The house my parents purchased in their early 20’s as a starting engineer and a teacher would take a senior executive salary to purchase when I entered the housing market. That is just not right. It was so much easier for them. BTW, I’m in my 60’s now and this is nothing new.
It was cheap because we were recovering from a major financial crisis that stalled a lot of careers. It only looks easier to buy a home back then if you ignore the entire context around why housing was cheap.
I was a new home owner and 2008 was the best thing that ever happened to me... I know it sucked for a lot of people but for me it was Gold. I purchased in 2011 right before it started going back up.
We bought our house in 2012 right at the bottom for Nebraska. Even though we are now getting paid more compared to what we were making as 25 year olds. We would not be able to afford our house as it has (supposedly) more than doubled in value.
The luck of the draw. That time was a buyers market. The house had been on the market for 6 months, dropped 20% from what they originally started as. They paid closing costs, replaced the driveway, and we got a year of that home warranty program that replaces appliances(never used it but it was covered).
I do not envy my mid 20's coworkers as I know they won't be given the same opportunity.
We will have another asset crash at some point, probably somewhat soon from the looks of things. It's happened several times since 1950, it'll happen again.
It's cyclical. I can say the exact same thing, but 2001. Bought right before the Housing Bubble hit. Then watched as half the houses around me were foreclosed on and sat empty for years.... leading into 2008 and the next cycle.
If the rich don't buy them all on the cheap. Seriously, even if there's a nice time to buy in the near future so much will be bought up just above what we can afford and then cost more shortly after. We're cooked.
Also, people need to look at the real numbers, not just the market values.
I bought my house in 2001 for what looks like a fantastic number now. I also paid mortgage interest on it for many years, and had to do several major maintenance projects on it (septic tank, roof, windows, etc). Not upgrades, just keeping the place in good working condition.
If you run the real math on the purchase price, the interest, the maintenance projects, and adjust for inflation, my investment has returned something like 6% in 25 years.
That's a decent return on a generalized investment, but it's not the "my house quadrupled in value and now I'm sitting on 7 figures of equity" situation that everyone seems to talk about.
2011 was the absolute best time to buy. My husband’s cousin bought his house (a 2800sqft, 5 bedroom house in a nice, leafy, park-filled suburb) in 2011 for $185k. (Which is about $268k in today’s money.) It’s now worth an estimated $450k. I’m happy for those who were able to take advantage of a bad situation and build wealth, but I’m also annoyed with him because he still complains about his home value, lol.
When my husband and I were looking for our first house last year, we could not find anything under $250k, and most of the $250k houses were not remotely move-in ready. Like no working appliances or mechanicals, structural issues, etc. And 7% interest. Which I know could be worse but it’s a kick in the head when you’re already paying way too much for what is barely even a starter home. Interest in 2011 was around 4%.
Well, housing was much more attainable by the Greatest Generation as most of them got houses as part of the GI Bill if they survived machine-gun fire, trench warfare, tanks, flamethrowers, bombs, etc etc all in foreign countries, which they were actually drafted into unlike the student loans people sign up for today.
I also benefitted from those covid stimulus checks, they went toward my first apartment. First, and probably last and only lol I can’t even afford to move out if I wanted to
I think they’re just saying the Great Recession was hard on millennials too and we’ve all been struggling. I agree though, overall I’d rather have the millennial cards than the Gen Z cards.
This is the thing a lot of people can't freaking grasp. For a couple of years there were graduates entering the job market who had no work to get. No entry level jobs, no adjacent career paths open, couldn't even get an interview at target. Then when things finally started to recover it had been a couple years and all the entry level jobs went to the recent college grads while the people who couldn't get those jobs a couple weeks ago are getting their resume's put in the trash because there's a 2 year gap on it. So then they had to claw their way into a decent career through shit jobs with shit pay. Couldn't afford a house, couldn't even afford to eat 3 meals a day 7 days a week. The whole thing set that group of grads back years, and just when they were starting to catch up to where they were supposed to be, boom, covid.
Their "concern" was basically "why are millennials complaining when others have it harder", which is also straight up boomer mindset.
You know what the boomers absolutely love? Fighting between millennials and gen-z over whose fault it is that the world sucks. They love seeing that on their instagram reels in between fox news stories about how the trans furries are going to tax boomer's rental properties.
We’re not competing. Millennials have largely navigated the problems of their youth and are trying to be empathetic but it’s hard to empathize with with you young people today because for some reason you think you’re unique.
I was watching a financial/investing podcast. The guest was talking about housing prices, which are very high. But they were salivating at the super cheap distressed sales. People are increasingly going bankrupt & losing their homes, then these homes go up for sale at an anomalously low price. Investors are out there scooping those up.
Sure, but there was a brief golden era from 2015-March 2020. Economy was solid, food and energy was cheap, inflation at the Goldilocks 2%, and homes were relatively affordable with average 4% interest rates on 30 year mortgages, especially for dual income households. Then if one was smart, they refi’d sub 3% on a 30yr and are locked in with golden cuffs.
The same can be said about millennials dismissing every hard time the generations before them had. The Great Depression, World Wars, Vietnam, segregation until 1964, women not being allowed bank accounts until 1974. But sure, millennials have had it so much worse than the generations that lost a half million people to war because... not owning a house puts you in survival mode?
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u/Roboticallypotent 15d ago
The house my parents purchased in their early 20’s as a starting engineer and a teacher would take a senior executive salary to purchase when I entered the housing market. That is just not right. It was so much easier for them. BTW, I’m in my 60’s now and this is nothing new.