History Of Home Ownership
As we celebrate the benefits and freedoms of homeownership this week, let’s take a step back and consider just how steeped in American history the American Dream really is. After all, the pursuit of liberty, the notion that individuals, and not an empire, should own their own property is as old as the nation itself.
The fact of the matter is – when America was just getting started, there was little else holding our foundling nation together but the land itself. It’s no wonder then that the Declaration of Independence guaranteed citizens the right to own and sell real property. The American Dream was born. If you wanted to claim your piece of it, you cleared your own land, cut your own timber, and built your own home.
By the mid-19th century, Congress created homestead acts and other laws to bring more order to the process, and Real Estate became a real industry. One with a pretty shady reputation.
That all changed in 1908 when a businessman named Edward Sanderson Judd realized that a professional organization was needed to create standards that would ensure customers received a fair deal. Judd gathered 120 “Real Estate Men” in Chicago, and THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORs® was born. The group spent its early years developing a code of ethics and educating REALTORS®, so they could better educate and serve their clients. By the end of World War I, the REALTORS®’ next mission was born – to promote the benefits of home ownership.
Ironically, it took the Great Depression to get Congress on board politically, and create the necessary programs to make home ownership available to the people. But the real home building boom was still years, and a World War, from becoming reality.
The American dream was taking off, but not for everyone. The civil rights movement eventually forced the nation to take a hard look at itself, and in 1968, Congress passed the landmark Fair Housing Act, ensuring that all Americans received the right to enjoy the benefits of owning their own homes.
More than 40 years later, through periods of massive social, cultural, political and economic change, one thing has remained a constant, and it always will. Home ownership has made an indelible impression on the very fabric of America.
To learn more about the history of home ownership in the US, and the key role that REALTORS® have played in it, check out the NAR’s special centennial video by clicking here
