May Flowers — Why Homeownership Is Worth It

Last episode was April showers — all the hard stuff about homeownership. This is the follow-up. May flowers. The good stuff.

Because anything that makes you money is work. And homeownership makes you money.

Here's what we cover in this episode:

- Why Katy's house was supposed to be a two-year flip — and why she's still there 10 years later (neighbors, location, an egg chair, and a screen porch that finally gets used)
- What Katy made on her first self-built home: $100,000 in equity in just a few years — the power of sweat equity and building your own home
- The agent in Alissa's office who never sold her real estate — she now owns 60 properties and manages everything herself. She even keeps a storage unit for extra appliances that sellers and buyers don't want. She sweeps before showings. She is a legend.
- Why she never touched stocks: watching her father lose everything in a market crash and being left with a piece of paper that said nothing. "Even if housing markets crash, I have this physical building. I own this."
- The Federal Reserve stat: the average net worth of a homeowner is $396,000. The average net worth of a renter is $10,400.
- The National Association of Realtors stat: homeowners have 40 times the net worth of a renter.
- All of your rent goes to someone else. At least with a mortgage, the principal is slowly going down as the home appreciates — and eventually they pass each other and you have equity. Without even trying.
- 26% of buyers in the 2023 NAR report said the primary reason for buying was the desire to own their own home. For first-time buyers, that number jumps to 60%.
- The house that was bought for $35,000, neglected for decades, and still sold for $190,000.
- The meme: "I was really trying not to be so down on myself for not buying more real estate in 2007. I mean, I was only in the ninth grade."
- Investor mindset: the client who pays $100 a month for a house and is fine with it because someone else is paying off his mortgage and it will be worth far more one day — and why that's not crazy
- Building equity vs. breaking even vs. actually cash flowing: different goals, different strategies, all valid
- The second-best time to plant a tree is today. And the second-best time to buy a house is also today.
- Alissa's beach dilemma: she's never bought beach property, the numbers don't work the way the cabin numbers work, and she can't quite bring herself to do it — full discussion ensues
- Katy's suggestion: buy a second cabin anywhere, earmark the rental income for beach vacations. Problem solved.
- Why homeowners rate their overall happiness at 7.5 out of 10, compared to 6.2 for renters
- Katy's credit score story: terrible credit in 2005, subprime loan, 100+ point credit score increase from just owning the home for two years
- Benefits of homeownership: building equity, tax benefits, credit building, stable payments, privacy, freedom of customization, pride of ownership, community involvement, civic participation, and all the pets and goats you want
- Freedom to have a dog without a pet deposit — an underrated joy
- Alissa's porch swing. Katy's egg chair. These things matter.
- 70% of homeowners are over 45 — and why we want young people to get in sooner

Toast of the week from Yvette Griffin in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, toasting Connie Kyle — Alissa's broker — for having them prepared for the changing real estate environment two years before it happened. Cheers to Connie!

Want to toast someone on the show? Email team@hustlehumblypodcast.com.

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Music:
Straight A's by Connor Price → https://connorprice.shop/
The Good Life by Summer Kennedy → https://soundcloud.com/summerkennedy/the-good-life
Be The One by Matrika → https://uppbeat.io/t/matrika/be-the-one