The overlooked life stage: homeownership

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Life is a rollercoaster ride of experiences and emotions. Thousands of factors that tug your heartstrings. There’s no shortage of great writing about the macro and micro stages of life. But for today, I want to focus on one important life stage that is often overlooked.

The usual suspects:

• Education 👩‍🎓: From grade school to high school to college, we spend the first ~20 years of life investing in our own brainpower and learning the ins and outs of life.
• Career 👨‍💼: Locking in your first gig is a huge step toward financial stability. The opportunity to excel in your career (and as a human) is yours for the taking.
• Marriage ❤️: Finding the perfect life partner to ride the rollercoaster with- the highs and the lows.
• Parenthood 👶: While bringing humans into the world isn’t for everyone, there isn’t a more challenging or rewarding thing you’ll encounter in your days on earth. (👋 hey Atlas)
• Retirement 🏝: You did it! It's time to revisit your goals and navigate these unchartered waters. The warmer climate sounds nice, doesn’t it?

What’s missing?‍

I’ll give you a few hints. It’s the biggest investment you’ll ever make, the headquarters for your life, and the place you spend 62% of your time (not counting the time spend sleeping). Any guesses? Yep, the missing life stage is:

• Homeownership 🏠: There’s probably an argument that buying a home is simply a milestone, but it’s much more than that. The place you call home is an underlying constant throughout life.

Why homeownership matters

• A place that signifies your hard work and financial discipline
• A place to unwind, recharge, and take care of your mental health
• A place to foster relationships and make memories
• A place that builds wealth for your future while you enjoy it
• A place that’s yours, and only yours (paint those walls!)

Tools to level up your homeowner game

Buying your first home: Gravy is a free app that helps renters prepare for homeownership. It’s a one-stop-shop for saving a down payment, building credit, accessing homebuyer education, and ultimately buying your first house.

My favorite part is that you earn rewards towards your future house while saving up. The rewards can lead a huge savings and can be redeemed with any lender or agent in Gravy’s first-time homebuyer network.

Disclosure: I am a co-founder at Gravy, and thankful to be working with a talented team on a mission to make homeownership more accessible to renters 🙌

Maintaining your home: Super is a modern spin on home warranties, created to protect you from costly repairs. Armed with really good technology, it’s a great option to get some peace of mind when owning a home.

For home improvement projects, Thumbtack is tough to beat. They offer a huge marketplace to find quality professionals for everything from painting your accent wall to assembling that new Ikea furniture.

Tracking your home value and equity: Redfin’s Home Worth tool is my go-to for tracking a home’s value, making it simple to see the return on investment of your real estate purchase. While you’re getting value and shelter every day, it’s nice to track the numbers too.

I like the NerdWallet calculator which easily calculates how much you’d potentially qualify for on a home equity loan. It’s quick, directionally accurate, and a good place to start if you’re exploring a home equity loan.