Well, see... That's the thing... I spoke vaguely because the benefits themselves are ambiguous, subjective. They are hard to quantify because their intrinsic value varies based on who you ask.
However, just because they are not easily quantifiable does not mean that they have no value. You are right. It is easy for me to sit over here and criticize them for not discussing something that was probably outside the scope of their article.
With that said though, it may be possible - one day - for someone to figure out some way of approximating these things (no landlords, lower fixed monthly costs, more control over your own property) and giving them some type of monetary value.
One thing that could be done is to look at the difference between rent and ownership prices and build an econometric model in an attempt to tease some numbers out of it. Maybe someone has already tried it, but I am not certain. There would be some selection bias though - the kind of people that own homes are probably not exactly the same as those that rent apartments. I'm not sure how to deal with that...
Just something to think about, I have taken some classes in Urban economics and all of these professors talk about how incredibly stupid it is to own a house. Then, over the course of the semester, I would realize that they owned houses myself. When I ask them why, none of them has a decent answer.
Maybe the answer is something really sort-of fuzzy. It seems to me that people tend to buy a house when they want to lay down "roots" in a place, but then that wouldn't explain why so many people just rent for a long time despite not needing the mobility.
There are probably hundreds of factors that creep into the decision to own vs to rent. I guess being aware of this is why I feel repulsed at articles claiming to compare the two but not even trying to factor in the preference-related factors and how they cloud this type of analysis.
Disclaimer: I am an economist-in-training at this point in time. My thesis involves an application of a hedonic pricing model. Too much work with hedonics and you may become delirious - believing that everything can be quantified if you just tinker with the model long enough...
I think a very core issue when discussing this is the fact that the majority of people aren't buying a home - they are mortgaging it. Borrowing money, and the additional costs that entails, have become the accepted norm for people to purchase a house. I do realize this is realistically the only way many people may be able to ever "own" a house - but if you spend the rest of your life paying it off, do you ever really own it for practical purposes?
The primary issue for me is that, in current society (talking us/ca here) - paying a financial institution an arm and a leg for the privilege of having them lend you enough money to "buy" a home as the standard way of doing this is the root of the problem - change our financial habits as a society to reduce this need in a few generations and things will change.
"Maybe the answer is something really sort-of fuzzy. It seems to me that people tend to buy a house when they want to lay down "roots" in a place, but then that wouldn't explain why so many people just rent for a long time despite not needing the mobility."
Wouldn't this come down to the risk appetite of renters vs. homeowners? Perhaps long-term renters overestimate the risks/trouble of homeowning and overvalue their mobility. In a sense, renters may be willing to pay a perceived premium (i.e. "you're throwing your money away") because they feel that they are safer. This feeling would only be reinforced if they've had favourable historical renting experiences.
I can't help drawing an analogy to buying insurance; you hope nothing bad happens, but buy insurance anyway.
"I know what mine are - but it's subjective."
Well, see... That's the thing... I spoke vaguely because the benefits themselves are ambiguous, subjective. They are hard to quantify because their intrinsic value varies based on who you ask.
However, just because they are not easily quantifiable does not mean that they have no value. You are right. It is easy for me to sit over here and criticize them for not discussing something that was probably outside the scope of their article.
With that said though, it may be possible - one day - for someone to figure out some way of approximating these things (no landlords, lower fixed monthly costs, more control over your own property) and giving them some type of monetary value.
One thing that could be done is to look at the difference between rent and ownership prices and build an econometric model in an attempt to tease some numbers out of it. Maybe someone has already tried it, but I am not certain. There would be some selection bias though - the kind of people that own homes are probably not exactly the same as those that rent apartments. I'm not sure how to deal with that...
Just something to think about, I have taken some classes in Urban economics and all of these professors talk about how incredibly stupid it is to own a house. Then, over the course of the semester, I would realize that they owned houses myself. When I ask them why, none of them has a decent answer.
Maybe the answer is something really sort-of fuzzy. It seems to me that people tend to buy a house when they want to lay down "roots" in a place, but then that wouldn't explain why so many people just rent for a long time despite not needing the mobility.
There are probably hundreds of factors that creep into the decision to own vs to rent. I guess being aware of this is why I feel repulsed at articles claiming to compare the two but not even trying to factor in the preference-related factors and how they cloud this type of analysis.
Disclaimer: I am an economist-in-training at this point in time. My thesis involves an application of a hedonic pricing model. Too much work with hedonics and you may become delirious - believing that everything can be quantified if you just tinker with the model long enough...