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Come to S.E. MI. We're practically giving our houses away.
You don't know how many times I've looked at Grosse Pointe and other suburbs of Detroit (plus ghetto sections of Downtown) real estate and started thinking "a year's worth of rent could buy me a house for life". But then I realize that I'd not be making money anymore if I moved there...and I'd have to live in Detroit instead of Sunny San Diego!
The reason I think so is that historically speaking, life has always "cost more" from generation to generation, at least for most of the last couple of hundred years.
I have a kid in the market for a house today. That house is going to cost more than mine did when I bought at roughly the same age she is. My house when I first bought cost considerably more than when my parents first bought.
On the flip side, My daughter can expect to make more, (and does, even accounting for inflation, than I did at the same point in life)I made more than my parents, (although my dad made more at the end of his career than I will) etc., etc.
To me the only folks that really had a right to cry "poor, pitiful me" were those coming of age at the start of the Great Depression (which makes what we're going through look like a picnic) or those who came of age in the South immediately following the Civil War...
...and you know what's funny? You don't read of any self-pity from folks then, and I've never heard it from those who came of age during the Great Depression. Wish I could say the same of today's generation...or mine (baby boomer).
No, incomes may not be keeping up with costs right now, and maybe not for some time, but historically speaking this argument doesn't hold true.
Well, you can look at it more analytically than that. Take the price of your first home and divide it by your salary at the time.
Now do the same thing with your daughter's house and her salary. Chances are that her house will cost relatively more when you compare those two ratios.
You have just described my life. I make after taxes $2160./month. My rent just went up to $675. I would've moved to a cheaper place but I didn't have the money to move so now I'm stuck here for another year. Anyway, rent is $675., car payment $270., car insurance $137.(yep, that's per month---I got into 2 car accidents w/in 9 months of each other---oops!), renters insurance $14., cell phone $67. & that is just about the cheapest plan I could get, internet $48., I finally got rid of cable so there goes that expense, student loan $60., credit card $100-150 (they upped my apr to 23%, I don't even use my card anymore because I can't, I literally have no credit line on it so I'm just trying to pay it off), electric bill $40. & netflix $15. (yes, it's a luxury but it's cheaper then renting movies at blockbuster all the time).
Now that leaves me roughly $680. to pay for food, gas, entertainment, cat food, cat litter, clothing (please, I don't even remember the last time I bought any clothes), any sort of items like magazines which I love to read so I'm not giving those up, etc. etc. etc. People may think that's a lot left over but it's laughably not, it's pathetic. I don't know where I can cut corners anymore other than finding a cheaper place to live & I'm intending on doing that but like I said, I'm stuck in another year lease. It's amazing how quickly that money runs out.
And you're in Milwaukee, a very cheap city compared to places like SF, LA, NYC, Boston, DC, San Diego or Seattle. That's the point. After taxes, a 35,000 salary is only about 24,000 to cover EVERYTHING, and with the costs of rent and food and gas and insurance and the rest, it ends up being impossible to save any meaningful amount of cash. Even if you were able to save $500/month, that still wouldn't get you a home in San Diego for a LONG time.
Making the money you make, you could PROBABLY afford a $100,000 30yr mortgage at 8% ($734/month), meaning for you to be able to afford to buy a tiny apartment, you'd need a Down payment of at least $150,000 in order to cover the costs of the cheapest possible apartment in San Diego (finding anything less than $300,000 in San Diego is rare) you'd need to save $500/month for 300 months!! That's 25 years. That's just not right. And that doesn't take into account the added expenses of OWNING a home, like Water, Sewage, Trash, Repairs, PROPERTY TAXES and other random things that homeowners have to worry about.
Meanwhile, in the 1950s, a man would be able to afford to buy a home large enough to support a family of four on an entry-level accountant's salary.
i respectfully disagree although you have a strong argument that military life did not save all those guys from the ravages of drugs once they leave the military.
my point was that 1 in 3 people under 35 live with mom and dad --almost none have military service. the military guys at least had a stint of making it on their own b4 they folded.
True, the leg up that 4 years of military service gives is wonderful, but many in the military end up regressing because they are so used to being on schedules and being ordered by a drill instructor.
That being said, if I had a child who was sitting at home without a job for 6 months, you'd better believe I'd have them at the Navy or Air Force (not Marines or Army, too dangerous) recruitment office signing their papers. I just don't think military service is a guarantee at success, but it's a job that pays well and that gives young people structure.
...in San Diego (finding anything less than $300,000 in San Diego is rare) you'd need to save $500/month for 300 months!! That's 25 years. That's just not right. And that doesn't take into account the added expenses of OWNING a home, like Water, Sewage, Trash, Repairs, PROPERTY TAXES and other random things that homeowners have to worry about.
Rent will generally continue to climb as those years go by but mortgage payments generally do not (with the exception that the interest rate can go up unless you lock it down for a number of years). Within a few years that $500/month payment will seem like a good deal. After a decade or two it will seem like an absolute bargain compared to comparable rents.
Rent will generally continue to climb as those years go by but mortgage payments generally do not (with the exception that the interest rate can go up unless you lock it down for a number of years). Within a few years that $500/month payment will seem like a good deal. After a decade or two it will seem like an absolute bargain compared to comparable rents.
That $500/mo wasn't the payment...it was what you had to save for 25 years to afford the cheapest possible apartment in San Diego on a salary slightly better than the national average. The fact is that people who can't afford to own a home basically never will unless their salary skyrockets.
Once they can afford the mortgage it's fine, but even if they can afford higher monthly costs, they still need to come up with 20% down, and on a $300,000 apartment (again, this would have less than 900 square feet in San Diego) it would require $60,000 down payment. At 8% the monthly cost of the $240,000 mortgage would be over $1,700/mo, even if the rate is better, the mortgage would still cost at leaest $1,400/mo. But not only that, the person would have to save up $60,000 first, or $500/mo for 120 months (10 years). I don't know too many 20somethings who can put away $250/mo, let alone $500.
Now really, did every parent on the face of the earth begin dropping the ball on parenting their children at once.
The children can't get jobs because there are very little jobs to be had.
We began this cycle when the first wave of manufactoring went over seas. Remember how the US was going to become a country of Service Industry Jobs? All of us would be educated and skilled workers! Remember.
The Service Industry jobs were next outsourced. Now we see accounting, IT and Engr and other high tech positions going over seas.
The majority of jobs left is minimum wage jobs on which you cannot afford to maintain a household.
My first place was $75.00 a month rent.. It was shotgun and the closet had been converted to the bath room. You can't find that these days.
There are a lot of intelligent and hardworking (if given the chance) younger people out there - yes there are bozos too whose mommy calls when they have a problem at work but, those are not the norm.
- College. Society has convinced us that EVERYONE needs to go to college. The result from this is soaring tuition costs. Not only that, but you now need a college degree to get the same job you could 30 years ago with a GED. Since everyone gets a degree, they've become less valuable. 20 somethings start their lives 100 grand in student loan debt.
- Entitlement. Growing up, I wasn't given much. I didn't think I needed much. Unlike many people my age, I've never had credit card debt.
- Housing bubble. Older people were raking it in during 2000-2008, as they saw their property values soar. Young people could not get into the market. This is changing, though. However, in areas like where I am, it still costs a lot to get into a safe neighborhood.
I'm married, own a home (our second, actually, we just moved). For the northeast, this is bucking the trend. We're not high-income, just conservative with money. Many people my age drink my mortgage in alcohol.
I agree wholeheartedly with your college statement - I graduted High School in 1984 and even back then there was a "everyone must go to college" push. I wondered if my (lack of) Guidance Counselor got a commission for every student that got accepted into college! Also - I saw that "trades" like electrician, plumber, etc. were very looked down upon by my teachers
I see kids now (at least my nieces and nephews) that are expected to have their college and major picked out by the time they are Freshmen in High School.
You don't know how many times I've looked at Grosse Pointe and other suburbs of Detroit (plus ghetto sections of Downtown) real estate and started thinking "a year's worth of rent could buy me a house for life". But then I realize that I'd not be making money anymore if I moved there...and I'd have to live in Detroit instead of Sunny San Diego!
So its either stay and struggle to get by in sunny San Diego (L.A, NYC, SF, etc) or pull up stakes and move someplace where you'll get more for your dollar (cost of living). Sounds like those choosing option one have nobody to blame but themselves if they are struggling. (Yes, I'm sure there are sometimes circumstances in which people cannot simply up and relocate somewhere else but if your only reason for not moving is because you'll no longer be able to say "I live in L.A.", you need a reality check.)
Its because the cost of living keeps increasing and payscales do not keep up. It's too difficult for entry level jobs.
Republicans cater to the RICH~
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Also - I saw that "trades" like electrician, plumber, etc. were very looked down upon by my teachers
