It's time to rethink the single-family home as the American dream, author says

[Hortensis]

101. You read a whole thread by people who love their homes and

feel sorry for them? Because they're too stupid to know what they should want?

I'm sure you're right that some would make other choices if they'd experienced different ways in an old city in Europe, or whatever. But many would not, as we know very well from immigrants from those old cities. Anyway, people who don't make friends are as alone in apartments as they are in detached homes, while others live lives filled with friends and relatives wherever they are.

Doom-sayers claimed Boomers would crash in retirement, but overall that demo's actually doing quite decently financially, in good part because a lot of their retirement investment is in home equity, which most do eventually cash out at some point.

Your professor might have taught you that guaranteed exploding population size and with it demand for land and homes in future made home ownership a very good investment with large equity returns for the vast majority of those who purchased in a location with sufficient desirable features to avoid decline. Not many personal investments could be as reliably predicted to have such great returns as increase in residential property values. Sure the financial opportunity costs are initially high, but how many live in cheap apartments for years while saving and investing otherwise what most of what a mortgage would take? And don't forget, home investment returns are ON TOP OF, the lifestyle returns of getting to live in nice homes of choice for decades.

Hope you find just what you want for your next stage of life. It sounds interesting, and I'd like to hear more.