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What the OP mentions has long ago happened in the markets I am familiar with (NJ and much of New England).
No one wants large houses. The values are not increasing and, in fact, decreasing. This has been going on for a long time - even beginning a year or two before the Great Recession. The cost of heating (oil was high back then) along with other utilities and maintenance had a lot to do with it.
But other areas - often in the sunbelt - they still go for 3K and up in square feet.
Even our house at 2650 would be hard to sell these days. Families are smaller too....and, outside of the cities and/or big retirement areas, people don't have a lot of money.
Young professionals. 25-year-old professionals-to-be are typically still in graduate school...
True, of course, although your comment made me think of Dr. Sheldon Cooper So I googled "youngest college professor" and came up with Noam Elkies:
Noam David Elkies (born August 25, 1966) is an American mathematician and chess master. Along with A. O. L. Atkin, he extended Schoof's algorithm to create the Schoof–Elkies–Atkin algorithm. In 1993, when he was 26 years old, he became the youngest full professor in the history of Harvard University.
He earned his Ph.D. at the age 20 under the supervision of Benedict Gross and Barry Mazur at Harvard University
We're boomers and retired. While working, we lived in a custom 5300 sf home with an additional 1800 sf shop/garage on a couple acres in the foothills above Silicon Valley. When it was time to retire, we thought we would downsize to a 3800 sf lock-and-leave condo, but we discovered we are not "small space" people.
So we upsized to a 7500 sf custom home, but I did downsize my garage to 1100sf. With the master bedroom & laundry upstairs, I put in an elevator to future-proof it for when we are not able to negotiate the stairs.
Similarly, for a vacation home in Park City (we're skiers), we started with a 3 bedroom ski-in/ski-out slopeside condo. But once our daughter went off to college, a funny thing happened. She would come visit us on college breaks with much of her Columbia University Ski & Snowboard team (who would have thought Columbia had had a Ski & Snowboard team?) We had wall-to-wall sleeping bags... so we upsized to a 4500 sf 5 bedroom house.
But Mrs. SportyandMisty decided she wants a larger ski vacation house -- about 8,000 to 12,000 sf. (Park City has a lot of vacation homes in the 10,000 to 35,000 sf range). She's actively looking.
We're boomers and retired. While working, we lived in a custom 5300 sf home with an additional 1800 sf shop/garage on a couple acres in the foothills above Silicon Valley. When it was time to retire, we thought we would downsize to a 3800 sf lock-and-leave condo, but we discovered we are not "small space" people.
So we upsized to a 7500 sf custom home, but I did downsize my garage to 1100sf. With the master bedroom & laundry upstairs, I put in an elevator to future-proof it for when we are not able to negotiate the stairs.
Similarly, for a vacation home in Park City (we're skiers), we started with a 3 bedroom ski-in/ski-out slopeside condo. But once our daughter went off to college, a funny thing happened. She would come visit us on college breaks with much of her Columbia University Ski & Snowboard team (who would have thought Columbia had had a Ski & Snowboard team?) We had wall-to-wall sleeping bags... so we upsized to a 4500 sf 5 bedroom house.
But Mrs. SportyandMisty decided she wants a larger ski vacation house -- about 8,000 to 12,000 sf. (Park City has a lot of vacation homes in the 10,000 to 35,000 sf range). She's actively looking.
A 3800 square foot condo is a small space? Hmm. Where I live, that would cost $5 million and a 35,000 square foot house would cost $50 million. I sense that a lot of people on CD are of modest means but I guess you're not one of 'em.
A 3800 square foot condo is a small space? Hmm. Where I live, that would cost $5 million and a 35,000 square foot house would cost $50 million. I sense that a lot of people on CD are of modest means but I guess you're not one of 'em.
I had a contact who worked for a VC (not really one himself, just a research guy) and they gave him a 82 foot yacht as a present for his work on just one deal.
A few bucks floating around in the investment and silicon valley worlds...
When we closed on our beach condo here near Newport RI, the lawyer said he was doing lots of closing for Texans buying their 7th house. That is, they own that many at one time. They build houses on the bay here that - when finished - look as if they have been there for decades. This included perfect mature trees and landscaping. The houses sometimes aren't extremely large - but they have to cost 15+ Million due to the quality.
That's the story of America today and you can find it confirmed in stat after state. Not the 1%, but really the .1%
Poor old us - we are only of the 5%, which only entitled us to 3 houses.
I had a contact who worked for a VC (not really one himself, just a research guy) and they gave him a 82 foot yacht as a present for his work on just one deal.
A few bucks floating around in the investment and silicon valley worlds...
When we closed on our beach condo here near Newport RI, the lawyer said he was doing lots of closing for Texans buying their 7th house. That is, they own that many at one time. They build houses on the bay here that - when finished - look as if they have been there for decades. This included perfect mature trees and landscaping. The houses sometimes aren't extremely large - but they have to cost 15+ Million due to the quality.
That's the story of America today and you can find it confirmed in stat after state. Not the 1%, but really the .1%
Poor old us - we are only of the 5%, which only entitled us to 3 houses.
It must be nice to live in a low-cost area. I'm in the top 5% or a little better and can afford one moderately nice house (2200 square feet after adding two rooms) in an upscale area, plus a rented (not owned) beach cottage in the winter.
Lets be honest about housing needs in the future; Silicon Valley California, between 2000 and 2014 increased in population by 45%. If a lot of baby boomers leave and retire somewhere else, they are not building houses fast enough to fill the needs caused by the population growth.
This is what is happening all over the nation. There is not going to be a real estate bust from the retiring over the next 25+ years.
A 3800 square foot condo is a small space? Hmm. Where I live, that would cost $5 million and a 35,000 square foot house would cost $50 million. I sense that a lot of people on CD are of modest means but I guess you're not one of 'em.
A lot of Boomers are NOT downsizing at all. They talk about it, but then decide they want at least three bedrooms and three bathrooms for the grandkids etc etc, or maybe an entire separate carriage house for them yadayada, and don't forget the dedicated media room blahblah, or the "activity room" hoopityhoopity.
I agree. Not just baby boomers. Even my grandparents never downsized. They passed away in their 3 story, 4 bedroom house. This is precisely why I argue with people who claim that home ownership is an investment or some path to financial security. It is not.
they had financial security. Their housing cost was fairly fixed, allowing them budget well and invest what they chose. If all the could afford was the mortgage (plus taxes and insurance), then they likely would have paid over time about the same amount in rent. And at the end they wouldn't have had a valuable asset to pass to their heirs.
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So I googled "youngest college professor" and came up with Noam Elkies:
