greekfire,
My figures are purely anecdotal and are defintely in line with most people I run into in my area. I’m am sure it is the minority but it is only a small minority that purchases a home each year. I don’t pretend that it fits median stats which include renters and lower income workers. I am only refering to what I see as the typical homeowner profile in my area. This brings an interesting thought to mind. Could it be that being a home owner puts me in an environment where I typically interact with more successful, higher income individuals and shelters me from the opposite. It would a ppear so and the benefit of interacting with highly educated, highly motivated, family oriented neighbors is yet another benefit of homeownership that I enjoy. That is another thing i would pay some sort of premium for.
I wonder how many on this board fit that profile? I suspect it would be most of you. If you are under 35 & single earning at least $75,000 you are well on your way to fitting this category also.
One interesting thought that came to me as a result of this thread is that there is defintely a difference in how much of a premium people place on owning a home. Many of you might fall into 20% premium and I suspect this would put you into the lifetime renter category. I remember buying a home at the bottom of this last cycle in my area when homes were undervalued by most measures and the premium was definitely more than 20% to get in the game. I would venture to guess that most homeowners out there put a much bigger premium on home ownership which is what it takes to become a homeowner around here.
