variable utilized in the study. The average age of the sampled individuals is 44.84 years with a standard deviation of 18.59 years, but in Table 5 we report the mean and standard deviation of the logarithm of age variable used in the study. Information on family income in the survey is recorded as one of the 9 income categories: < 10 k , 10 k − 20 k , 20 k − 30 k , 30 k − 40 k , 40 k − 50 k , 50 k − 75 k , 75 k − 100 k , 100 k − 150 k and > 150 k , where k denotes a thousand dollars and $5,000 Table 5: Descriptive summary of the variables. variable description mean std log age Logarithm of age (in years) 3.71 0.44 log income Logarithm of the mid-point of income category (in dol- lars) 10.68 0.95 household size Number of members in the household 2.92 1.66 count percent female Indicator variable for female gender 925 51.42 post-bachelors Respondent’s highest qualification is Masters, Profes- sional or Doctorate 257 14.29 bachelors Respondent’s highest qualification is Bachelors 395 21.96 below bachelors Respondent holds a 2-year associate degree, went to some college with no degree, or attended technical, trade or vocational school after high school 551 30.63 hs and below Respondent is a high school graduate or below 596 33.92 full-time Works full time 849 47.19 part-time Works part time 266 14.79 Unemployed Either unemployed, student or retired 684 38.02 white Respondent is a White-American 1293 71.87 african-american Respondent is an African-American 272 15.12 all other races Respondent is an Asian, Asian-American or belongs to some other race 234 13.01 northeast Lives in the northeast region of US 249 13.84 west Lives in the west region of US 408 22.68 south Lives in the south region of US 822 45.69 midwest Lives in the midwest region of US 320 17.79 fin-better Financially better-off post the Great Recession 537 29.85 fin-same Financially equivalent pre and post the Great Recession 445 24.74 fin-worse Financially worse-off post the Great Recession 817 45.41 Strongly disagree or somewhat disagree that homeown- ership is the best long-term investment (LTI) in US 310 17.23 opinion Somewhat agree that homeownership is the best LTI 828 46.03 Strongly agree that homeownership is the best LTI 661 36.74 19