Who, What, When, Where, ....and Why?

Why is the real question. Why do you buy a home. I suppose the flip side, is why you wouldn't buy a home.

My personal story involves 36 years of Why I love home ownership. Read on.....

Early twenties met my first husband. He owned a small home that his parents lent him the down payment for to buy. Eventually they wrote that balance off as a wedding gift to us. It was maybe about 5k.

As we had children, that small home started to outgrow our family. So, we remodeled, added a 2nd story and enlarged a bedroom downstairs as well.

Moving forward, the neighborhood changed.....it became apparent that a drive-by shooting was not where I wanted to raise my children.

We moved to Santa Clarita and bought our 2nd home in 1992 for a safer community and better schools. We kept our first home as a rental so if we didn't like Valencia.......we could move back! We stayed here, I'm still here!!! We ended up selling the rental property about 8 years after we moved to SCV as we knew we were staying and we did some beautiful landscaping to our rear yard with the profits.

Kids went to local schools, involved in all the sports programs, life is lovely in Valencia, right?

In 2006 the kids were older, the marriage wasn't working right, so we sold that home and split the proceeds. You remember what was happening in 2006? The home we bought for 262k in 1992 was sold for 670k.

I bought my 3rd home, BUT, it was the first one I bought completely on my own. Now, my mums lent me my down payment until the family home sold and I paid her back. And, because I bought it in 2006, I watched it tank in value shortly thereafter. Went from 610k value to 335k. I was one of the ones that still paid their mortgage. And, I'm proud of that.

A friend said I should have rented. But, when I did the math, I still felt that home ownership was more valuable than renting. Funny, that home is a rental property now though!

Met my current husband 3 years later and we ended up buying a home in 2011 that we still live in today. Now in 2011 values were still low and now we currently have about a 250k increase in equity. And, my home that I bought by myself was still upside down in value so mums came to the rescue again and helped with the purchase of our new home.....with a note that I get xyz less in my future inheritance. She's a good mums!

So, see? There is always a 'Why' in a home ownership plan. Why you need your first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and ultimately you'll need that retirement home too.

I just thought sharing my stories of home ownership, before and after becoming a licensed Realtor, would allow you to consider your 'Why' as well.