Why is the rising cost of housing considered “good” for homeowners?

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I recently saw an article which stated that for homeowners “their houses are like piggy banks.” But if you own your house, an increase in its value doesn’t seem to help you in any real way, since to realize that gain you’d have to sell it. But then you’d have to buy or rent another place to live, which would also cost more. It seems like the only concrete effect of a rising housing market for most homeowners is an increase in their insurance costs. Am I missing something?

In: 1833

22 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The housing prices literally saved my house this year. I had what I thought was winter storm damage to my gutters and soffits. Had a contractor out and found out that it was way worse than I thought. No drip edge had ever been installed on the roof way before I ever bought the house. It wasn’t caught on any inspection. So water had been destroying the fascia boards. I need a new roof, fascia and gutters. I’ve only had my house 6 years. I didn’t have enough equity to pay for a $13,000 roof. My home owners insurance would have dropped me and I wouldn’t be able to get insurance which means that my mortgage would default since I’m required to carry home owners. I would have lost my house. I called my mortgage company and they had it reappraised. My house in 2015 appraised for $55,000. This year it appraised for $102,000. I was able to refinance for $72,000, pay for the whole roof and pay off some credit cards and other bills. My mortgage went up less than the amount of bills I paid off were every month so I came out ahead. I got incredibly lucky that the storm revealed the damage when it did. It could have happened two years ago before housing went up and I would have been screwed. The problem was going to reveal itself eventually, no matter what. If it had happened later, it would have been more costly, with damage in the walls or ceilings. I got so lucky and I never get lucky like that. I’m so grateful it happened right now.

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