I don’t know the statistics, but in my experience most former homeowners would rather own than rent. They are only renting because, for one reason or another, a mortgage is not available to them.
From everything we have all read about foreclosures and short sales over the past few years, millions of these former homeowners are now renting, but not because they want to. Many should never have owned a home, but many are not homeowners because of loss of jobs, health reasons, divorce and other reasons over which they had no control.
I am in the process of doing a mortgage for Jeff. He lost a home a few years earlier, after a pretty tough divorce, as he described it. In the divorce settlement, his ex-wife ended up with the home. The divorce decree was specific that he was to be held harmless for the mortgage payments. Unfortunately, many divorce lawyers don’t understand that the words hold harmless are a waste of letters on a page.
The ex-wife defaulted on the loan, which affected Jeff’s credit and made him unable to purchase another home. This was the only thing outstanding on the credit report and three years had gone by since the completion of the foreclosure. I had spoken to him many times over the last few years, as he wanted to buy a home, but no financing was available to him, but now I was able to do a preapproval for him.
He will make an excellent homeowner and great neighbor.
This article has a different point of view:
