The attitude toward housing in this country is clear: Buy. We "aspire" to own a home and, if we're good citizens, finally "attain" homeownership, all in proper pursuit of the American dream.
Renters, meanwhile, are relegated to the lingua of Middle Age fiefdom, their tenancy dependant on the (land)lords and (land)ladies of the nation. Even a malicious landlord retains his royal title today, albeit somewhat marred, as in "slumlord" or "ghetto lord."
"There's a culture of homeownership and the presumption is that homeownership is the right or best tenure choice," says Eric Belsky, executive director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "The language we use underscores that.”
"We don't talk about rentership rates, we talk about homeownership rates," says Belsky, who catches himself referring to owners who "revert back" to renting. "See, I'm doing it myself."
Read: 8 reasons we need renters
And yet, one-third of Americans, or nearly 37 million families, rent instead of own. (This doesn't include vacation homes.) For some, it's a question of affordability, while for others it's a lifestyle choice.
Here, renters share their rationale for the renting life.
1. To escape the hidden costs of homeownership: In the nation's capital, homeownership is an affordable option only for those families earning more than 120% of the median income of $95,000, says Peter Tatian, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, a research organization in Washington, D.C., that focuses on social and economic problems and issues.
Those who drive out of the nation's metro areas to find more affordable housing dump those savings right back into transportation costs, with families earning $20,000 to $50,000 spending an average of 57% of their income to cover both, according to research by the Center for Housing Policy. (See this .PDF file for more information.)
Even in more-affordable areas, homeownership can prove too costly. Buck Bannister and his partner bought a two-story carriage house with a big yard in South Carolina for $60,000. Then came needed incidental repairs, along with a roof fix and a new sewer line.
After practically draining the home loans, each suddenly was hospitalized with a serious medical condition.
"At that point if you have a home, as the conventional wisdom plays out, your home is your greatest asset and you can tap into those assets. The problem is if you've had to tap into those assets to make the home livable, they're not there for other things," Bannister says.
Bannister and his partner each recovered, and they sold the home. They could easily have afforded another, but now happily rent a $675-a-month duplex in Tucson, where they landscape the yard and enjoy the neighborhood.
"It's home to us, it's not just a place to crash," Bannister says. "We love it. The only way we would do anything else is if we won the lottery and were independently wealthy.
"I have friends who have bought a house and something happens and they realize: I don't own this house, I rent it from my bank and I have to pay to keep it up," he says.
2. Access to urban amenities: "Everything I need is within a mile or two," says Sam Higgins, 29, who rents with his fiancé in Austin, Texas "I can be downtown in five minutes."
His fiancé’s aunt, a real-estate agent, frequently pitches the idea of buying, which the couple shakes off.
"We could afford something, but it would be more money and a smaller space for us to do that," Higgins says. "And if I'm an hour's drive from what the city has to offer, then it's not really worth it to me."
Nuf said.
Right now the home we rent is in foreclosure & falling apart little by little. Wish i could find a place in the country to move into that didn't cost an arm or leg or both!!! I'm still going to be looking.
