Home Ownership Bad for Your Health
Perhaps those who feel desperate to own a home will take a pause after reading this article from Portfolio. “Homeownership is overrated and… it carries a downside as well as an upside,” they write, based on a study of health and happiness and home ownership among women. I find little evidence that homeowners are happier…
Perhaps those who feel desperate to own a home will take a pause after reading this article from Portfolio. “Homeownership is overrated and… it carries a downside as well as an upside,” they write, based on a study of health and happiness and home ownership among women.
I find little evidence that homeowners are happier by any of the following definitions: life satisfaction, overall mood, overall feeling, general moment-to-moment emotions (i.e., affect) and affect at home. Several factors might be at work: homeowners derive more pain (but no more joy) from both their home and their neighborhood. They are also more likely to be 12 pounds heavier, report lower health status and poorer sleep quality. They tend to spend less time on active leisure or with friends. The average homeowner reports less joy from love and relationships. She is also less likely to consider herself to enjoy being with people…
The great satisfaction from ownership, they say, comes when property values increase. Now that that’s less likely, and in many cases values are decreasing, why buy at all, when you can rent and be happy? “In fact, if Americans could be persuaded that rent payments aren’t ‘wasted money’ and that owning often makes less financial sense than renting, I think the rate of homeownership might, happily, drop substantially.”
Homeownership Makes You Fat and Unhappy [Portfolio]
Photo by TheTruthAbout.
BRG we posted on topic: we think the conclusion of this study is “garbage” and then we agreed with Rob that moving can make friends become scarce..RELEVANT to homeownership as renters tend to move more often. Please read our posts carefully you will see they are all related to the discussion on hand. Not to say people can’t have fun and digress we are only saying you folks are in the excess recently as 11217 rightfully pointed out.
DIBS ton contribution d’hier est la seule chose qui est dommage dude!
why does dave have 4 homes where there are so many homeless people in this country? home hog much, dave?! :-/
*rob*
While I’m sure there ARE those whose health suffers when property values decrease, I certainly didn’t have that problem when the NYC Fiscal crisis broke in 1975, a few months after I bought my house. I’ve always valued the independence that goes with home ownership and couldn’t imagine [or, at least wouldn’t want to think about] ever dealing with a landlord again. The increase in my house’s value was nice to know about, but only a minor factor in the satisfaction I get from home ownership.
Whuh..you’re an ass. Nobody owes me anything. I owe the bank a mortgage of 40% of my purchase price. No bailout necessary. I also owe the bank a mortgage of about 25% of the current value of my Philly home. And I have two other homes with no mortgage.
Do you know what fraction of mortgages in America are underwater?? A fairly dsmall fraction.
You are right one one point…”Houses will be regarded as millstones; not forever, but before there’s a turnaround.”
Yup..there will be a turnaround and those of you that are still renting will be again behind the eight ball!!!
Fool.
It may not be a meaningfully rigorous study; but the zeitgeist is changing on the virtues of owning. An underwater mortgage is the opposite of autonomy. All the hassles of owning appear weightless when you know you can flip six months later for a big profit. An entirely different mentality sinks in when prices are deflating. Houses will be regarded as millstones; not forever, but before there’s a turnaround. I know DIBS thinks the universe owes him a bailout, but there’s no way to turn the clock back to ’06.
“An interesting portrait of homeowners emerges from my analysis. I find little evidence that homeowners are happier by any of the following definitions: ”
What analysis?? What evidence?? Where’s the statistical data to support any conclusion that this Asshat makes?? I’m actually interested in seeing the What’s take on this since, to me, this whole story is one of the most ridiculuous things I’ve ever seen written by a so-called journalist.
Oui BRG. C’est domage.
Back on topic…this is the most assinine blog hipster article I’ve ever seen. Written by someone named after a fish too.
This “study” appears to have had so little control over any of its variables that it likely has zero internal or external validity. Is this an example of the growing trend toward positive psychology or the so-called science of happiness?
I am curious about the upside to renting – as in how is it not to be considered throwing money away, how it can sometimes be a sounder financial decision and so on. I’d like to see more about that, because I too am biased in this regard. Renting a two or three bedroom apartment in Manhattan costs an astounding amount each month and it is not applied toward eventual ownership of anything. So I can’t see the upside easily. Help?
Of greater import, the man in the red hoodie has been banished to the ether that is Brownstoner back pages. Sigh.
You think he’ll ever know of his short-lived fame?
Pierre, while we value your thoughts, please post on topic about Homeownership and your health.
All posts have been on topic so far, except yours.