house vs. home and hospitality as (financial and spiritual) stewardship

A useful article from Arthur Brooks in The Atlantic on the “home” purpose of a house– as part of his series of essays on happiness…

For Christians, it comes back to stewardship. If you have a house, is it a home for your family? And if it’s a home for your family, is it a place of ministry and hospitality to others? (If not, why not? And what can you do to avoid “wicked and lazy servant” when you give an account of your stewardship?)

More broadly, the choice to buy a house is often sold in blinkered financial terms– with renting imagined as “pouring money down a hole”. Well, yes, but you pour a ton of money down a hole in buying a house: insurance, property taxes, maintenance, realtor fees, and interest (all of which are embedded in rent). To note: If you get a 30-year loan and move after 5-10 years, you pour *much* more money down a hole by buying a house.