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OP should come to my area where a 1k sq ft house can easily be over a million dollars, some as high as 2-3 million.
Even in my lower middle class neighborhood, a 3/2 around 1,500 sq feet costs 500k with the benefit of average schools and an hour plus commute. But even withy complaining, I'll still be able to pay off my house in 15 years (maybe sooner), because I purchased within my means.
I did not ask them much.......but, I do know they had a separate loan to make a down payment.......and they were told they could just refinance in five years.
80/20 loans were quite popular during the bubble.
Many drank the kool-aid and thought their local market would continue to appreciate at compounded double- digits forever. This is mania.
Watching Hgtv and seeing all the huge houses that these families buy or want for multiple hundreds of thousands had me thinking, do we require too much for the American dream?
I recall my grandparent's house on my mother's side having a roughly 2000 sq ft house, 3/2, for 2 adults and 5 kids. Yeah it looked like it was probably cramped, but if it's what you can afford what's wrong with that? Now I think my generation and older (since the 20 something's are having trouble affording houses) want a minimum of 3000 sq ft for that same size family. Right now, me living in a 2200 sq ft home with 2 others, I actually feel like we could be downsizing and just woNader am I in the minority for feeling this way?
Maybe we should require people only by a Chevy Cruz. let's cancel all other vehicles.
I don't want to get into a discussion on this, but by your own statement, it is the land (location) that appreciates. A building is a durable good, and all durable goods depreciate over time.
A lot with a nice house on it is worth MORE then the undeveloped lot by itself.
It goes without saying that most of that TV is staged.
I'm just tired of big, big, big being pushed on us.
Now I don't want us living like Mexicans with 20 to a 1000 sq ft house, but what's wrong with say 4 to a 1600 sq ft house? Or 2-3 to a 1000-1200 sq ft house? Seems like a better use of land too as you can squeeze houses closer without being cramped.
Turn off the TV and do what you want.
Most of the world manages to live their lives in substantially smaller space than we do.
All else being equal, your property taxes, utilities and home insurance will be lower, too.
I agree to some extent, however your grandparents and earlier generations didn't have all the various technology items that take up space. For the most part even TV's were quite small until fairly recently. But I definitely think Americans collect too much "stuff" of all sorts, as evidenced by the endless stream of garage/yard sales.
That's crazy!!! How did they even get approved for a loan that big?? If they both made a combined 55k year they could have got maybe 150k plus whatever downpayment they could afford. That's not considering other debts they may have. To get 500k, you need to make well over 100k IMO.
Ikr, and it just makes me scratch my head. Where are starter families (1-3 people) supposed to live? I'm single, am I supposed to live in an expensive apartment forever? I just don't see how there's not a market for much smaller but nice 100-200k homes. I don't even want a house that size if I could afford it.
"Where are starter families (1-3 people) supposed to live?"
Probably in the older, smaller home the way thousands of people have done fore years.
NOT everyone can afford a new house. You start out cheap and small and as your career grows and you make more money you can move up in your housing.
Most of the world manages to live their lives in substantially smaller space than we do.
This.
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