There is a moment most homeowners recognize, and it usually isn’t at closing. It happens quietly — the first time you lock the door at night and realize this place is yours. Not temporarily, not conditionally, but yours. The decision is made. The search is over. Life begins to settle.

“Home should be an anchor, a port in a storm, a refuge, a happy place in which to dwell, a place where we are all loved, and where we can love.” – Marvin J. Ashton

People rarely remember interest rates years later — but they remember where the couch first sat, where holidays gathered, and how routines slowly formed around the space.

A house begins as a purchase. Over time, it becomes part of life.

Homeownership Builds Wealth and Stability

One of the reasons people are drawn toward owning a home is simple: stability. Homeownership is one of the best ways to grow personal wealth and well-being. Not to mention, “When you rent, you build your landlord’s wealth. When you own, you build your own.” Don’t get me wrong, renting has its place and often makes sense for a season of life. But over time, the experience of renting and owning begins to diverge in meaningful ways.

For instance, rent typically increases year to year, whereas a mortgage is typically fixed for a long period of time. That difference doesn’t feel dramatic in the first year. But over many years it shapes how people plan, save, and live. With ownership, housing becomes less of a moving expense and more of a fixed foundation.

There’s also a quieter shift that happens. When you rent, the space belongs to someone else and your time in it has an expiration date. When you own, decisions change. You arrange the home differently, improve it slowly, and begin shaping it around your routines rather than the other way around.

Additionally, across generations housing costs have taken a larger share of income, and rent has generally risen faster than wages. That’s why many people eventually ask whether continuing to rent provides flexibility… or postpones stability.

Rent Burden by Generation at Age 30:

• Baby Boomers – 36% of income on rent
• Gen X – 41% of income on rent
• Millennials – 45% of income on rent
  

Wages are rising, but rent is rising faster. This imbalance is the root cause of many first time home buyers’ question: Is home ownership the more stable option?

The American Dream

Homeownership is an aspiration of the heart.

“A house is made with walls and beams. A home is made with love and dreams.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

A house is something you acquire — a home is something that gradually forms around the life lived inside it. At first, it’s simply a place you move into. Over time it becomes familiar. Routines settle in. Memories attach themselves to rooms. Ultimately it becomes a place of love and memories.

Research, including studies from Harvard, suggests homeownership positively impacts self-esteem and life satisfaction. Children benefit from consistency, families tend to feel more rooted, and people naturally become more connected to their neighbors and community.

Ownership doesn’t create happiness by itself, but it gives life a steady place to unfold. That stability is often what people are really seeking when they begin thinking about a home. That is the true American Dream.

The Pride of Ownership

“There’s something permanent, and something extremely profound in owning a home.”
– Kenny Guinn

For over 75% of Americans, homeownership is seen as a key marker of success, financial stability, and long-term wealth building. You can see it in small moments. Spend a Saturday morning near a hardware store and you’ll notice people pouring their hearts into their homes. In 2025, an estimated $600 billion was spent on home improvements.

Financial benefits are part of the picture, but pride is often what people talk about years later — the feeling of having built something lasting, both materially and emotionally. As Suze Orman put it, “Owning a home is a keystone of wealth – both financial affluence and emotional security.”

Home Ownership Increases Your Personal Wealth

Will Rogers once joked, “Don’t wait to buy real estate. Buy real estate, and wait.” There’s wisdom in that. Most of the financial strength of homeownership comes from time, not timing.

A home builds wealth in two directions at once. As the years pass, the property increases in value while the loan balance gradually decreases. Without dramatic decisions or constant attention, equity grows quietly in the background, sometimes in a huge huge way.

There are also practical financial benefits along the way. Homeowners receive tax advantages such as mortgage interest and property tax deductions, and an overall reduction in tax burden. When a primary residence is eventually sold, a large portion of the gain can often be excluded from taxation: $250,000 or $500,000 or married couples filing jointly. This makes homeownership the Best ROTH IRA that exists. This is one of the most powerful tax breaks that exists in the United States.

“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen… it is about the safest investment in the world.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Wealth Gap: Owner vs. Renter

According to Federal Reserve data, the average homeowner’s net worth is approximately 44 times higher than that of a renter. The median renter’s net worth is $10,000-$10,500. Whereas the median homeowner net worth is $396,000–$400,000. The gap isn’t usually created by higher income or more complicated investments — it largely comes from accumulated home equity. Simply put, consistent housing payments gradually become ownership rather than expense.

Mark Twain once said, “Buy real estate; they stopped making it.” The net worth of a homeowner to a renter is 44 to 1. What side of the equation do you want to be on?

Conclusion

There’s nothing wrong with renting. For many people, it’s an absolute necessity. The problem is when the necessity disappears but the habit stays. Every year you wait after you’re capable of buying, the market keeps moving without you. Prices adjust. Rents adjust faster. And the distance between where you are and where you could be quietly, and drastically widens.

Don’t get so caught up in timing the market perfectly, and if someone claims that they can, they’re lying. The true perfect timing is about entering the market when your life allows it. Waiting for the right moment often becomes waiting for a better moment, and that moment rarely comes cheaper.

Owning a home is a magical thing that extends far beyond the details of the purchase. There is a ton of fear that strikes when considering the daunting journey of purchasing a home. However, the important thing to remember is for most people, the long-term mistake isn’t buying at the wrong time. It’s being ready and choosing not to act.

The most important thing to remember, in all of this: people don’t talk about square footage after they move in, they talk about how it feels to finally have a place that’s theirs.

*Blog post developed from the Brian Buffini podcast “The Magic of Owning a Home.”