For decades, the “American Dream” has been thought of as white picket fences and a nice backyard surrounding a house to call your own. People dream about and long for shelter, a good school district and space for backyard barbeques that purchasing a home provides. While these are reasonable desires we all have, homeownership in America achieves something even more satisfying – the dream of attaining financial security and creating generational wealth.
Owning a home provides an indispensable tool to create wealth because the value of the house increases as the balance of the amount owed on the mortgage decreases. The value between the balance of the loan and the present/appraised value of the house is called equity. The wealth is created over the time that you spend in the home. You are no longer without access to cash at any given time because the value is sitting in your residence. That cash builds equity and grows over the years, especially if you maintain and take good care of the house.
Real estate is the fastest growing investment vehicle in the U.S. Leveraging real estate for wealth is quintessentially American. When utilizing various tools, such as mortgages, we manage investment portfolios so that money grows and brings future returns. As a homeowner, you are paying down debt through affordable monthly installments and simultaneously building equity. According to a 2018 Urban Institute study, the returns on owning a home typically outperform the stock market and there isn’t a better vehicle for savings, which helps financially empower you for retirement and future financial freedom.
So if you think about it, the “American Dream” is really all about leverage. And that’s what we do at Landed – provide essential professionals with leverage through our shared equity down payment program to afford properties in areas that are out of reach. We also provide essential professionals with the opportunity to buy “more house” in choice neighborhoods that will appreciate at a quicker rate than other areas, all toward the goal of achieving financial security and building wealth.
This financial security can open doors for homeowners to send their child to college. This wealth can afford the care of the homeowner’s aging parents’ needs and even position themselves for a great retirement. After all, the essential professionals that we partner with are the people educating our children on a daily basis, caring for the sick and keeping our communities safe. These essential professionals are the glue holding our communities together in lifelong committed acts of service and we’re determined to help make their American Dream a reality.
