Here's a newsflash for you -- being rich LETS you pay more for something, more than ME for instance. Ever participate in an auction? Does the poor guy determine how much Mark McGuire's 70th HR ball is worth, or is it the rich guy? Sheesh.
Your mass generalizations are always wrong. How about this gem: "People buy houses because they have the expectation that they will go up in price." Apparently your world of people does not intersect with mine -- I don't know anybody who has purchased for that reason, including myself, my parents, my two brother and three sisters, and many friends.
My own reasons for buying a home, for instance, which occurred after a big rise in prices in Seattle that led me to believe that prices would stagnate:
1) I have an aversion to renting because of my childhood, where we'd be booted when the house sold;
2) I like doing my own improvements, and wanted to keep the results;
3) economic -- I expect to pay off the house and live much more cheaply, and not experience rising rents ever
4) wanted to ensure the kids did not have to change schools
Of all my family members who've purchased a home, only my sister thinks her property will definitely appreciate. Nevertheless, she still buys for essentially the same reasons as me, but without kids, she really goes for the remote locations which she loves. |
