DO AMERICANS "OWN" their HOMES?

Question

In my opinion Americans don't "own" their homes...they own a "MORTGAGE".
They take a 30 year mortage and continually borrow against it in order to survive and when they are 70 and working at Walmart, eating dog food and still paying on that mortgage they scratch their heads and wonder: "what has become of the American dream".

Even if the house is totally paid for and there is no mortgage....
consider "home owners" as the 'renters' and the Federal Government as the 'Landlord'.
As long as you pay your property taxes (rent) you can stay in the house. Fail to pay those taxes (rent)and the landlord/Govt will toss you out and into the street and sell the property.
Can you choose to whom you want to sell the house to?
No.
If you try to pick and choose you risk being threatened with a "discrimination" lawsuit thanks to a bit of government legislation passed in the 1960's.
How many of you are gonna be duped by the American Lib and Con propaganda machine??

Answer 1

LOL, you're kidding right? I dont pay 1 dime in "Federal Property Taxes". Why? Because they dont exist. I agree with you to an extent- you really only own your house until you have paid it off, and then you will still be responsible for paying some amount in local property taxes on it. But the only thing as certain in life as paying taxes is death, so that isnt a huge surprise. And its a pretty good laugh when someone thinks they are somehow beating the system by renting instead.

Answer 2

Having a mortgage doesn't mean that you don't own your house- only that a bank holds a "lien" on it. W/o mortgages 99% of people wouldn't be able to afford homes. And, by the way, the interest is Tax deductible which makes it one of the best (if not THE best) legal tax shelter in the country.
You also own it because you can sell it to whoever you want (obviously provided you don't discrimiate for asanine reasons to which you refer).
Do I also not own my car because I have to register it every year? Do I not own my computer because I had to pay sales tax? Unfortunately, in exchange for having roads to drive on, police to protect us, and firemen to stop our houses from burning down or rescue us from buildings, we need to pay money for that.
Do we live in a Democracy? Technically, no. More like a Republic. However, is it a dictatorship? Come on. You're insulting people in China (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Sudan, etc) by calling us a dictatorship because we have to, gasp, pay taxes.
And yeah, good job just renting your whole life. Way to beat the system. A part of the money I pay each month goes to pay down the principle (which is sort of a forced savings account) and the rest to pay interest (which is tax deductible). After 30 years or less the house is paid off and all i'm on the hook for is property taxes each year? Keep paying rent. Talk to me in 30 years when you have absolutely nothing to show for all those years of paying rent- though I'm sure your landlord will be doing well!

Answer 3

we own our home. We HATE credit so everything we have is paid for.
We sometimes have to wait and save to get the things we want/need but the only bills we have are utilities. It's worth it.
We are working on saving for a windmill now so maybe our utility payments will decrease soon after we build it...we hope.
bills suck.
We do pay property taxes on the land,but it's only once each year and it's nothing compared to what we save in interest from not buying on credit or re-financing, and those taxes help our town to build nice roads(save money on tires/car maintenance) and water treatment and sewer and all those other niceties....garbage pick-up, 911 service....it's good this way.

Answer 4

I purchased my home in 1991 for 135000.00. Got a 15 year mortgage (payments were 1948.00 a month....taxes are very high here on Long Island, NY) My husband and I worked our asses off for those 15 years and got the house paid for. Now we only pay 785.00 a month for taxes/insurance. Selling the house now...appraised at 520000.00....big profit.

Answer 5

Well I guess I don't "own" my car either, nor is the money I make mine, and even my dog isn't mine. Because I pay taxes on all of that. Yearly. If I don't pay those taxes, those things get taken away. No one like taxes but that doesn't mean you don't own the item being taxed. That train of thought is simply flawed. But interestingly enough, since you "own" your property, you are free to move it to a location where it will not be taxed. Good luck on that.

Answer 6

I own my home and your are right the property taxes are alot. But its mine, freedom rocks. Taxes have always been and will always be. At least here in the U.S.A. we have great services which taxes pay for, so my opinion is it could be alot worse. So if you dont like the way it is well run for office and get things changed.

Answer 7

I agree with BMWDrive. If you claim what you've spent on property taxes at the end of the year (on your return), you haven't paid anything in most cases. Besides when you die you can leave that house to whoever you choose in your will, who are you goint to leave a rented apartment to?

Answer 8

We like to think we own our homes. I recently got locked out and the locksmith is a good friend. He told me that he is doing 10-15 foreclosures a month now compared with maybe 1 a month.

Answer 9

Here is a thought does anybody ever own anything? Go ahead its alright to scratch your head and think about this for a while.

Answer 10

And most Americans think they live in a democracy. Thank you for pointing this out to them.