Seven Cures for a Lean Purse Part 6

“The HOLE in our pocket/purse is usually larger than the money we are putting in – there is a cure for HEALING this HOLE – the medicine however, may hard to swallow and a bit bitter to the taste…” — Rick Cox

“But the result is worth the inconvenience of having to put up with the taste and taking the time to swallow…”

Rick Cox

Part 6

Cure #5: Make your home a profitable investment… The Richest Man in Babylon

With the real estate debacle, which swept most of our country in the early to mid-2000’s, the majority may not see a home as a profitable investment. The real estate crash, which was caused by inflated home and land pricing was all based on people trying to get something for nothing. As a result of this, the suggestion of using one’s home as a profitable investment might not seem appropriate; but believe me it is.

Since people began living in towns and cities many thousands of years ago, there have been landlords as well as home owners. Written historical evidence reveals these two existed, but it also reveals those who owned their own homes were always much better off and much happier than those that did not. As far back as written history there were those willing to lend (or rent their money) to others so those others could afford to purchase a home. Today, we call that money-renting a home mortgage.

Unfortunately, through the ages people have fallen into the trap of renting or leasing their dwelling. In this manner they pay out a great portion of their earned dollar, but have nothing to show for it after five, ten, fifteen, twenty or more years. In our day and age anyone who is renting is earning no interest on their dollar invested nor are they earning any of the deductions or write-offs against their income. On the other hand, home owners are getting these write-offs thus, helping them to create wealth quicker than those who do not.

With that being said, when you are making your home or dwelling a profitable investment there are other considerations beyond merely the monetary aspect. Some of the good things owning a home can provide is: peace of mind, which comes with knowing the home is theirs with no fear of being ousted or having it taken due to the fact someone else owns it. It also provides an atmosphere, which will bring happiness to the woman’s heart in that her children have a safe place to play and grow up. Besides the home is a woman’s domain. It provides joy to the heart of every man who has the ability to watch the value of his investment grow as he takes pride in caring for the home and the land on which it stands. The bottom line is those who decide to own and thus purchase a home will find more positives than negatives. This will only happen when the home is purchased and purchased right. Owning your own home will reduce your expenses leaving more money at the end of the week rather than vice versa.

There are different types of negatives, but the ones I want to mention may not be what you are thinking. As a home owner, you alone are responsible for taking care of and maintaining the property if you expect the property to hold or grow in value. To some this is a negative for they will not take care of the place at all. This is often the case when some rent as they can walk away from the property when they want with much less of a loss. On the other hand there are those that purchase homes who do not take care of them either. These home owners are not being faithful over what they have and will not generally be given any more.

It is heart breaking to see homes that are not maintained regardless of value or location. I am reminded of traveling to Vancouver, BC Canada, as a twenty two year old with my wife. This was over four decades ago and at that time there were no dumpy houses or homes-in-the-projects anywhere in Vancouver. There were smaller less expensive homes as well as exceptionally large mansions. One would expect the exceptionally large homes to be well kept and that was the case. What was shocking and quite obvious as we were given the tour of the city was there were no dumpy housing areas at all. Every home regardless of size was well kept. This has been a vivid memory to this day.

One of my wife’s relatives, who lived in Vancouver, was taking classes to become a real estate agent at that time. I asked him about the condition of the homes we were seeing and why there were no dumpy areas? His comment was everyone kept their home maintained and in good shape regardless of income as this kept the values up and growing. He continued by saying, people who had purchased homes had decided since they had invested their hard earned money it wasn’t much more difficult to keep them clean, gardened and painted. This is all it takes. I have not seen this as I have traveled throughout America. There are dumpy areas in every city and town showing that people do not get the big picture. They would rather be strapped to the purchase of a fancy automobile, one of the worst “divestments” one can make, than to invest in a home or keep up the one they have, which would help to increase their wealth and cure their lean purse.

Remember, if you are faithful over the small things the big things will eventually be made available to you; but seldom does this happen if you do not. This is a sad commentary on how we are raised and what we value. Where do your values lie? What are you teaching your children? What are they seeing in you?

The fifth cure is to OWN YOUR HOME! Set that goal and get started now! If you do own your own home, then take care of it as best you can. Maybe you can’t afford to paint it as yet, but it can be clean and gardened. Take pride to make yours the best looking home on the block. You will be glad you did. Just do it and the why will become obvious.

Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…

Respectfully,

Rick Cox