Should You Buy a House?

The importance of homeownership is still embedded in American culture, but actual homeownership has dropped to its lowest level since 1967. How should we react to that? Are more young people ready to buy a home than they believe?

Two Cents on Twitter: @twocentspbs

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Two Cents was created by Katie Graham, Andrew Matthews, Philip Olson CFP® and Julia Lorenz-Olson and is brought to you by PBS Digital Studios. We love dropping some knowledge on all things personal finance and helping you make better money decisions.

Two Cents is hosted by Philip Olson, CFP® and Julia Lorenz-Olson
Directors: Katie Graham & Andrew Matthews
Written by: Andrew Matthews & Julia Lorenz-Olson
Produced by: Katie Graham & Amanda Fox
Images by: Shutterstock
Music by: APM

Works Cited:

[thejesuschrist]

Don't build thy house upon the sand, build thy house upon the rock of good credit, solid income, and 20% down payment. 😇

[iammrbeat]

Simply put, less people own homes today because less people have enough money to own homes.

[Enrique-Garcia]

"Millennials are seeing home ownership as more of an option than a necessity."

Nnnoooo, they're seeing it more as an impossibility than a necessity. If they had the money and choose not to do it, THEN it's an option.

[dantetre]

"It's called 'the American Dream' 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it." - George Carlin

[TampaTec]

Value of houses are overvalued vs average wages and property taxes are high.

[owenjauregui]

Omg, I swear when I subscribed about a week ago, you guys had 30k subs, now you guys almost have 90k. At this rate you guys will reach 1 million suns in no time at all.

[c.t.u.o]

I started stacking to SAVE wealth. I've always been the type of person to spend my entire paycheck. I hate having money just sit in the bank. I am under pressure to grow my reserve of $950k. before I turn 60, I would appreciate any advice on potential investments.

[kdc.]

"It's called The American Dream for a reason, you have to be asleep to believe it."

[AlexS-ojqf]

I think the problem is that back then, when you bought a house, you get a brand new house with modern appliances and amenities, and sometimes you can decide the style you wanted. Nowadays when you buy a house, it's a relic to the past where you have to do work to make it livable up to today's standard, rework the wiring, reapply insulations, replacing old rusty pipes, and you have to pay a lot more to even get a new decent house, that's the thing baby boomer didn't put in perspective when they blame millenials for not buying their crappy outdated houses.

[serenevalor]

You are like my second set of parents that teach me how the world works even though I'm an adult. I love this!

P.S. I loved your video on saving for retirement and I've already created my own plan for my future. Thank you!

[wtzfekk]

A lot of folks have been going on about a January rally and said stocks that would be experiencing significant growth these festive season, any idea which stocks this may be? I just sold my home in the Boca Grande area and I’m looking to remunerate a lump sum into the stock market before stocks rebound, is this a good time to buy or no?

[mr.d]

200k for a house?
Here in Vancouver 200k is about a 7% down payment for a house...
young people are FUCT...

[kristofgriffin]

I'm starting to think Student Loans are just a way to screw young people over and keep them poor and miserable.

[ikkin]

The 2.5 children part cracked me up...with the half a child...😂 i needed that laugh..I'm leaving now.

[mikegb]

0:25 "Actual home ownership has dropped to its lowest level since 1967." I don't know how much of this is made up for in population growth, but this suggests that demand is falling. If demand is falling, why aren't home prices falling too?

[rea]

I feel our generation will retire in developing countries since that's the only thing we will be able to afford.

[Liz]

I’m a visual learner and appreciate that you include drawings and other visual aids in your information videos. This really helps with grasping your teachings. Thanks

[derekyasmar]

you can call an apartment your home....
I live in an apartment and I call it my home.

Home Sweet Home.

[ThisisBarris]

Well, this is painting a jolly picture for us millennials.

[nehal]

He looks like "Little finger" from GOT !!...