MA Spring RE will start early & be flooded with inventory (Boston: foreclosed, rental)

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

As a millenial in Boston's tech/med economy, I can confirm that there are plenty of millenial's with either no or minimal school debt pulling 3-figure incomes.

I've seen this as well and yet everyone thinks every millennial is $100K+ in debt.

[Whatsnext75]

Yeah it sounds like the student debt issue is certainly an issue, but perhaps not so much in Boston? I was lucky enough to not have any debt. My husband had schools loans that were about $150 a month up until not too long ago. Sure that stinks but it wasn't unmanageable.

And I agree that once again many people in this area, whether they moved from somewhere else or grew up here managed to get well off parents.

I personally don't know anyone who was not able to accomplish what they wanted to because of student debt. Again, not to say it's not an issue because it seems to get a lot of press.

Perhaps people dont talk about this issue if it's happening to them?

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

Perhaps people dont talk about this issue if it's happening to them?

Usually this is true regarding any sort of financial discussion.


But you are right with regards to this area being an outlier. I can't comment on student loan debt in relation to housing in ohio for example. But MA tends to be heavy on tech and medical, and unemployment tends to hover lower than average for the nation, so i'm sure that the region does fare a bit better than other parts of the country.

[kingeorge]

I am not endorsing this guy, but I do think he is onto something. RE favors bold people right now. We are in the midst of sorting out this new 21st century economy with different rules, different winners and losers emerging.


'Rich Dad' author: Why millennials shouldn't save


The author of financial best-seller "Rich Dad Poor Dad" has some unusual advice for millennials in his new book: Saving is for losers.

""You cannot follow your parents' rules of money," said Robert Kiyosaki, who this year published a fresh tome, Second Chance: For Your Money, Your Life and Our World. "The old rules were you go to school, you get a job, you work hard, you save money and you invest for the long term in the stock market."

But now, he says, the rules are now reversed.

"Savers are losers. And many parents are still telling their kids to save money," he told CNBC. "Why would you save money when every central bank is printing money?"

Indeed, Kiyosaki said he isn't saving money.

"When I was a millennial, I could get 15 percent interest on my money. Today, I'm lucky to get one percent," he said. "I'm a debtor. I borrow because I'm in real estate. So I'm getting money at 2.5 percent. I just recently refinanced $300 million at 2.5 percent. So debtors are winning and savers are losing.""



Truth is probably, as always, somewhere in the middle. Not every saver is losing, but those who are not losing are often in their home for a while already. Longer you own, better it gets financially.

Long term, is cash is king, or cash is trash? Not sure except, that you can still not live in your stocks or money market account. You need a roof over your head. Place to live is a basic human need.

Folks who are waiting for bottom of RE to fall in Boston so they can buy "3X their salary" and rest of that old 20st century mindset are losing, and are definitely getting priced out. I am sure we are not going back to that type of economy soon in Boston area. It is pure nostalgia. Makes life less scary, if we know the "rules"

As always, if you have a stable job, and even better, if you are in a stable relationship, do not waste your time waiting for that perfect RE crash (that will miraculously not impact your job), so you can snag that forever home with an ideal location for a fraction of the price. It will not happen. Also, do not waste time and hop from one place to the next, without any long term strategy. Middle age creeps on you sooner then you think.

Start in RE soon, even if you can only do it very humbly, and then build from there. Your first job was not your best job either. Many folks priced themselves out by being "too good" for what they can actually afford. That sort of irrational need to "maximize" the home purchase really screws you up long term. Especially when there are many people coming from the outside willing to spend what it takes to win a bidding war.

Always better to own something then nothing.

[Dm84]

It's not always better to own. There are huge hidden costs to home ownership. Rentals are very transparent.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I've seen this as well and yet everyone thinks every millennial is $100K+ in debt.

I'm pretty sure there are more millennials with a net worth of $100k than there are with $100k in student loan debt.

[MikePRU]

I love this forum! Only here would a conversation start about the spring market, move to self driving cars, and then later become about student loan debt. So much fun to participate in these discussions.

[Whatsnext75]

There are lots of millennials doing well, but then there are lots doing not so well either. I think people on this board always assume that everyone in the area is making a salary of 150k or more. Not the case. It's harder to get a job these days if you don't have the right skills. so while there are some millennials who took all the right steps and are now maybe an engineer or something of the like, there are still plenty who struggled with what they wanted to do careerwise for a while and aren't necessarily rolling in the dough. Doesn't make them poor...but again, not everyone in the area is shelling out 3k a month on rent.

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by Dm84

It's not always better to own. There are huge hidden costs to home ownership. Rentals are very transparent.

Not always better but there are many, many instances where it is. The rent Vs buy decision will always be based on flexibility Vs stability ......and intangibles like the feeling of ownership (although one can counter that the bank owns the house)

The NYT has a handy dandy calculator for anyone wanting to run the numbers
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ator.html?_r=0

As for the spring market, who knows but I don't see any drastic changes in the short term - housing supply is still very constrained and many industries in the area are booming and rapidly expanding/hiring.

[Whatsnext75]

I think owning is typically always better. The times it's not better is if you really have to stretch yourself thin for a down payment or a mortgage and you are in an area like Abington or Whitman. But these days rents are just as much as a mortgage payment....and why pay someone else's mortgage if you could just pay your own? Since buying a place I cant say I've run into any hidden costs or huge repairs. I actually shudder when I hear how much people pay on rent. I know you need a roof over your head...but there are better ways to get it done.