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.
Im a 60s baby. Some say I am a boomer, others say no. But regardless, we still live in our 2000sq ft-ish house. No plans to sell anytime soon. My kids are grown, and we dont 'need' all the space in this house, but we will hopefully have grandkids soon and I want space for them Our house is on a nice cul-de-sac, we have a large grassy area outside - its perfect for grandkids!
The downside of our current home is that all the bedrooms are upstairs. So.. once my husband and I cant get up and down the stairs easily, that may be the time we move. We don't have a solid plan, but hoping by then we can use some of the equity in our current house to buy something one-story for cash, and then rent out our current house for some income.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,576 posts, read 81,167,557 times
Reputation: 57808
Quote:
Originally Posted by skycaller23
I blame our education system for that. The "everyone's a winner" kids that went through school are now entering society and finding out that everyone is NOT a winner.
And that is the brainchild of the "greatest generation." I remember when we boomers were in about 7th/8th grade when "tracking" was eliminated due to it being considered to be harmful to the self-esteem. First, they changed it from the highest achieving in A,then B,C,D... to the "dumb class" which in our case was H
to mixing it up. I remember E being the best, followed by I, etc. but we all still knew. By high school all levels of student were thrown together, making it harder for the slower kids to keep up, while the faster learners were getting bored. Soon after this hit youth sports, with everyone getting a trophy for participating. Those that do well now as young adults are those that were taught about competition at a young age, so that they can survive the real world.
And that is the brainchild of the "greatest generation." I remember when we boomers were in about 7th/8th grade when "tracking" was eliminated due to it being considered to be harmful to the self-esteem. First, they changed it from the highest achieving in A,then B,C,D... to the "dumb class" which in our case was H
to mixing it up. I remember E being the best, followed by I, etc. but we all still knew. By high school all levels of student were thrown together, making it harder for the slower kids to keep up, while the faster learners were getting bored. Soon after this hit youth sports, with everyone getting a trophy for participating. Those that do well now as young adults are those that were taught about competition at a young age, so that they can survive the real world.
They're going back to the tracking... my middle schoolers will be taking evaluations shortly, newly mandated by the school. I'm not big on standardized testing but I can understand the state wanting to test for "critical-thinking skills" (yes, the letter home said exactly that) in a sea of college graduates who didn't seem to EARN their degrees. It's shocking how few of this new "crop" of college graduates (even people with MASTER'S degrees) can form a single idea of their own. It's a sea of mimics. If there's no a protocol to follow, they're lost.
My family is comprised of highly-educated (but not necessarily intelligent) people on one side - the most successful ones being in sales and competitive environments and found that they did not need their degrees - and skilled laborers without degrees, who started their own businesses, on the other side. Suffice to say, we children were not praised for existing. In the real world, no one cares that your family thinks you're great... they pay you for your value to their company. And if they don't? You start your own, where you can pay *yourself* your worth.
Guess what? They've worked, sacrificed, and saved for longer than you've been alive! They deserve it!
And, as for my suggestion- move to a cheaper area- it is feasible. And possible. It depends on your priorities. After college, I worked retail for a year before packing everything up and moving to a state I had never even been in before for a job in order to better my life. (This is after putting myself through college because I was raised by a single mom and we lived in an apartment. I moved out at 19 and I was contributing to the household financially at 16.) This is no different. You will not make a NYC salary if you move, but your buying power will increase with even with less money coming in. YOU choose to stay where you are. So YOU choose to live in the 700 sf home.
(FWIW- Some [most] studies consider me a Millennial. I'm usually in BOTH the Millennial and Gen-X ranges and I definitely identify as Gen-X- quite honestly because of entitled people- I am not one. I'm on my second home. By myself. No spouse. No roommate. I purchased my first at 25. Actually, we have low inventory here, too. I had to sacrifice on location for the home I currently own. It added another 15 minutes to my already 55 minute commute. Did you hear me whining? Nope.)
Moving to a cheaper area is not always wise, and for many career paths, probably isn't.
I have a good job in my small hometown. It is a low cost place. If this job is eliminated, I'd be lucky to retain 2/3 of my current salary.
I was able to keep my Midwestern salary, which is more than what you'd normally in the local market, but many times you will make less in lower COL areas, even after adjusting for the COL.
This is why millennials think boomers are greedy. It's very hard to buy our first home to raise a family in because of low inventory. Without children, we've so far lived quite contently in 420-700 SF apartments. I don't expect you to leave on our account, but just thought I'd explain where the contempt between generations comes from. Carry on.
I'm a millennial. This thought never crossed my mind. I have zero contempt for baby boomers and don't blame them for the difficulty we had in finding a house. Life's not fair.
Last edited by BostonMike7; 10-05-2017 at 07:00 AM..
Our last son is a senior in high school. When he moves out, there will be two of us in a 6 bedroom house. We are not home all that much either.
Not sure what market there is a for a 6 bedroom house these days. Families seem to be smaller.
Not sure we want to go through the hassle and cost it woudl take to get it ready to sell.
Not sure we want to leave it anyway. We have put so much into making it how we want it.
Maybe one of the kids will come back and live with us for a while. Or maybe one of them will take it over and we can move into the carriage house. If we have grand-kids, it sure is an ideal house for children to visit and play in. They would so love visiting us.
I do not want to leave, but I am not excited about taking care of a huge 180 year old house and an acre of land. I also want to finish some things we planned. Not that we need them finished now, but I just want to see it through.
One week I think I will die here. The next week I am desperate to move into a condo or an RV at a campground. The following week I want to go buy that 400 acres in the woods up north build a cabin and never see another human except my wife and kids again. Then the next week, I am back to I love my community and my house and I will never leave here.
Round and round I fell like a crazy person.
realistically none of our kids is likely to be able to afford our house anyway. Two of them have already left the state. None have married. Not sure we will ever have grandchildren. OTOH, not too many families would want a house like ours, even if they needed a house this big, and even fewer can afford it.
Maybe if I retire we will turn it into a B & B and live in the basement or int he carriage house. I think that woudl be fun. Wifey things it woudl be awful.
You have quite a bit more maturing to do, Abby. It is not a competition; you're trying to make it one. The BBs you're fighting against aren't even playing your game. It's silly. I am a millennial and my experience is entirely different from yours... and it's frankly embarrassing to our generation that you're behaving this way. Grow up. Focus on yourself. Make different choices if you're unsatisfied with what you have now. That's how life works. When you don't like the direction your life is taking, you change things. You make different choices that will result in better consequences. It is no one else's fault that you're dissatisfied. You have, perhaps accidentally, made choices that you *thought* would put you in a great position by now. That isn't working, clearly, if you're trying to blame baby boomers for your troubles. You need to really evaluate what's important and make different choices. Blaming baby boomers will never change the reality of your present situation. That is purely your own responsibility.
What has been your experience as a fellow millennial? I find it interesting you failed to say. Too busy lecturing to engage in real discourse...
I never said I was dissatisfied with my current situation. On the contrary, in fact, I've littered the boards in defense of renting. I love our rented apartment, in fact. I'm looking into buying, and find it a frustrating endeavor with the lack of inventory. That isn't to disavow my entire place in life... thanks for your concern though!
I think perhaps you anticipated a lot of BBs turning on me and swept in to soak up some reputation points
Abby, who raised you like this?? Did you get this from eight years of Obamanomics? Learn it in college?? I have three grown millennial kids who are all college-educated and own their own homes.
My husband and I came from nothing and will get zero inheritances. Everything we have is from us and that is the example our kids had.
You are not owed a thing in this world, but you do owe yourself a good look in the mirror. I'm sure any bad decisions you made are fixable.
I think some of your responses are a little copy/pasted. Do you have a folder on your desk top entitled "retort to millennials"? Because I never implied I was owed anything. I said I know BBs don't care. I've said I don't expect you to care. Expressing frustration doesn't mean I expect you to leap into action to clear a path for those after you.
Jw, did your millennial kids all buy homes in the NYC metro area without being gifted large sums of money? Without both those criteria being met, their home ownership isn't really relevant to this convo.
Sure sounds like entitlement to me. Those "selfish boomers" probably started off with a 2/1 house or condo 40 years ago and have moved up over the years.
I guess you chose to interpret entitlement from the observation that a 60 year old couple doesn't need 3000 SF whereas a young couple starting a family does.
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.
Our house is on a nice cul-de-sac, we have a large grassy area outside - its perfect for grandkids! 
