While the Dow Jones Average and S&P give us daily updates on how much we lost or gained in the stock market, the same can’t be said for real estate.

We don’t usually find out how much our investment in a home has made us until it comes time to sell. But rest assured, here in Lake Oswego, you are most likely making money while you sleep.

Here are a few new insights into that asset known as home ownership in Lake Oswego.

1. On average, homeowners have 40 times the net worth of renters. That’s according to the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances put out by the Federal Reserve Board. In 2016, the average net worth of a homeowner in the United States was $246,200 compared to $5,300 for a renter. That climbed to $255,000 in 2019 for homeowners while renters inched up to $6,300. With mortgage rates at historic lows, it might be a good time for renters to consider buying a home.
2. Real estate is the most favored long-term investment among Americans and has been considered as such since 2013. Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed in a recent Gallup poll placed real estate ahead of stocks at 21%, savings at 17% and gold at 16%.  
3. Owning a home actually forces you to save. Each month that mortgage payment goes towards increasing the equity you own in your home and thereby increasing your net worth. CoreLogic, a leading property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider released their Home Equity Report for the second quarter of 2020 and reported that the overall equity for homeowners with mortgages increased by 6.6% over the past year. Lake Oswegans did better than that! Their equity increased by 7.5%. And while Oregonian homeowners in general, experienced a $9,000 average year-over-year gain, Lake Oswegans enjoyed a $67,800 average gain. Like I said earlier, you were making money in your sleep!
4. You may have more equity in your home than you realize. Since there is no daily real estate equivalent to the S&P Index, it’s hard to know how much your home is increasing in worth day-to-day. That’s where meeting with a licensed professional Realtor like myself can provide an accurate picture of the equity you have to work with and what that might mean moving forward. You may want to use that increased equity to help you move into a bigger home, a newer one or one with more amenities.
5. Unlike owning stock, owning a home pays dividends in more ways than increasing your net worth. Particularly during COVID-19, we’ve all come to realize how important having a place to call home is. While it’s hard to put a dollar value on that, it’s definitely a piece of the pie we call “peace of mind.”

Feel free to give me a call at 503.939.9801 to find out how much money you are earning in your sleep if you’re a current homeowner. I’m happy to meet with you and provide you with a comparative market analysis, showing you the hard data that points to what your home is worth. If you’re currently renting and would like to explore how you can enter the home buying market, let’s talk. I can help you arrive at a realistic picture of what you can afford and where those homes are in and around Lake Oswego and the Portland metro area. Check out my website and see what my clients have to say about me. I’ve been a Realtor for over 30 years and would love to put that experience to work for you!