Counter arguement to "Visualize student home ownership"

The missive which follows was an email I received making some

points against my "Visualize student home ownership" column,
as follows:
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Here I was thinking that you were one of the more intelligent folks in the
Daily's roster, and then you come up with some harebrained ideas.

First it was that "let's not evacuate when there's a bomb scare" thing.
Personally, I'd rather myself or my kid feel foolish that they fell for the
fake bomb scare than feel a chunk of shrapnel if it just happened for once
to be real.

Now, you're advocating home ownership for college students.

Most of the folks I know with both a college degree and massive
bankruptcy-inducing debt began their credit and money troubles in college.
Yeah, credit is easier to get in college, I remember the credit card
companies practically handing out cards with ridiculous limits on the
premise that the student would be able to handle the payments with the
six-figure income they would undoubtably command upon graduation.

Financial responsibility wasn't in the cards for most of those folks.  Max out the
cards, make the minimum payments, and upon graduation student loans come
due, those minimum payments grow exponentially (student interest rates
having expired) and way too often that six-figure income just ain't there.
Of all the folks I went to college with "back in the day" (and I'm not
saying just what day that was), I can only think of one or two that would
have been responsible enough to handle home ownership while still in
college.

Beyond that, I just can't imagine groups of them buying houses together.
Look at the trouble groups of students renting together have - hey, I don't
really have all of this months rent right now.  Can my boyfriend crash here
for a few weeks until he finds another place?  Hey, who ate all my food?

Put on top of that the concerns about general maintenance, or major house
repairs, and you've got a stew of trouble.  What if one wants to pull out,
and the others can't afford to "buy him out"?  Or if one causes enough
trouble to warrant eviction - how do you evict someone from the house they
own?  Talk about a legal mess.

What about after graduation?  What if they all go their separate ways - and
end up with a house that they might not be able to sell?  Do they then
become absentee landlords?  Not everyone has cousins or siblings that would
want to go to the same college.

Looking at the foreclosure crisis, at the large-scale credit and bankruptcy
problem, that is part of the financial landscape of this country, it would
be completely irresponsible of banks or other financial institutions to make
it easier to increase potential problems.

Most of the older housing stock that would be affordable to students requires so much work and
rehabilitation, that either it won't get done - and the house will fall into
further disrepair - or the students will need to stack debt upon debt to get
wiring updated, new roofing, new furnace or water-heater.  When you rent, if
your roof leaks you call the landlord, and if he doesn't fix it, you can
move.

If it's your own house, and you don't have the money and can't get a
loan to fix it, then what?  If you rent, and the basement drain backs up on
New Years Eve which happens to be on a Friday, you call the landlord, and he
or she arranges for the plumber to come and fix it, and often it's someone
they use regularly.  If you own the house, you'll need to find a plumber
who's willing to come out on a weekend holiday, be prepared to pay both
weekend and holiday rates, and perhaps have to come up with cash for it if
it's a plumber you've never used before.  Yeah, I've been there.

After 4 years of renting, as long as a student is relatively careful and
doesn't go crazy on student credit cards, he or she will be left with a
degree, a clean rental history, a decent starting credit score, and a
manageable debt load.  Better than a crappy property and high debt.
There's lots more than a damage deposit to lose.

[Female name deleted by JOHNNY NORTHSIDE]

Former home owner, current renter

Anoka

PS - I'm not a student, I'm just a not so old broad who reads the Daily
daily to keep up on current events and our future leaders.