Pernille Loof

?The idea of owning a house is both a dream and a nightmare? Buying a home is a deeply personal decision?assuming you are in a financial position to have such a choice. But that individual decision is influenced by larger ideas: Homeownership has, for the past century at least, come to be equated with the American dream. It means finding a space to call your own and a place to belong. It?s about being part of a community and a neighborhood. It?s having shelter and stability.
Today, 10 years removed from the recession, the nation?s worsening affordability problem has made purchasing a home too pricey for many. Homebuyers also face predatory lending, mortgage discrimination, a speculative land market, and most recently, novel coronavirus. If you find a home you can afford, your worries don?t stop there?are you displacing longtime residents and contributing to gentrification" Below, we?ve compiled excerpts from previous Curbed stories about how people have wrestled with the choice to buy a home?and the things they find out about their homes after purchase.

Katy Kelleher
In ?The Homeownership Obsession,? writer Katy Kelleher explores the complicated dream of owning a home and the personal journey that led her and her husband to buy a house in rural Maine.
Homeownership, according to conventional wisdom, was a path to a more stable, equitable future. It was emblematic of the American dream, the idea that, with enough hard work and honest labor, any...