THE AMERICAN DREAM IS DEAD. OWNING A HOME IN 2025? | Let's Get Real Ep. 13

THE AMERICAN DREAM IS DEAD. OWNING A HOME IN 2025? F*CK THAT.

The "white picket fence" fantasy is BLEEDING YOU DRY. At $400,000 average home cost and 6.67% interest rates, you're looking at $3,000+ monthly for what exactly? A financial prison.

In this raw, unfiltered episode of Let's Get Real, we shatter the post-WWII propaganda that's been force-fed to generations. Owning isn't the golden ticket—it's financial suicide for most Americans right now.

Rent is HALF the cost. The math isn't complicated, but your emotions are getting in the way.

• Why home ownership is NOT for everyone
• The 7-year rule nobody tells you about
• How to actually live the life YOU want, not the one society prescribed

Whether you've got kids in diapers or you're a digital nomad, this is the wake-up call your wallet needs.

Drop the emotions. Face reality. Make decisions that actually serve YOUR life.

Watch now: https://youtu.be/d6sqrqT4H7Q More brutal financial truth: nobswealth.com

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

Transcript

Intro: Why We’re Even Having This Conversation

Stoy 0:00

The American dream to own a home white picket fence, all that crazy stuff that we always talk about. But is that really what we should be doing in 2025? Really? Is that what we should be doing right now in this decade? I don't know. Let's dive into it. So currently right now, the average cost of a home in America is around $400,000. I know a lot of people could never afford $400,000, let alone. Trying to even think they can own a home. Right. So let's, let's talk about that $400,000. What does that equate to in terms of a whole mortgage? Well, the average interest rate right now, as of whatever date this is coming out in April, is 6.67%. Now, that is relatively low for the average in the history. However, pretty damn high compared to what I have. I

Home Costs and Mortgage Reality Check

Stoy 0:45

have a, I think we have a. 3, 2, 5, or a 2, 2 9, somewhere in there. Now that's free money. However, at 6.67, it is not, which equates to about a $2,700, uh, mortgage payment, which does not equate for your upkeep, your taxes, your insurance, et cetera. So now we're talking about well over $3,000 a month for a home. Think about that. Is that even feasible? Is that doable? Well, let's flip over to the rent side. Rent right now is tracking at about half of that, think it's about $1,300 for average rent, uh, in America now. Hey people calm down. You're gonna tell me. Well, I live in LA and it's like triple that and I live in middle of nowhere North or South Dakota or Montana, and it's way less than that. Yes, every everyone's area is gonna differ and we'll talk about what your steps are to take action, but that's kind of where we're at now, 3000 to 1300. Give or a take. That's a very easy math and financial decision to make. But now how do we fight the emotions? And where did this all come from? Remember you, you were raised and everyone says, Hey, own a home. It's the best thing you can do. It's the American dream, yada, yada, yada. Well, that stemmed from post World War ii, uh, where we were giving a lot of our, our GA's, uh, gis.

Rent vs Buy: Breaking Down the Math

Stoy 2:00

With the GI bill. Um, FHA loans were coming out. All of that was pushed to get home ownership driven, back up. Downside to all that, there's still redlining, right? So think about that. There's still the redlining going on, therefore, really it was pushed for the whites and everyone else. Well, good luck. Uh, you're gonna rent from slumlords, if you will. And so now we've got this generation thinking, these generations thinking, oh, I need to buy a home. It's the best thing ever. And I'm here to tell you it's not. I've said this in previous episodes, think either on no BS or even on Let's Get Real, and that that fact is. Owning a home is not the best investment you can do. It is not for everyone. And I'm here to tell you why. Why one right now it's more expensive to own a home than to rent. Two. If you don't use the equity in

The Psychological Trap of "The American Dream"

Stoy 2:45

your home in the long term, you're also gonna lose out on money and it's not going to be worth as much as you think it is in the long term. And three, what type of life do you wanna live? That should actually be number one. Let's back up. That's just number one. Number one, what type of life do you wanna live? What brings you joy? What if you're a person that is never gonna have children or loves to travel, or wants to move because of their job every few years, or hell is in the military, can you really reach down and just have roots planted in one home that you're gonna be there for more than seven years? By the way, you gotta stay in a home for about more than seven years. For it to, for you to get the appreciation and for it to make financial sense. Otherwise, it's essentially a loss lead. So you tell me, are you that person or not? You gotta determine that for yourself. And there's a great tool out there, nerd

Why Redlining Still Echoes Today

Stoy 3:30

Ball. It has one, it's a rent versus buy calculator. Pretty awesome, right? You get to type in where you live, you get to type in your information, all of that, and it'll. Spit out, um, a nice little rent versus buy calculator in your area or the area where you want to live at, so you can use those. The second piece is what, how do you wanna live your life? I know I pounded on that a little earlier, but ultimately you need to understand how you want to live, not what others are telling you, not. You know what, maybe not even be financially. The best thing ever is you need to live, learn how you want to live.

Is Homeownership REALLY an Investment?

Stoy 4:00

So if you wanna own a home, settle roots, build that whole American dream that way. Cool. If you wanna rent, save your money. Travel. Uh, buy expensive items, or not even expensive items and just rent and move more often, then do that too. That's okay. And if you're one of my clients or people that I give advice to, ultimately I'm saying, yeah, let's go with the renting route for now, it makes the most sense unless you are wanting to have those roots in place. Hell, my wife and I, we, we've looked at moving to Hawaii. Denver, um,

Lifestyle First: Rent If You Value Flexibility

Stoy 4:30

Phoenix all over there. We did that for the last two years and it doesn't make any sense for us to move from here to Denver. Um, where our best friends live, it would be double for a smaller home. Well, we got two grown boys. We kind of need our, our room, but we all love to travel too. We go to Hawaii almost every year. We go to national parks every year. The boys have sports and that's expensive. And we travel all the time for that too. And ultimately we know that as a family. So we did buy, I would, if I was buying now, we started this whole thing and journey. Now I would rent. However, we did buy, we got in a low rate and now we're not moving because we are. Kind of locked into that too. And that's another point. If you get stuck into your rate or stuck into your home, it's very tough to get out as well. So think about all of those things when you're thinking about rent and first buying specifically in 2025. Mind you, when this comes out, we may or may not be in a recession. Um, I'm gonna have to do a quick video on that at some point. But just have cashflow, flexibility specifically right now. And the best way to do that is to rent.

Stoy’s Personal Story: Family, Travel, and Smart Choices

Stoy 5:30

Yeah. Rental rental rates are going up as well, because they can, but ultimately you need to have that flexibility. So you tell me, do you wanna rent? Do you wanna buy? I could not imagine starting over right now, kids in diapers and trying to figure out where to live again. Woo.