Survey: Homeownership is top priority for military veterans

A survey conducted by a large real estate company, Veterans have the desire to own their own homes. 

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that homeownership is a top priority for 75 percent of military families. Among the reasons that becoming a homeowner is so significant to veterans are a desire to have their own residence (73 percent), establishing a household (43 percent) and financial security (36 percent). In addition, the majority of veterans (88 percent) indicated that owning a home makes them feel safer.

Only 33 percent of military families say they look for a home within a year of returning from active duty. The biggest obstacles reported were the price of homes, the inability to come up with a down payment, and personal savings.

Other key findings from the survey include:

• When asked what the top amenities or features are that they look for in a home, space outweighed specific features with the number of bedrooms (83 percent) and bathrooms (75 percent) as the clear frontrunner.
• Majorities also cite storage space (59 percent), amount of square footage (59 percent), outdoor space (55 percent) and an updated kitchen (53 percent) as among the most important amenities.