Page 16 - 05_June-2025

PUBLISHER’S NOTE PUBLISHER’S NOTE
POINT | COUNTERPOINT
IN DEFENCE
OF THE
“STARTER
HOME”
I disagree with Omar’s advice in his editor’s
note. He seems to think that a starter home should
be some type of short term economic accelerator. He
points to his parents’ generation — boomers — who he
says all increased their personal net worth with home
equity. And he laments that his first real estate choice
cost him money.
I’m technically a boomer, but closer to the tail end of
that age range that often gets shat on. Omar would have
been a baby, or perhaps not yet conceived, when some
of us boomers were dealing with mortgages that were
renewing at untenable interest rates. And for young
boomers like me, that economic reality hit hard because
we were still in the early career phases and less able to
weather the economic storm of the early ’80s.
So, no Omar, I did not “make money” on my first
starter home either. I say first, because in my 40s I started
again and was able to build equity — sweat equity, in a
really old house in Inglewood. And now in my forever
home — an estate sale 1951 bungalow that has turned
into a beauty with a whole lot more sweat.
I do not regret buying the starter home. And I’ve
watched my own children (who are similar in age to
Omar) make good real estate decisions — different from
one another — but good decisions, nonetheless, for
them as individuals. There is no single right answer.
No sweeping financial advice is right for everyone.
Career and real estate decisions aside, some of us will
experience incredible financial gain and some of us will
feel that prosperity is in a different time zone. As you
16 EDify. JUNE.25
live your life, regretting a past decision has a way of
devaluing what is happening in the present, or what
could happen in the future.
Your first home, whether you own or rent, is where
you begin a phase of life that you only experience once.
You will learn. Those lessons are as much about yourself
and how to navigate life as they are about where to find
the shut-off valve for the water.
Live your life right now. Invite people over, share a
meal or a drink. Make memories. And make your own
decision about whether to rent or buy. For some people,
the starter home is the start of forever.
Trudy Callaghan
Publisher
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