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^^^ One, I am sorry you went through that and, two, I have no doubt (absolutely none) that you made the best decisions you could before and after.
What I think HH is referencing is that the narrative around housing - from, yes, The Boys in Marketing to, yes, the government's non-stop promotion (special programs, dedicated agencies, incredible tax benefits, etc.) - of what a great investment it is / how you should "stretch" to get the most house you can / how it is part of "The American Dream" / blah, blah, blah., encourages many people to over-extend when they buy a house.
The problem is that many people stretch too far and over-leverage themselves (many misunderstand how incredibly risky leverage is) so that they end up very exposed to any personal financial crisis or house price decline. As with most things in life, it's a balance of risk and potential reward, but the narrative is so powerful that most people over estimate the reward and under estimate the risk.
Unfortunately, that drives up the price of houses (there is an argument that because it operates at a nation-wide, all-encompassing level, all the gov't programs and actions to help people buy houses simply net out as they increase the aggregate demand for housing, thus, driving up the price nationally which means, for example, you pay more for a house than you would if the gov't didn't let you and everyone else deduct the mortgage payment) and forces the prudent, conservative home buyer to either stretch or settle for a very modest home for their income bracket.
What I think HH is referencing is that the narrative around housing - from, yes, The Boys in Marketing to, yes, the government's non-stop promotion (special programs, dedicated agencies, incredible tax benefits, etc.) - of what a great investment it is / how you should "stretch" to get the most house you can / how it is part of "The American Dream" / blah, blah, blah., encourages many people to over-extend when they buy a house.
The problem is that many people stretch too far and over-leverage themselves (many misunderstand how incredibly risky leverage is) so that they end up very exposed to any personal financial crisis or house price decline. As with most things in life, it's a balance of risk and potential reward, but the narrative is so powerful that most people over estimate the reward and under estimate the risk.
Unfortunately, that drives up the price of houses (there is an argument that because it operates at a nation-wide, all-encompassing level, all the gov't programs and actions to help people buy houses simply net out as they increase the aggregate demand for housing, thus, driving up the price nationally which means, for example, you pay more for a house than you would if the gov't didn't let you and everyone else deduct the mortgage payment) and forces the prudent, conservative home buyer to either stretch or settle for a very modest home for their income bracket.
