

Shelter, or Burden? - tokenadult
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13491933

======
TomOfTTB
The article deals with the economic advantages of home ownership and I agree
with most of it’s points. I’ve never bought the idea that "owning your own
home" is a great investment. Because the reality is all it takes to virtually
destroy that investment is a drug dealer moving next door to you (or any of
the other million things that bring down house values)

But there is a technology wrinkle here that I think might help home ownership.
It is within reason that technology will eliminate utility companies within my
life time. Mini-Reactors are already a reality
(<http://www.planetizen.com/node/35982>), it’s just an issue of bringing down
the cost. Endless electricity eliminates the need for gas (natural and petrol)
and could also power a decent water filtration system (meaning you could get
your water from the clouds). If you have a green thumb you could even grow
your own food.

But all that’s only possible if you own your own home.

~~~
streety
Although I agree with your original statement that a home generally makes a
poor investment you seem to go off at a tangent with suggestions I feel are
unrealistic.

There is no reason why a local utility company (using your own source would
suggest that these new reactors are going to be at the community level rather
than the individual level - and I'm sticking with the idea of a utility
company because that seems the best way to manage a community resource) would
refuse to sell to people renting in the neighbourhood.

As for the water perhaps you could save a little money over a long enough
period but I'm sceptical it's going to be a significant factor.

Growing your own food may or may not be a potential advantage depending on how
much land you had. Although you can grow some food on any patch of space as
large as a window ledge you aren't going to save much, if any, money in such a
space. If you're really looking to save money and/or feed you and your family
you'll need more space than most people, home owners and renters alike, will
have. Your best bet would be an allotment which as far as I'm aware would be
available to renters as well.

~~~
TomOfTTB
I think you misunderstand. I'm not talking about tomorrow when I say these
things will be possible. I specifically said "within my lifetime". I'm 29 now.

But they will all happen. There are just too many ways that we know exist for
it not to happen. It's inevitable. Maybe it won't be these reactors, or maybe
someone will invent a more efficient system of generating power. But it
doesn't matter. We are on the threshold of a world where power is no longer an
issue and that is going to change a lot. When it does you’ll want to have your
own land.

Oh, and no, I don’t think an apartment owner is going to rush to do new
construction on a building built in the 70s in order to make his/her tennant’s
utilities cheaper.

~~~
streety
I don't agree with your statement that, "There are just too many ways that we
know exist for it not to happen. It's inevitable." There are a lot of ways we
_think_ might work. That is no guarantee that we'll get any of them to
actually work. I'm still waiting for the predictions of the last generation to
become reality: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)>

The spectrum of landlords, and tenants, takes in the whole human spectrum.
There are always going to be landlords who do the bare minimum. If the market
is there for added extras then I don't see why a landlord wouldn't make the
extra investment. Personally I'm in a property now for which all utilities are
included in the price. I'm happy to pay for the convenience of that
arrangement. If my landlord could purchase a private power supply to more
economically meet my needs over the long term I think he would do so before
most home owners got around to it.

Finally what sorts of power systems do you envision for an apartment? With a
house I can see some options, nuclear as previously mentioned, wind, solar,
geothermal. For an apartment you don't generally speaking have access to the
roof so options for solar and wind are limited and similarly you don't have
access to the ground the building is on so geothermal is limited.

