Heh, we had to do this ourselves while waiting for our house to sell for a year. We rented out a basement of another house that the family had turned into an apartment to help with mortgage costs. What a great idea, although sucks you'd have to worry about dealing with renters, being "quiet" while living next to someone, etc.

Of course I guess it could be worse - you could be living WITH your extended family like in the article. :lol:

I don't know how long it will be until I buy again. Right now we're renting and it's hard to see any downside. My rent is less than my mortgage was, my rent dollars get me more quality of apartment for the $$ than my mortgage payments bought me of house, i don't have to worry about repairs, appliances, lawn maintenance, etc. The best part is if I ever decide to move, I'm not out thousands of dollars being upside down on a house and waiting 12+ months for it to sell in a crappy market.

I remember the period of time where you wanted to buy a house because mortgage payments were less than rent of an equally-sized apartment, you could build equity, home values were ever-increasing, etc.... nowadays, not so much! :lol:

 

Yes, do not see how this would be a good thing for recovery expected to be made purely by increased consumption.

But over the last 30 years our new home size has increased from 1740 to 2438 square feet so there should be plenty of room to help with those extended families concerns texasPHINSfan pointed out.:lol: Can't need all that room just because we're a lot fatter. And would help pay for all the extra money that had to be spent on furnishings, energy, etc.