I just finished reading this article in The New York Times about housing. I especially find this kind of stuff interesting as I often foresee myself as a future home owner when Rick and I are no longer travelling. I have always viewed owning a home as not only a place to live, but as a way of making a major financial investment (as I think most people do). This is always a notion I had gleamed from growing up with a father who is a real-estate agent as well as from the influence of the people I had around me growing up.

In my opinion I still think its a good idea for people like myself, who eventually want to raise children etc. to have a consistent dwelling, especially for the "nester" in me. I do believe you could raise a family renting, but this is not an ideal for me and I do think renting with children poses a lot of unforeseen complications. There is also that other lingering financial thought in the back of my head that screams, the money you throw into renting your whole life goes no where for you as an investor.

However, in light of the recent events in our economies and based on what this article is saying, I think its really important that we really think our house purchases through before we jump into them. As we have all learned from our friendly neighbor, the great USA, purchasing homes out of our financial grasp gets us nowhere. I would have to agree with this article in that many people still have the notion or expectation that the purchase of a house will eventually bring them great wealth and investment upon retiring. This may not be the case for our upcoming generation.

Don't get me wrong, especially for all you current homeowners out there, I still believe buying a house is worthwhile and I plan to do it myself, but it really makes me ask myself what is obtainable for myself and Rick and can we afford to hold down such a huge investment at such as cost for the very real risk for an unforeseen investment in the future? A question I think is worth asking and considering when you are deciding what you are willing to pay for a home and what is available to you within your price range.

Something else to consider: do we delve in the same financial risk in the stalk market? That is an unforeseen investment as well, but its all based on the risk you choose.

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