Space for entertaining.

娛樂空間。

Acres of land to call your own.

屬於你的幾畝地。

These were characteristics of the American dream home.

美國人夢想中的房子也就如此這般。

But is it still a dream worth chasing?

但這真的還是值得大家追求的夢想嗎？

Should you buy a home or rent?

你應該買房還是租房呢？

We're here at the White House at 6 Woods Lane in Easthampton Long Island.

我們現在位於長島東漢普頓六伍茲巷的白舍。

You could own this place for the list price of $12.5 million.

你只要出建議售價 1250 萬美金 (約台幣 3 億 8700 萬) 就能擁有這棟房子。

With a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of 3.991% interest, you'd pay nearly $47000 a month.

按照利息 3.991% 的 30 年固定利率抵押貸款，你每個月需要付將近 4 萬 7000 美金 (約台幣 146 萬)。

And that's not including closing costs, home ownership insurance, or property taxes.

那還不包含房屋交易手續費、房屋保險，或房地產稅。

Now, this kind of place might be a little pricey for you, but the same principles apply at much lower levels when you're considering whether to rent or buy a home.

這種價位對你來說或許太高了，但當你考慮買房或租房時，同樣的規則也能套用到價位較低的房屋。

Now, before I break something in here, let's get back to the studio.

在我砸壞這裡的東西前，我們先回去工作室吧！

To buy or not to buy?

買呢？還是不買？

That is the question.

這問題值得思考。

We polled our YouTube audience, and they had a lot to say.

我們讓 YouTube 觀眾投票，他們有很多種想法。

One person said owning a house should not be thought of as an investment.

一個人說，擁有一件房產不該被視為是一種投資。

More like something between an asset and a liability.

比較有可能游走於資產和負債之間。

Someone else shared a pretty common sentiment these days that student loans would prevent them from ever buying a home.

別的人則是有感而發，認為學生貸款讓他們永遠不可能買得起房。

Another said abolish private property altogether.

還有人說，乾脆廢除任何私有房地產吧！

But, okay.

不過呢？好吧！

A majority of you think ownership is the way to go, and who can blame them?

絕大多數人還是認為應該擁有房產，這種想法不難理解。

People think of buying a home as part of the American dream.

人們將買房視為美國夢的一部分。

The driver of middle class wealth.

是中產階級追逐財富的驅力。

A sound investment vehicle.

是可靠的投資工具。

Renting a place is less romantic.

租房就 …… 沒那麼吸引人。

Throwing money away every month on a place to rest your head and keep your stuff, but that calculus is changing.

每個月投擲金錢，就為了頭上有個屋頂還有地方放你的東西，但這種想法在改變了。

To help us run down the reasons why you may want to rent and not buy, I spoke to financial planner Roger Ma.

為了釐清租房優於買房的原因，我找來了理財規劃師 Roger Ma。

So, can you tell me why renting is not throwing your money away?

所以，你可以告訴我為什麼租房不是在浪費錢呢？

Well, I think the flip side is why is buying not wasting money?

我覺得可以反向思考，買房為何就不是浪費錢呢？

And I think that's a myth that when you buy, a lot of your money is building equity, but that's just not the case.

我認為，「買房就是花錢建立價值」是一種迷思，事實並非如此。

Your monthly payment, and the upfront, and the backend cost of buying are wasted money as well.

你每月的付款、預付款和買房的後端花費也都是浪費錢。

You've got mortgage interest, homeowners insurance, property taxes, potentially homeowners association fees.

你還有房貸利息、房屋保險、房地產稅，這些潛在的屋主相關費用。

Not to mention the huge closing cost on the front end and the back end.

更不用說前端和後端大筆的房屋交易手續費。

If you don't plan to stay in the same area for at least five years, it probably makes more sense to rent, and that's because of those large closing costs.

如果你沒有預計在一個地方待至少五年，租房就是比較合理的選擇，因為可以免去那些高額手續費。

You need to give your home a sufficient amount of time to potentially increase in value.

你的房屋要先放一段足夠的時間才能增加潛在價值。

I feel like the generation now growing is maybe more likely to be on the move.

我感覺現在新一代年輕人比較可能到處遷移。

Definitely.

沒錯。

Between the ages of 22 and 40, the average person changes jobs every one to two years, so they're changing a fair amount.

年紀介於 22 至 40 歲之間的年輕人平均每一兩年就會換一份工作，所以變化很大。

So, I think having the flexibility to change jobs could be reasons to rent instead of buy.

所以我想，換工作的彈性可以是選擇租房而非買房的原因之一。

And that's okay.

那也是沒問題的。

There's no shame in renting, and if you look around the United States, depending on where you live, it might actually be more affordable.

租房沒什麼丟臉的，而且你若是看看美國各地，取決於你住的區域，租房或許其實是比較負擔得起的。

ATTOM Data Solutions publishes a yearly affordability index of buying verse renting.

ATTOM Data Solutions 公佈了一項數據，比較買房和租房的年購買力指數。

And in most places, 59% to be exact, real estate prices are outpacing rentals.

而在大多數地方，確切來說是 59%，房地產價格都在不停超越租房價格。

In fact, in all 18 of the most populous counties in America, it's more affordable to rent than buy.

事實上，在美國前 18 個人口最多的縣市，租房都比買房要容易負擔。

Let's be real.

我們說實在話。

For a lot of people, the choice of renting verse buying may not even be yours, especially if you're young.

大多數人或許根本用不到考慮租房還是買房，尤其是年輕族群。

I talked to Bloomberg reporter Patrick Clark about the unique problems facing potential home buyers.

我和彭博社記者 Patrick Clark 談了潛在房產購買人會面臨的特別難題。

Let's talk about the unique hindrances that maybe new home buyers might face.

我們來談談買新房的人或許會面臨的一些特別阻礙。

There's not enough homes they can afford.

沒有足夠的房屋是他們買得起的。

Right?

真的嗎？

Sure.

真的。

That would be a big problem.

這是個大問題。

At the very most basic, there's an affordability gap.

最根本上來看，有個購買力落差。

A decade after the foreclosure crisis, we're still building homes.

抵押品贖回權喪失危機後的十年內，我們依舊持續建房。

Not just of where they were at the peak bubble madness, but still below the number of new homes that we were adding in the mid '90s.

不只是泡沫危機最巔峰時的，但還是比我們在 90 年代中期建設的少。

The construction that is happening has been skewed towards the high end.

那些建設都被轉往高端。

That is sort of pressured on the other side by maybe age, people growing older and maybe not moving out of their homes.

這也對那些較年長的、不願意搬家的人造成壓力。

There's two different ways you can get listings, right?

要上市有兩種不同方法，對吧？

You could build new homes or you can have homes that were already occupied, hit the market.

你可以蓋新屋，或是你可以買下已經被人所有的屋子，就可以上市了。

There's some question of whether people want to stay in their own homes and "age in place".

還有問題是，人們是否想待在自己家安享晚年。

Older people staying in their homes longer is an issue, so there's some gridlock in the housing market.

年長者留守在他們的房屋裡是個問題，造成房屋市場僵局。

This generation is now saddled with more burdens than previously was the case.

新一代的還有更多前一代沒有的負擔。

Like way more.

多得多了。

There's more than $1.5 trillion of student loan debt outstanding.

嚇人的，有 1.5 兆美金學生貸款債務。

Yikes.

太恐怖了。

The deck is certainly stacked against this generation.

這一代人肯定是有比較難走的路。

But that long standing elusive goal of home ownership seems so tempting.

但是「擁有自己的房產」這個遙不可及的目標實在是太誘人了。

All in all, I'd have to put it this way: If you have your heart set on home ownership, nobody's going to stand in your way.

總之呢，我只能說：如果你已經下定決心要買房，沒有人會阻止你。

But you probably don't need to sweat it too much either if you don't.

但如果你沒這種期望，也別太費神想這事了。

That was probably expensive.

那大概很貴。