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Mortgage News You Can Use
Home Is Where The Heart Is
For Owners, a Complex Relationship Built Inside Four Walls
By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 14, 2004; Page F01
Will Greene and his wife, Candace, have lived in their 1906 bungalow in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria since 1990. And despite the tens of thousands of dollars they have spent maintaining and improving it over the past 14 years, what they feel toward their century-old house can only be called love.
"There's nothing nicer in life than sitting on my front porch and watching the world go by," said Greene, quickly waxing lyrical. "I just love old houses. We have very very fond feelings for our house and our neighborhood."
And the Greenes are not alone in their passion. Even though houses suck up time and money, often quite a bit of both, most American homeowners have an ardent love affair going with their properties.
Rebecca Middleton derives great pleasure from shopping for her house in Crystal City, buying knick-knacks, furniture and wall hangings. "It's so fun having your own house instead of renting and camping out in someone else's home," she said. "You know that everything you do or buy for your house reflects who you are."
Scott Rubin is immensely proud of the rehab work he has done on his townhouses in Arlington and Gaithersburg, projects such as putting in a new bathroom. "It's the king of the castle thing," he said. Rubin keeps a framed copy of the deed of the first house his parents bought in the United States after emigrating from Russia. "My mom gave it to me because she knew how into homeownership I was."
Chris Dragisic revels in the independence that having her own place in Washington has given her. "I can do whatever I want in my little condo. And I don't need to live with roommates."
These infatuated Washington area homeowners reflect a widespread feeling among Americans.
In the 2001 Census Bureau's American Housing Survey, more than two-thirds of American homeowners rated their house 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best rating. Sixty percent of American homeowners rated their neighborhoods 8 or higher.
Homeowners liked their homes and neighborhoods substantially more than renters did, the survey showed.
"We do love our houses," said David Lereah, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. "We love them because they're our security blankets, they're where we raised our families, they're packed full of memories. And besides the emotions, financially our homes are the biggest contributors to our retirement nest eggs."
Home equity is the principal source of wealth for the majority of American households, according to studies by the Federal Reserve. American homeowners held $7.9 trillion in equity in their homes in the third quarter of 2003, while the value of all owner-occupied housing in the United States was $14.55 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. So the equity American homeowners held equaled a little less than half the total value of housing in this country.
But while our homes no doubt make us more comfortable financially over the long run, they also cost us huge amounts of money, usually in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Americans spend 30 to 40 percent of their disposable income every year on housing and housing-related goods and services, according to research by the realty group. That means spending on things such as mortgages, furniture, appliances, maintenance and home improvement projects.
"Nothing else rivals housing in terms of household spending," Lereah said. "Nothing even comes close."
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