In “The Owner-Renter Divide: America’s Caste System,” Portland’s own Russell Shaw laments the renter’s precarious position in today’s economic ecosystem. Writing at The Huffington Post, he says:
There are two Americas: one for property renters and one for property owners. Renters live in a world of arbitrary rules, where ruin is an illness or pink slip away. Owners can be foreclosed on, of course, but we live in a society where purchasers can procure mortgages loans for a couple of pennies on the dollar. The more financially vulnerable renters live in a world of 25% cash advances and 125% payday loans.
Now, we’ve known plenty of renters who are perfectly happy to remain free of the responsibilities of home ownership, and who haven’t had to resort to payday loans, as Mr. Shaw admits he has. So what about you, gentle reader? What, to you, are the benefits of home ownership, or the traps of renting?
