard]

Thank you. I get tired of pointing this out. If The American Dream means no more than owning some cottage in a burb then the American Revolution was a waste of blood and treasure by better men than we deserve to call our countrymen.

[EBH]

I agree and disagree.

I think every American should aspire to own a bit of the pie.
The philosophy isn’t the problem.

Although you did identify the problem here:
Fannie and Freddie got into trouble because they lowered their credit standards, with government’s blessing, and tried to convert too many renters into homeowners.

It was those who were lazy and greedy that created the bubble. The looters did this to the country.

The aspiration wasn’t the problem.

[Mr. Jeeves]

It think the banks changed it to “Everyone has the right to borrow a home from the bank - and to borrow more home than the borrower can afford if he or she feels bad about it...or suffers from a perceived legacy of past discrimination.” :)

[billhilly]

“We’ll see how much you “own” it once you stop making property tax payments.”

Why would I want to do that?