Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Unfortunately, I don't see that price bubble on homes and rent going anywhere but higher; as companies such as Blackrock and the Chinese continue gobbling up the market.
I did a bit of research just now, and hoping for your(any everyone's)opinions:
"The primary cause of the housing affordability problem is that too many households suffer from chronically low income." https://www.barrons.com/articles/the...ng-51643725884
1. We'll see if it's a bubble or not. Recall from 1975-1985 interest rates and mortgage rates climbed to exceptionally high levels. Home prices rose significantly across that span as well.
2. Since the late '50s per US housing most people below median income have rented, most people above median income have purchased. Ergo housing supply vs. demand vs pricing is set by buyers and sellers above median income, I'd argue well above median income. So the affordability conundrum posed by Barron's author above missies the point greatly...........you'll note that "economics" press types are virtually never well schooled in formal economics, usually not at all.
2.1. Outside the possible exception of The Czech Republic, the Czechs have very high home ownership rates, I'm not aware of any country in which the poor, working poor and lower middle classes* live in single generation + any kids SFHs at significant numbers.
3. BTW I see your implied point that many may want to buy but can't. I'd argue many in that predicament should move to lower COL areas. Or rent and save until they can buy. Or rent and save and acquire more/better education to make more money so they can buy etc. etc.
*Think of class in local COL terms. Middle class people are able to buy in places like Topeka but not in places like SF and NYC so there is noise but also choices.
30 years ago I could support myself in my 20's, working retail; I just want to clarify - not arguing with you - that by "support yourself" - you mean:
Paid Rent.
Owned A Car.
Paid Insurance.
Paid Tuition.
Working at (for instance) KMart.
Is this what you're saying?
Yes, as rent was only $450; went to community college and drove a beater car.
Afterwards, I attended a private college; only in 1995 that was roughly $20k/annually.
Which I had a government loan for, I was able to defer for a number of years.
By then, I was building overpriced homes in Florida.
My neighbor's 20-something GF just moved in, and he doesn't own the home; it's daddy's house who still lives there.
The GF is an EMT, says she can't pay rent anymore and save for any hope of buying a home at the same time.
"Amadin added that the cutting back in key areas like grocery shopping and transportation, as opposed to discretionary-spending categories, is especially worrisome. “We have entered an entirely new level of challenge,” he said." https://www.marketwatch.com/story/in...=mw_latestnews
I almost feel like this is a nostalgic Leave it to Beaver TV narrative. My mom grew up in a single earner family with a decent number of siblings in the late 50s-early 70s, but they were by all standards lower middle class. They didn't go on vacations, they were crammed into a ~1.1k sq ft house and they had 1 family car, even when the kids were all driving.
Agreed. It's pretty clear many young people simply have no idea what life was like years ago and even some older people who lived through it sanitize reality.
Heck I do a version of that myself. I did things work/chores as a kid I'd never allow my kids to do.
As my long dead great uncle Kenny used to say. "The '70s sucked, but the '70s beat the pants of the '30s and the '30s were paradise compared to 1915-1921 Philly."
As an aside as kid in Philadelphia Kenny and his family dodged the Spanish Flu completely - recall Philly was crushed by Spanish Flu and of course WWI was in the background. However, he developed exceptionally bad tonsillitis in 1920 and was operated on. He said, "back then anytime you had surgery the docs. expected you to die."
30 years ago I could support myself in my 20's, working retail;
I just want to clarify - not arguing with you - that by "support yourself" - you mean:
Paid Rent.
Owned A Car.
Paid Insurance.
Paid Tuition.
Working at (for instance) KMart.
Is this what you're saying?
I agree it was MORE possible then - but - if you were like me, then you:
Were driving a car that cost < $1000. Not because cars were cheaper then (of course they were, but) - but because it was normal to drive a used crap-heap as a young person. Now? Nope.
Were living in an apt. that was ~$500 month. Actually, over 30 years, that number (in my neighborhood) has hardly changed - maybe it's $800 now. So that price went down.
Were paying, say, 1000/semester for tuition. An amount that was reasonable. Now? Not so much - that's why "loans."
But:
Min. Wage in 1990 was $3.80. If you worked full time - you were lucky to bring home $500 / month...soooo how'd ya pay your rent? And food?
Let's say you found a place that was $250 back then - absolutely possible. Now you've got 250 leftover - 100% of which would have gone to tuition and books.
And so on.
Point is - it was dang difficult to support yourself and work retail in 1990. And in 2022, it still is.
Hobby Lobby (local here) pays 15/hr. That's dang near 2K take home per month. Rent here is still cheap. Used crappy cars are plentiful. And our local tuition is about 10K a year - a struggle, for sure, at that pay - but in the same realm of possibility as 1990.
Just sayin' - it may actually be harder now in some ways that cannot be measured - but just a dollars and cents thing - the drama associated with "the hard times of today" is really out of proportion with the actual difficulties.
I agree. Most of the, "life sucks today" ethos is fact challenged emotion and little else.
He is a Banker. Just ignore him since everything he says is a LIE. His job here is to deceive the public and tell you how never ending inflation and high prices are good for you.
And any random bad luck is YOUR fault, even if it's an asteroid falling from the sky.
You should have known better. YOU made a mistake, LOL.
*Think of class in local COL terms. Middle class people are able to buy in places like Topeka but not in places like SF and NYC so there is noise but also choices.
The area I own in has now out priced the middle-class, or should say; what remains of us.
That's why I now have a new neighbor, who is a trained medical professional; and cannot afford to buy a home. Also, my county is among the top 10 highest in the entire *country for property tax rates.
A LOT of area residents are now buying one county west, to avoid $15-20K bills.
Even at my age, only a government pension and 401k keep me in good shape financially these days.
The area I own in has now out priced the middle-class, or should say; what remains of us.
That's why I now have a new neighbor, who is a trained medical professional; and cannot afford to buy a home. Also, my county is among the top 10 highest in the entire *country for property tax rates.
A LOT of area residents are now buying one county west, to avoid $15-20K bills.
Even at my age, only a government pension and 401k keep me in good shape financially these days.
It's a discussion likely better in another thread but the political left has been wildly successful increasing local (county, city, township, area, even neighborhood) tax and fee burdens over the last 25 or 30 years. These numbers in certain states like NY, NJ, CT and CA are almost unbelievable.
Grouping a generation such as Boomers is too general of information. There is a whole thread about this regarding early boomers vs. later boomers. "Generation Jones versus being a boomer" The differences are night and day. Seemed those born before 1955 were the real boomers. After that, although still classified as boomers a large portion of us were screwed. Not all, there are success stories. It's never 100% or everyone.
Like millennials and even younger, You're screwed. I wont stand on a high horse and say wah wah, the sky is falling, or quit whining and get to work. No. Straight up- you are screwed. Again, there will be success stories but for most, it's gonna be tough. Similar to those entering the job market in the early 70's as I said before and happening again as we reach retirement age.
Might want to learn to be happy with nothing as this thread title states. Forget the 3 br. house/2 car garage/white picket fence and pension.
There's a huge disparity between younger and later Boomers.
Many of the youngest Boomers had private sector jobs with good pensions. That was largely gone by the time my "Jones" parents (born in 1957) entered the private sector. By then, private sector pensions had been reduced.
My dad hired in at a defense contractor in 2007 or 2008. He was pension eligible. When I hired in to the same company in 2010, the pension had been eliminated. I've about ten jobs with ten different private sector employers - only one offered a pension.
There's a huge disparity between younger and later Boomers.
Many of the youngest Boomers had private sector jobs with good pensions. That was largely gone by the time my "Jones" parents (born in 1957) entered the private sector. By then, private sector pensions had been reduced.
My dad hired in at a defense contractor in 2007 or 2008. He was pension eligible. When I hired in to the same company in 2010, the pension had been eliminated. I've about ten jobs with ten different private sector employers - only one offered a pension.
I was born in '63 and consider it to be the best possible sub-era for boomers.
The stock market doesn’t seem like a safe retreat anymore.
Cars are wildly expensive and almost hard to get.
Homes…if you haven’t already bought one that ship has sailed.
Food prices are up…along with everything else.
When I think back over my life, it seems like people of my generation have been brutally clobbered.
Coming out of high school 2004+ and onward there was a huge push for everyone to go to college. I had a lot of friends take on massive debt for their education. Then the meltdown in 2008/2009 happened and these same people with degrees couldn’t even find jobs paying much over minimum wage. Fast forward less than a decade and now we are in the environment we have now.
Seems like a lot of people under 45 might be working until death. Perhaps retirement will be reserved for the top 10%.
Life has been tough for ALL generations.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
