Willis and Adria

03.29.09 10:02am

Contemplative Thoughts on Home Ownership

I wonder, in relation to buying a home, is it luck or skill that enables one to make a dream come true?    Or more pointed, when does owning a home become less a dream come true and more a nightmare lived?

After being a perennial renter, my son and his wife bought their first home last year.   They closed just at the front end of the financial meltdown.  It was a difficult process that caused a fare amount of anxiety and even a little dose of mistrust with the lending institutions.  In the final analysis, it appeared as if the loan originator had little control of the closing process e.g., the bank would give the buyers terms and timelines of execution, only to repeatedly renege or change some aspect of the deal at the last moment -- it appeared as if some other entity in the background was calling the shots, but the buyers had little to no access to those true decision makers - as their father, it was difficult to see them move through that kind of process.   But in the end they got their home and were very relieved.

I recently asked my son if he is still satisfied with his purchase and was glad to hear that yes he is happy it worked out.  Nevertheless, had they waited till now, the stimulus funds for first time home buyers might have enabled them to get into twice as much house.   Now that was an eye opener.  Perhaps that is true, or perhaps it is nothing more than the "grass is greener on the other side" thinking.  But his comment did make me ponder words like: fate, luck, skill, fortune and famine - without a doubt in today's reality a homeowner is vulnerable to all of that... fortunately, just not all at once.