No one ever called me materialistic to my face, but they did behind my back. Back when I was young, lived alone, had several cars, nice stuff and I did that working 3 days a week. After getting married I settled down and got a full-time job and we bought a house. Nothing fancy but a place we could call our own. This one elder, who had moved South from up north, had retired from his 30 some year government job, sold his house up there and bought a huge, I mean, huge house down here kept after me and other young brothers to quit our full-time jobs, sell our houses and pioneer. He always said, "Why do you want to work full-time when you could be pioneering? Sell your house and extra cars and be a spiritual man."
The one thing I don't understand about the idea of not owning your home makes no sense. It is cheaper to own than rent. Not to mention the tax breaks. If you can afford to own then you should do it. It makes financial sense. But to the JWs, owning is like the plague. Why is that?