Re: housing debate.
While in the early 200s and late 90's we obviously overfocused on home ownership as a source of wealth, it's still not some terrible idea to buy a house. Right now in many areas, monthly rent payments are on par with mortgage/maintenance payments, and even in the first few years of a 30 year fixed mortgage, nearly 20% of that is going into the principle.
I can use my situation as an example, our maitnence + mortgage on our apartment puts us on the higher end of rents in our neighborhood (Central Brooklyn). so lets say on a rental I could hit the median of our neighborhood and save a hundred bucks off our total payment, but 200 dollars of every payment goes to principal. My maintenance creeps up every year at 1-2% but rents in the area have gone up 4-6% YoY. I had higher closing fees, lawyer fees, etc vs a brokers fee for an apartment, but those are one time increases.
Anywho, by year 3-4, even if my apartment doesn't go up in value I break even vs. renting, at year 5 I'm a few thousand dollars ahead, at year 7 I'm way ahead. I see the money invested in this apartment like a blind trust that will be used for future home purchases, every mortgage payment is like 20% going back to future homes. Then, my wife and I want to redo our kitchen, we get to enjoy a new kitchen AND it improves the home value.
So yea, moving away from the idea that EVERYONE should go into debt and own is probably wrong, but for a large set of the population, a 30 year mortgage, and a home is just a really good deal right now.
