Home ownership: I’m loving (and hating) it!

EVEN though many of the American Gen-Y considered owning a house as one of their ultimate life goals, many of them do not enjoy being a homeowner, a recent survey on American Gen-Y homeowners showed.

As many as 20% of the 1,270 Gen Y respondents (aged 20 to 38 years) admitted that being a homeowner costs more than they initially thought. What annoyed them were the hidden expenses beyond the monthly instalments, such as repairs/renovations and maintenance charges.

This survey was conducted in 2014, by Urban Land Institute (ULI) — a non-profit research and education organisation headquartered in Washington, US.

According to the survey, 31% of the respondents realised that they did not know nor enjoyed the necessary maintenance and repair work and cost incurred when they started to own a house.

Meanwhile, another 29% of them concurred that what bothered them the most was a lack of time for house work.

After becoming homeowners, many of the respondents saw financial stability as their main concern. About 26% of the respondents worry over the possibility of losing their jobs and not being able to service their mortgages.

Besides this, 22% agreed that owning a house affected their mobility as houses are not easy to sell and they cannot just move to another place without prior financial planning.

Nevertheless, despite those things they disliked about homeownership, a substantial 62% of the respondents felt very satisfied being a homeowner, 36% were satisfied while only 2% of the respondents were not happy to be homeowners.

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