How important is owning your own home? In many countries being able to buy your own piece of land and build your dream home on it is the desire of the heart. Just to own a house of your own, is your piece of heaven. My home is my castle is a common English saying and very true across the English speaking world. Many people will strive all their working lives just to have that prestige of say ‘I am a homeowner’. Buying a home is one of the largest and most expensive financial outputs that people will have during their lifetime. It gives people a sense of achievement when they have fulfilled it. At the moment, house prices are once again rising globally. In the European union prices on average have steadily climbed by 2.9%, in the UK it is up 4.3% and in the USA they have increased by 5.7% in 2023. However, Singapore still boasts some of the highest real estate prices globally, averaging over $20,000 per square meter, compared to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia the lowest real estate price in Asia, where property prices range from $2,000 to $3,000 per square meter. The decision to buy should not be taken lightly, it needs serious consideration. In France there is a very unusually way to purchase a house. It is called a ‘viager’ transaction where a person agrees to sell their property to a purchaser in exchange for a down payment, known in France as the “bouquet,” and then a series of payments for as long as the seller is alive. Sellers are often widows or widowers who are in need of a regular source of income after the death of a spouse. Additionally, the seller continues to live in the house for the remainder of their life. It is only when the seller dies that the purchaser is free to take over the property. In essence, the buyer in a viager contract is wagering on the remaining lifespan of the seller. If the buyer defaults, the seller retains the down payment, all of the monthly payments up to that point, and ownership of the property. For buyers, viagers offer the draw of a home purchase at reduced rates. In addition, buyers pay no interest on the property, and if the seller dies earlier than expected, buyers get an even bigger discount. The risk is that the seller lives longer than expected, in which case the buyer must pay more. The story is told of André-François Raffray, in 1965, Raffray, a lawyer in the southern French city of Arles, thought he had hit on the real-estate version of a sure thing. The 47-year-old had signed a contract to buy an apartment from one of his clients “en viager”. His client, Jeanne Calment, was 90 and sprightly for her age; she liked to surprise people by leaping from her chair at the hairdresser. But still, it couldn’t be long: Raffray just had to pay her around $500 a month and wait for her to die. Unfortunately for Raffray he never got to live in the house. Raffray died in 1995, aged 77, by which time Calment was 120 and one of the most famous women in France. She outlived him by 2 years but also her own immediate family her husband, daughter and grandson were long dead. At 122, hers was the oldest validated human lifespan in history. Mr Raffray presumed that he had found a sure thing in life. The apostle James warns against the sin of presumption in James chapter 4 v 13, 15. “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” None of us know what tomorrow will bring, it is all in God’s hands and therefore we should seek his blessing on our tomorrows.
P. Pilgrim pilgrimway101@yahoo.com
