A Home's Real Value

We obsess too much about whether our houses earned or lost value and ignore the longer view our elders took.
By MARK POTHIER February 11, 2007

"These days, people tend to think of houses as places to stay while waiting to go somewhere else. Maybe they anticipate corporate headquarters moving jobs out of state or fear layoffs will arrive with the next quarterly report. Maybe a marriage has started to fray. Perhaps they covet a bigger house with more amenities. Judging by the displays at Home Depot and Lowe's, everyone seems to require the same gleaming appliances, stone counters, and hangar-sized bathrooms. But to homeowners of my in-laws' generation, the attachment to where they lived was as secure as a foundation. Houses were not acquired primarily for investment purposes or seen as banks to tap for debt consolidation and cars. They would not have considered buying one with the idea of “flipping” it for profit. And the only growth trends they followed were their children's and, later, grandchildren's, with each additional inch of height etched in pencil on a wall. But they also bought during a time when prices were modest, job security was the norm, pensions were still intact, and marriages usually lasted longer than the mortgage. Home ownership was less complicated then." Full Article.