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Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:00
– The American Dream.
00:01
– Oh yeah, is that the one where you’re, like,
00:03
in a classroom, and you have to name
00:04
all the capitals to every state?
00:06
And they’re like, “You’re not American!”
00:07
– No, like the American Dream.
00:09
– Oh, is that the one where you, like, think you’re an extra
00:12
on that TV show The Americans,
00:13
but you keep walking into frame, and someone’s like, “No!”
00:16
– No, like the American Dream,
00:18
white picket fence, huge house, all that.
00:21
– I don’t know, is that, like, still thing?
00:22
– Hm, let’s find out.
00:24
Today we’re diving into why and when buying a house
00:27
became a part of the American Dream.
00:37
Rates of home ownerships throughout the world vary.
00:40
For example, Romania is the top country
00:43
in the globe with 95% of its citizens owning homes.
00:48
– Then you’ve got a place like Switzerland,
00:50
where only 44% of people own their home.
00:53
– The US? We’re at 64.5.
00:56
– It’s interesting to note that the Swiss are kinda known
00:58
for the financial savvy.
01:00
Like, a recent study found that the Swiss save
01:02
17% of their disposable income,
01:05
while Americans only save 5%.
01:08
– They’re so savvy, they even have a knife that does it all.
01:15
– Oh.
01:16
♪ Yes, I have dreams, ♪
01:19
♪ My America told me so. ♪
01:24
♪ But my dreams ain’t cheap ♪
01:28
♪ Just buy a house and I’ll be free ♪
01:32
♪ From debt and mortgages ♪
01:35
♪ And bills keeping up with the Jones ♪
01:36
♪ That are holding ♪
01:38
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
01:39
♪ Yes, you have dreams ♪
01:40
♪ Yes, we have dreams ♪
01:41
♪ But my American Dream ♪
01:44
– The American government and businesses
01:46
have encouraged home ownerships for consumers
01:49
and American citizens for decades.
01:51
In fact, in 1920 there was a day called
01:54
Own Your Home Day that was endorsed
01:57
by the government and businesses.
01:59
Hey, happy Own Your Own Home Day.
02:01
I got you something.
02:03
– Is it a house?
02:05
– No, it’s, it’s a plant.
02:08
– Seriously. Thanks. I love it.
02:09
Between 1940 and 1960, American home ownership soared.
02:14
It went up 18%.
02:15
It went from 43.6 to 61.9%.
02:19
– This was exactly when the idea of buying
02:23
your own home actually became a thing.
02:24
A lot of things were happening.
02:26
Incomes started getting larger.
02:28
The GI Bill of Rights was passed.
02:30
Affordable housing was built.
02:31
There was even innovations in mortgage financing.
02:34
Basically, there was a big cultural push
02:36
for everyone to buy a home.
02:38
Hey, what’d you do this weekend?
02:39
– [Esteban] Bought a house.
02:40
– What’d you do this weekend?
02:42
– [Esteban] I bought a house.
02:43
– Hey, I haven’t seen you in awhile.
02:43
How’d you do this weekend?
02:45
– [Esteban] I bought a house.
02:46
– What about you?
02:47
– [Esteban] I bought a house.
02:47
– Did everyone?
02:49
– [Esteban] I bought a house.
02:52
– Everyone, everyone.
02:55
Everyone bought a house?
02:56
However, a lot of Americans who were black,
02:58
indigenous, or people of color
03:00
did not have those same rights to buy a home.
03:03
And women, specifically unmarried women,
03:05
couldn’t buy a home.
03:06
– So the Federal Housing Administration,
03:08
which was started in 1934, furthered efforts
03:11
in segregation by refusing to give mortgages
03:13
to African American families
03:14
in or near certain neighborhoods.
03:16
This was a practice called redlining.
03:19
At this same time, the FHA subsidized builders
03:22
who were building subdivisions specifically
03:24
for white families with the requirements
03:26
that none of the homes would be sold
03:28
to African Americans.
03:30
– American Dream though, am I right?
03:32
Uh, so bright.
03:34
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
03:36
♪ My America told me so ♪
03:40
So just in 20 years the percentage of home ownership
03:44
raised by 18%.
03:46
Then what happened in the 1960s?
03:48
– It’s the ’60s baby.
03:50
Ha ha! We just go, and go, and go
03:55
with the flow.
03:57
– Well, home ownership stayed around the same
04:00
in the ’60s.
04:01
And yet, the push to buy a house was and is still
04:05
very much alive.
04:06
– Okay, so is buying a house actually a good investment?
04:09
Well, obviously this question is, like,
04:11
really hard to answer and we’re not people to answer.
04:14
Like some people have done really well
04:15
when they bought and sold a house later
04:17
and some people have really suffered.
04:19
– We found this chart that basically shows
04:22
that property value keeps the same pace as inflation.
04:25
Maybe it’s not that good of an investment.
04:28
I don’t know. Maybe?
04:29
– For so long, governments and businesses have just said
04:33
this is a good idea.
04:34
Just telling everyone it is a good idea.
04:36
And finally recently there’s been, like,
04:38
a little bit of pushback.
04:39
There’s even this headline from “The Economist”:
04:41
“Home ownership is the West’s
04:43
“biggest economic policy mistake.”
04:45
What a headline!
04:46
Uh, I don’t want that journalist writing anything about me.
04:49
It’d be like, “Esteban Gast is the biggest
04:51
“Midwest Latin American mistake.”
04:54
– Don’t worry. It’s just one person’s opinion.
04:57
Don’t listen to the haters, America.
04:59
– Yeah, it doesn’t, like, it didn’t even,
05:01
it didn’t even make sense.
05:02
So, I’m fine.
05:03
I’m fine, seriously. I’m fine.
05:05
Why is everyone, why is everyone wondering if I’m,
05:07
I said I was fine.
05:08
The stock market and the housing crash of 2008
05:10
had its origins in 1999.
05:12
In 2001, the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates
05:15
to 1% so it could revive the economy
05:17
after the .com bubble.
05:19
So U.S. government-sponsored lenders
05:20
like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac,
05:23
actually gave loans to people
05:24
who have really low credit scores
05:26
and were high at risk at not paying back their loans.
05:29
How is COVID affecting home buying?
05:32
– Well, the Coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating
05:35
the inequities in America,
05:37
and that is showcased in housing.
05:38
This summer it is one of the best times to buy a house
05:41
for home buyers but one of the worst times to be a renter.
05:45
Americans with money are buying bigger and bigger homes
05:49
while folks who are renting are afraid of being evicted.
05:52
– What’s also a similar situation in 2001,
05:54
interest rates are really low,
05:56
and right now interest rates are around 3%,
05:58
so people are getting loans like it is hot cakes.
06:01
– For many of us, it is starting to question
06:04
these ideas of what it means to be successful
06:07
and where these ideas even come from.
06:09
Who made up these ideas?
06:10
Why are we continuing to believe these ideas?
06:13
– A recent study found that 83% of millennials
06:15
said they were delaying buying a house
06:17
because of burdensome loans.
06:19
Basically, a lot of that is student loans.
06:21
– Another study shows that U.S. households
06:24
are renting more now than in the last 50 years.
06:28
– There’s also a shift in, like, values,
06:30
or the way that we want to live our lives.
06:32
Younger Americans are living in different places.
06:34
We’re just more likely to bounce around apartments
06:36
or homes, so that means we’re less likely to buy.
06:38
Yet despite all of this, there’s still, like,
06:41
that voice in your head that is, like,
06:43
sort of catchy and it sort of goes–
06:46
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
06:48
♪ My America told me so ♪
06:53
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
06:54
♪ I’ve made them for myself ♪
06:56
♪ I’ve made them for myself ♪
06:59
♪ And I would drowned ♪
07:03
♪ I may or may not buy that house ♪
07:08
♪ ‘Cause I have dreams ♪
07:09
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
07:10
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
07:12
♪ And they are for me ♪
07:15
♪ Yes, I have dreams ♪
07:17
♪ My America told me so ♪
07:21
♪ But my dreams ain’t cheap ♪
07:26
♪ Just buy a house and I’ll be free ♪
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
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