I am firmly in the Schiller camp, however I did just buy a home. It was a tough decision for me but I think it was rational. I say that because I am fully aware of the statistics of home ownership as well as its historically poor performance.
The prime reason that we purchased a home is because we could not renovate and open our basement for business in a rental property. Overall our net costs of home ownership now are eclipsed by the amount we are making from being able to do the things only home owners can.
The other major reason is that for us, even when factoring in estimated maintenance costs, we would pay less monthly on a mortgage than we would renting. Even if we lose some home value over the period that we are planning on living here (~6 years) we would see the return of some of it rather than none in a rental scenario.
The bottom line is, this whole argument is much much more complex than what the retail value of your home is between the time you buy and the time you sell. As with pretty much everything, the economic costs are not captured in the pricing data.
The prime reason that we purchased a home is because we could not renovate and open our basement for business in a rental property. Overall our net costs of home ownership now are eclipsed by the amount we are making from being able to do the things only home owners can.
The other major reason is that for us, even when factoring in estimated maintenance costs, we would pay less monthly on a mortgage than we would renting. Even if we lose some home value over the period that we are planning on living here (~6 years) we would see the return of some of it rather than none in a rental scenario.
The bottom line is, this whole argument is much much more complex than what the retail value of your home is between the time you buy and the time you sell. As with pretty much everything, the economic costs are not captured in the pricing data.