The High Cost of a Home Is Turning American Millennials into the New Serfs
Millennial here.<p>I actively <i>don&#x27;t want to own</i>. I don&#x27;t want to have to worry about paying for my own maintenance or landscaping. I rent a townhouse in the suburbs, and I&#x27;m perfectly happy with it. I guess I kinda split the difference between the &quot;stereotypical Millennial&quot; and the reality the article points out: I prefer living in the burbs, but I don&#x27;t want to own.<p>Here&#x27;s something that happened to me last month: something in my downstairs toilet broke, and it caused the toilet to repeatedly fill up its tank and dump it on the floor. Imagine my shock when I came downstairs to find that the carpet on a third of my first floor was soaked through, with the bathroom having a few inches of standing water. What did I do? I pulled out my phone and called the leasing office, telling them I had a plumbing emergency. Within an hour, the maintenance guy was here, and he fixed my toilet at ho cost to me. He also told me he was sending for a guy with a wetvac. An hour later, the carpet cleaner showed up to wetvac the carpet and replace the padding, again at no cost to me.<p>Also, in the past I&#x27;ve had several problems with my air conditioner. I&#x27;ve had the fan die, I&#x27;ve had the AC unit die, I&#x27;ve had the internal AC unit start dripping water on the carpet. All of those times, I just called the leasing office, and they sent someone out to fix it at no cost to me. Meanwhile, one of my friends who owns his own house has ranted on Facebook several times about how his AC problems are bankrupting him, and he&#x27;s already sunk five figures into replacing stuff.<p>Why would I <i>ever</i> want to own when I get free maintenance and don&#x27;t have to worry about a down payment?