A renter just called throwing money at someone else's mortgage "really freeing." The landlord who owns the building nodded thoughtfully while calculating next year's rent increase.
Homeownership used to be the centerpiece of the American Dream. Now people are reframing permanent tenancy as liberation. It's like calling unemployment "freedom from corporate oppression" or calling your 2004 Honda Civic with 180,000 miles "a lifestyle choice."
The shift makes sense. Why would anyone want to build equity when they could pay someone else's property taxes instead? Why lock in a fixed mortgage payment when rent can surprise you every twelve months like a sadistic advent calendar? Stability sounds boring anyway.
Some renters say they prefer not worrying about maintenance costs. They'd rather call a landlord at 9 PM on a Saturday about a broken dishwasher and wait three weeks for a repair guy who shows up once, says he needs to order a part, then vanishes into the ether. That's the freedom they're talking about. The freedom to have zero control over anything in the place where you sleep.
Others cite flexibility as the main benefit. They can move anywhere with just sixty days notice and a forfeited security deposit. Homeowners are trapped in their properties like prisoners, forced to live in places they own outright and can sell whenever they want. Truly tragic.
The American Dream hasn't shifted. The American Dream got too expensive so people convinced themselves they never wanted it in the first place. It's cope with a press release. It's Stockholm syndrome with a lease agreement.
But sure, let's celebrate renting as empowerment. Let's pretend that building your landlord's wealth instead of your own is a deliberate philosophical stance and not just making peace with getting priced out of the market. Nothing says "I'm living my best life" quite like explaining why you're actually happy about it.
Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash
Leave a Comment