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Originally Posted by slowmover
Said equity being the sole source of wealth for a middle class...
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But home equity is hardly the sole source of wealth. Plenty of us have 401K & IRA accounts, investments, and so on. I could easily pay off my mortgage any time (but would lose tax deduction & probable stock appreciation if I did).
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Real estate valuations are meaningless if one cannot sell.
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Why would I want to sell, barring some major personal disaster? Sure, if you're planning to be moving every few years, or more often, renting makes more sense in this market. But I own a house - and land, which is more important than the actual house - in order to make it a home: to have the trees & vines I've planted grow and bear fruit, to live in a place that is, as far as possible, the way I want it rather than a one-size-fit-all box owned by some landlord.
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When opportunities are increasingly confined to fewer cities (megaregions) it may mean one needs to move...
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Which is not the way the world is heading. There are increasing opportunities to live wherever you choose, and work remotely. In the last few years, I've worked on jobs for clients ranging from Silicon Valley to Switzerland, and done most of it without leaving home.
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For todays American children, en masse, will not achieve the same educational level or live as long as their parents generation. Much less will they move up in socio-economic status.
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Maybe not, but that will be their choice.
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Ones house value (and local tax bond packages), therefore, will be almost entirely about short major utility runs and transportation access.
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Solar PV is headed below $1/watt. With decent storage, who needs the utilities?
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And whining about Services I Don't Use...
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It's not whether or not I use those "services", it's whether those services ought to exist at all (with things like the War on Drugs), or be done by the government.