Do-it-yourselfers do it themselves regardless of whether they own or rent: A philosophical take.

Do-it-yourselfers do it themselves regardless of whether they own or rent.

As long as I can remember, the American dream was to arrive at that place in life where you were able to own that home surrounded in the front by a picket fence. However, since the housing bubble a few years back, the housing market, interest rates, and the economy have called that dream into question. More and more people found it necessary to rent, because they could no longer meet the requirements for homeownership and nor were many folks willing to take the risk associated with owning a home - the American dream began to lose it luster.

Renting

In sort of an unintended way, many folks who were always busy and didn’t have a lot of time to maintain their homes discovered an alternative to owning a home. Renting became a convenient lifestyle. If you rent, in most cases, major services are the responsibility of the landlord. If the heating or air conditioning breaks down, or the plumbing or roof leaks, it is no doubt an inconvenience, but both the having to coordinate the repair and the economic burden belongs to the landlord. In addition, many rental communities also have wonderful amenities; gyms, cooking classes, lectures, and other community services for their residents.

Homeownership

There can be, of course, financial benefits to ownership. Condo living is that financial step up from apartment living with a minimal increase in responsibilities. You may be the kind of person that prefers not hearing the elevator or a door slam each time a neighbor comes home. There is always that major step up to owning home, particularly in terms of responsibility. It is all yours, especially if you are into roof repairs, replacing hot water heaters as necessary, maintaining heating and air conditioning, driveways and walkways, and other major appliances perhaps--homeownership is for you.

Having a backyard and space between you and your neighbor may be a good thing, many folks also rent homes, especially if you are into gardening and maintaining a manicured yard—but again, as a renter, it can be the landlord’s problem.

Do-it-yourself

Most do-it-yourselfers do it themselves because they find the projects they tackle both challenging and satisfying, regardless of whether or not they own the place in which they live. It is also a fact that living is costly and we all wish to save money--doing-it-yourself saves money.

Whether you live in an apartment or own a home your abode needs to be decorated, painted, and cleaned. As more and more people began to rent, and renters began to consider their apartments as homes, renters began to invest in personalizing apartments in ways that had been typically left for homes that were owned. I think as a consequence the sophisticated skills of do-it-yourselfer, once the provenance of the homeowner, have now become ubiquitous.

Tools and Skills

For the most part, the tools necessary to decorate and the skills required to do-it-yourself are the same. Walls need to be painted and decorated. Shelves need to be put up straight and level. If you like to garden as I do, most apartments today have a patio or a deck and instead of a yard and lawn, you can take up container gardening.

Moral of the Story

Obviously home owners are responsible for everything, and they may, if they have the desire and skills, choose to tackle major problems such as leaking pipes and roofs, repairing driveways and walkways, and designing and maintaining landscape. There is, however, something to be said about not having those responsibilities.

Today, with advent of the style of apartment-home living, the do-it-yourselfer regardless of whether they rent or own, needs many of the same tools and skills that had previously been the provenance of the traditional homeowner.