Was it harder then...or now on LI? (Smithtown, Miller Place: real estate, mortgage)

[clamboy]

Hi all-

I just got into a fight with my retired Mother in Law about affordability on LI.

She claims things were harder when she came out to Miller Place in 1972.
(Roads and schools not built, long drive to NYC, no Jobs etc....sorry I was 4 I dont remember)

She beleives its easier than ever to buy a home because of flexible mortgages and ease of lending and a booming economy.
(She also refers to Rush Limbaugh as "The News")

I dont get it...
They made 10k a year..but the house was 30k and they had fairly reasonable taxes in the 70s

Nowadays we make 100k a year but the same house is 475k/10yr in taxes

I really think boomers are out of touch with the pain of being young and getting by on LI.

Could this be why NOTHING is getting done by way of affordability?

Have we failed to stop the brain drain on LI because of this type of Boomer ostriching.

Despite years of college and hard work I only met 1 person at my 20th HS reunion who could afford to buy a house and raise their kids in the district we were raised in(3VSD).Truth be told most of the people at the runion were in from out of state.
(NC, FL and Georgia mostly.)

I feel bad for my Mother in law.
I can tell shes mad that here daughter is moving away to CT.
(Wealthiest state in USA for relief....whoda thunk it)

Im sure she hoped when she moved here way back when, that her kids would be able to lay down roots someday too.

We can get by here, but we could never get ahead given the current reality of high cost housing and ow paying jobs.

Millionaires and Migrant workers by 2020

Your thoughts?

Best
C

PS
Cant wait to go!!

[MollyMe]

My father raised 5 kids on a NYCcops salary when we moved to levittown in 1972. The youngest child was 1 the oldest was 8. Mom didn't work until the youngest was 8. I don't know how they did it, but I'm just glad they did a nice job.

[ClarkStreetKid]

It was easier to buy back in the 60's when LI was growing. My dad moved from Brooklyn to LI (aka out to the country) in '62 and bought our $13,000 house on a NYC cop salary. He sold it in 1992 for 130K but using an inflation calculator the house in 1992 dollars should have been closer to $60,394.04. So housing prices were already way over inflated by then.

htttp://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

[jfkIII]

Clamboy...you must give Clamgirl's mom a break. Like you said...she's probably already feeling withdrawal pains of her daughter leaving. Besides, those that choose to stay on LI, usually become very defensive and, for some odd reason, take it personally when someone confronts them with the harsh reality that exists there and then take the steps to move on. Maybe, secretly, it's something she always wished to do, but couldn't. Perhaps she wanted to escape, but got stuck there?

Every generation feels it was harder on them then on their children, as you will someday with your bed of clams.

Stay strong, shed a tear when you leave, wave goodbye...and never look back. You are now an ex-LIer...and there are many of us out here! Welcome to life!

[4StanleyCups]

Ostrich Boomer here....

I bought my first house here in southwestern Suffolk in 1973. 1/3 acre waterfront (canal), 3000 sf high ranch, for $72,000. Taxes then were $2800/yr. I was making about $25K/yr at my first job, spouse was making about $12K but other than groceries I paid for everything. No kids. I forget what the mortgage amount was but probably about 50K. We weren't hurting in the least, in fact had enough money to go to Europe every year, Disney, wherever,

Sold that house in 2002 for $685K, taxes when were $11K without Basic STAR. I'd just early-retired then from a (by then self employed) salary of about $120K-$150K/yr. (Spouse retired in 1982 and then passed away in 1998.) I'd already paid off the mortgage.

Between the proceeds from the sold house plus savings, bought my current house in the same general area for $700K cash. Taxes then were also 11K (bigger house, 1/2 acre lot but not waterfront so got more for the same taxes), now with the friggin' school budgets that have gone through in the last few years they're up to $17,700 without basic STAR (which only knocks off 1K). I now have triple-tax-free passive income of about $50K/yr which is fine for the way I live (BTDT with vacations, 8-yr-old car bought for cash, and I don't have any expensive vices except the occasional Islanders' game ticket, LOL!).

So I can't say it's tougher for me now than back in the 70s when I first bought, because the numbers (price/taxes/income) have skewed back and forth so much in the past 30 years. Guess my experience makes me an ostrich, but I realize that first time buyers today aren't likely to have the same scenario I/we did.

[VillageOfWestbury]

Originally Posted by clamboy

Hi all-

I just got into a fight with my retired Mother in Law about affordability on LI.

She claims things were harder when she came out to Miller Place in 1972.
(Roads and schools not built, long drive to NYC, no Jobs etc....sorry I was 4 I dont remember)

She beleives its easier than ever to buy a home because of flexible mortgages and ease of lending and a booming economy.
(She also refers to Rush Limbaugh as "The News")

I dont get it...
They made 10k a year..but the house was 30k and they had fairly reasonable taxes in the 70s

Nowadays we make 100k a year but the same house is 475k/10yr in taxes

I really think boomers are out of touch with the pain of being young and getting by on LI.

Could this be why NOTHING is getting done by way of affordability?

Have we failed to stop the brain drain on LI because of this type of Boomer ostriching.

Despite years of college and hard work I only met 1 person at my 20th HS reunion who could afford to buy a house and raise their kids in the district we were raised in(3VSD).Truth be told most of the people at the runion were in from out of state.
(NC, FL and Georgia mostly.)

I feel bad for my Mother in law.
I can tell shes mad that here daughter is moving away to CT.
(Wealthiest state in USA for relief....whoda thunk it)

Im sure she hoped when she moved here way back when, that her kids would be able to lay down roots someday too.

We can get by here, but we could never get ahead given the current reality of high cost housing and ow paying jobs.

Millionaires and Migrant workers by 2020

Your thoughts?

Best
C

PS
Cant wait to go!!

Maybe I'm missing something, but it's L.I. a suburb of NYC??? What about L.A. & San Fran? Are young people running from there also?

My point is that it's not just a L.I. thing.

[HockeyMom72]

As a boomer, I will vote it was EASIER back then. We bought our first home (small) in Middle Village, Queens, in 1978. We paid $40,000. Our combined income was about $50,000 then. We sold that house in 1987 for $210,000 and moved to a 3 bedroom split with half an acre in Smithtown for $187,000. I was not working at the time and my husband back then was making about $85,000.

Well, you do the math. Real estate costs have tripled but salaries certainly haven't tripled. That IS what the problem is.

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by clamboy

She claims things were harder when she came out to Miller Place in 1972.
(Roads and schools not built, long drive to NYC, no Jobs etc....sorry I was 4 I dont remember)

She beleives its easier than ever to buy a home because of flexible[list][*]mortgages and ease of lending and a booming economy. [*](She also refers to Rush Limbaugh as "The News")

!!

My dad said something similar. He couldnt even get a mortgage in 1976. He had to borrow from a family member.

[jfkIII]

It's the circle of life. Just ask Mufassa (sp?)

[clamboy]

Originally Posted by HockeyMom72

As a boomer, I will vote it was EASIER back then. We bought our first home (small) in Middle Village, Queens, in 1978. We paid $40,000. Our combined income was about $50,000 then. We sold that house in 1987 for $210,000 and moved to a 3 bedroom split with half an acre in Smithtown for $187,000. I was not working at the time and my husband back then was making about $85,000.

Well, you do the math. Real estate costs have tripled but salaries certainly haven't tripled. That IS what the problem is.

I think this is the net/net of this dialogue

Everythings up threefold but salaries.

My question to the boomers is....If you were under 30 could have the same today given the current reality?

Could a single income Hardhat have what he had 30 years ago?

Its a healthy debate.
This isnt about right or wrong.
Just a small reality check.

I like what Im reading.

Please continue.
Best
C