I think the point here is "to each their own", and there shouldn't be such a thing as "the" American dream, or rather that the American dream is for every person to live their life exactly as they want.
My wife and I would not give up owning our house for anything, and would never go back to renting. I pride myself in being able to make minor repairs to all kinds of things around the house, and seeing them as fun engineering challenges rather than burdensome responsibilities. My wife loves gardening and needs plenty of yard space for planting.
Most of all (and I may be in the minority here), I really value peace and quiet, and true peace and quiet can only be achieved in a detached house, and preferably even with some generous distance from the next house.
If I think back to living in an apartment, I was super easily annoyed by any noise made by neighbors, including pounding footsteps, loud music, screaming children, barking dogs, etc.
Of course the house we own isn't exorbitantly large, or not larger than what we need it for, but even if we'll need to "downsize" at some point in the future, it will be to another detached house, and not an apartment.
> I really value peace and quiet, and true peace and quiet can only be achieved in a detached house
Irony: one of the few reasons I continue to put up with the hassle of homeownership is that it affords me the freedom to play music as loud as I like, as late at night as I please, without irritating my neighbors.
Good for you for being mindful of other people's desire to live without noise. There should definitely be more of this mindset in apartment buildings and other communal spaces.
And to clarify, I like to play music too, sometimes very loudly. It's just when I don't have control of the noise that I have a problem.
My wife and I would not give up owning our house for anything, and would never go back to renting. I pride myself in being able to make minor repairs to all kinds of things around the house, and seeing them as fun engineering challenges rather than burdensome responsibilities. My wife loves gardening and needs plenty of yard space for planting.
Most of all (and I may be in the minority here), I really value peace and quiet, and true peace and quiet can only be achieved in a detached house, and preferably even with some generous distance from the next house. If I think back to living in an apartment, I was super easily annoyed by any noise made by neighbors, including pounding footsteps, loud music, screaming children, barking dogs, etc.
Of course the house we own isn't exorbitantly large, or not larger than what we need it for, but even if we'll need to "downsize" at some point in the future, it will be to another detached house, and not an apartment.