This November, we are focusing on gratitude. We are thankful to be REALTORS® because we facilitate people becoming homeowners and homeownership has so many positive impacts!
Evidence in multiple studies shows that home ownership “boosts the educational performance of children, induces higher participation in civic and volunteering activity, improves health care outcomes, lowers crime rate and lessens welfare dependency.”*
Why is home ownership connected to higher civic participation and volunteering activity? Some of it might be attributed to the fact that people who own homes move less frequently than renters. The longer you live in a community, the more you are invested in it. It can change your perspective from, “I am just here for a couple years, so that doesn’t affect me” to “I want to go to the City Planning meeting at City Hall because I care about what developments and new businesses are opening down the street from me.”
Ask anyone who has become a homeowner how their perspective changed when they stopped being a renter and became a homeowner and they will have a story! Suddenly, you see your community through a different lens.
We can all agree that volunteering at food pantries, schools, churches, and other organizations is a good thing.
We‘d love for you to join us this month in focusing on gratitude. We can be grateful for small things (an extra hour of sleep) or a good cup of coffee in the morning, as well as the big things like family, friends, good health, and a city that we love to live in.
Source: * Yun, Lawrence and Evangelou, Nadia. “Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing”, The Journal of the Center for Real Estate Studies
