I think everyone on this board would agree that all of the reasons you gave for buying now are legitimate reasons. Your decision to purchase is based on fulfilling what you percieve to be your emotional needs; the financial aspect of it is apparently very secondary to you, if relevant at all.
Like you, I choose to enjoy the benefits of ownership rather than making the long dollar; unlike you, I chose to buy at the bottom of the cycle so I can hold without risking any of my down payment. I haven’t sold my residence and will not sell my residence, even though financially I’d come out ahead. Money isn’t everything.
But it is something. If I wasn’t already holding, I wouldn’t buy right now because from an economic standpoint I don’t hold my sentimentality THAT much higher than my economic well being. You might say I fall in between the two extremes – sell now to maximize profit vs. buy now at any price to enjoy homeownership. Despite my personal situation I don’t criticize anyone whose priorities are different than mine.
I do disagree with those people who think they can have it both ways. If you want the emotional benefits of homeownership you need to be prepared to live with the downside of that priority, which in this case will probably be a massive economic loss. You’re not the only one who has to deal with compromises, though. The renters need to be able to live with their compromise, and us ‘tweeners need to live with ours’.
If you made your decision in an informed and considered manner then we agree that you made the right decision for your situation. If you made an ill-informed decision and are now trying to rationalize that decision by saying that anyone who disagrees with you is just being negative then you’re probably going to run into some opposition here. For one thing, you’d be wrong about the negativity. Some of the biggest bears on this board are foaming at the mouth at the prospects of making a killing during the next RE cycle by buying at the bottom of this cycle in a few years. I call that an optimistic attitude – what do you call it?
As long as you don’t mind living with the stigma of buying at the worst possible time and losing all that money, I’m pretty sure the bears won’t mind being saddled with the stigma of being out of sync with the social pressures to own their home.
