my thoughts on the housing market - and an announcement!
The announcement is... we bought a house! We close on June 25, this coming Thursday. I will be sharing a more detailed post on the home and the pictures from closing day but prior to that, I'm sharing my research and insights on today's housing market. When Ryan and I decided to start looking for a house in the DC-metro area, we knew that it was going to be competitive. Neither of us are from here and sometimes it felt like we weren't even sure what we were looking for. Why should we choose this neighborhood over that neighborhood? Do we really want to be 45 minutes from the city? When we fell in love with a Charles Goodman in Silver Spring, MD and narrowed our search to mid-centuries, the houses started to feel like homes, and the neighborhoods took on more meaning. My hope for others looking for a home is that they can find a place that feels right for them, even if they are not originally from the area. I can't wait to share what neighborhood we landed on - next week!
All that being said, throughout this search, it was obvious that the system is structured in a way that incentivizes home buying as an investment and an accumulation of wealth for those that already have wealth. The system and its stakeholders are striving toward profit, not the expansion of quality housing to all. Since the 2008 recession, owning a home has become an exclusive club, and many millennials are only able to buy because of financial support and this is primarily concentrated within white, college-educated millennials. I unpack this in my paper, "A Systems Thinking Approach to Achieving Homeownership in the United States." After I wrote this paper, the Economist published a similar piece, reinforcing the economic paradox of homeownership, especially in the United States.
You can read the entire PDF version below.
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