Why Owning A Home Is The Foundation To Financial Security
b"With\\xa0Terry Story, 28-year veteran Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton, FL
House Appreciation Continues Apace in 2016 in Many Markets
On this week's Real Estate Round-up, Boca Raton real estate agent Terry Story and Steve discuss house appreciation and the benefits of home ownership.\\xa0 2016 has sustained the multi-year trend of house appreciation in many housing markets throughout the country.\\xa0 Terry cites mortgage giant Freddie Mac's MiMi index (Multi-indicator Market Index) most recent reading as a reliable predictor that certain local markets\\u2014and to a lesser degree, broader markets\\u2014have yet to peak and, in fact, enjoy significant room for further appreciation.\\xa0 With this as yet untapped potential upside, home equity is expected to grow, offering homeowners the option of opening home equity lines of credit for, among other things, home improvement projects.\\xa0 Terry and Steve delve into state-level MiMi data which highlight which state housing markets have improved and which could have further house appreciation in the pipeline.
Benefits of Owning a Home
This last point provides a nice segue way into the next topic of conversation: the benefits of homeownership.\\xa0 Terry walks Steve through her top 10 reasons for owning instead of renting a home.\\xa0 Among these, the certainty of your monthly costs (outside of insurance and taxes) ranks at the top, as mortgage payments are fixed while rental rates are not.\\xa0 Number two on Terry's list is house appreciation, which she admits is not guaranteed in the short term, but almost always is over the long haul.\\xa0 Another big advantage of owning a home is the freedom to make renovations to the house and property.
Some of the other reasons Terry cites include overall lower cost of maintaining the property, tax benefits, building equity in the home (which amounts to a \\u201crainy day fund\\u201d savings account that can be utilized through a home equity loan) and the benefits of living in a community of fellow homeowners.\\xa0 Rounding out the list, Terry asserts that the advantages of home ownership in terms of retirement security is very compelling.\\xa0 Owning a home offers a nest egg which can be sold\\u2014often at a significant gain\\u2014to fund one's needs for retirement income."