We are becoming a “rental nation.” What? Is that bad? You mean we’re willing to forgo the pride of ownership? Personally, I think so. Here’s what David Houle is thinking along these lines – and I very much agree with him on this topic. Four years ago David started to suggest that in the United States, the reorganizational recession of 2007-2010 might have broken the aspirational, patriotic vision of home ownership. This was a fairly obvious supposition due to the collapse of the real estate market leading the way into the downward economic cataclysm. Not only was the old saying “real estate always goes up in value” blown up, but the inability to sell the home one owned kept millions from being able to move to where they could gain employment. So ownership in an illiquid market also meant unemployment. In many cases this lead to bankruptcy, a painful experience due, in part, to home ownership.
