In early September,  Time magazine’s cover story entitled The Case Against Home Ownership made some good points regarding political maneuvering  in Washington that opened up home purchases and ownership to an ever wider percentage of our population.  While this was largely done with good intent, these policies helped lay the foundation for the “bubble.”  

True, home ownership is not for everyone, but let’s remember there are advantages in home ownership.  And anyway, when the price of a value investment is pummeled, isn’t it the right time to consider acquiring that asset or investment? 

“Enough with the doom and gloom of home ownership,”  says Brent Arends of the Wall Street Journal,   (in  10 reasons to Buy a Home,  9/16/10), following up on Time’s sensational article, pointing out that “at the peak of the bubble five years ago, Time had a different take. “’Home Sweet Home,” ‘declared its cover then, as it celebrated the boom and asked: ‘Will your house make you rich?’”  Mr. Arends makes some very good points – among them:  1) you can get a great deal  2) the cost of a mortgage is jaw droppingly great.

Further , in Forbes on  Friday, Francesca Levy writes in The Problem with the Home Ownership Debate that the argument in the Times article is “falsely framed, ”    stating that while many people are better off renting,  she balances this truth with the fact that  some homes are “severely undervalued, and in some cases below construction costs.”   She states that goal of home ownership for the large majority had “the country …  gripped by an obsession with home ownership that had a big hand in fueling the housing collapse. Arguing against the home ownership as a concept is just as absurd as arguing that everyone should own a home.”

Phoenix prices, in many instances, are below the cost of construction.   Great deals abound for the willing and able home buyer or investor.