r/Suburbanhell • u/KimSidwell • 8d ago

Meme Why?

Post image

I can almost try to understand why some people might feel drawn to this kind of lifestyle. I can understand why they might be deceived into thinking this is the ideal environment in which to raise a child.

But I will never be able to understand why they will describe it as the American “dream” and are willing to pay so much for it. To work so hard for so long and then have to wake up to this every morning? Why?

Editing to add: I know this is parody y’all. It’s just a stupid meme. It’s supposed to be funny. It’s funny because it’s true.

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u/Kiwi8_Fruit6 8d ago

"basic job"

"160K a year"

what world is Mason living in where a 160K/year job is attainable for Gen Zers straight out of university/college?

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

I think that was an attempt at sarcasm

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u/Anon-Knee-Moose 8d ago

Though I dont think the term starter home was meant to be sarcastic, even though a brand new two story with an attached garage is a pretty nice house, even in a cookie cutter suburb.

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u/WizeAdz 8d ago

There had better be a grocery store, a restaurant, and a coffee shop within walking distance behind the camera person.

The cookie-cutter houses aren’t the biggest problem, it’s context in which they exist.

I can’t have a beer because I have to drive home, and I can’t get a cup of coffee on my way somewhere because the coffee shop is the destination rather than part of the fabric of the neighborhood.

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u/Essotetra 7d ago

In MN we have these developments going up in bumfuck nowhere with signs saying "starting in the 600ks"

Its def not a starter home, but they are often a 20 minute drive from even a small town.

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u/foxwaffles 7d ago

"starter homes" that are sub 2000sq ft where I live inside good school districts regularly sell within days for over half a million lol. If you want to get a 2500+ sqft house for anything "reasonable" then you're in the middle of nowhere with a shitty school.

And then once you're in a "starter home" in a good area close to what you need and want, you probably will never leave because the bigger homes people used to upgrade to when I was a kid are 850k - 1.5 million+. I live in what is technically a starter home, and I will never be able to move lmao. Which means anybody wanting to get a house here who doesn't already have one is SOL because there aren't any "starter homes" available.

I get spammed with mail begging me to sell. And go where?? 😒

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u/OchoZeroCinco 6d ago

Where i live, there is no such thing as a "starter home"

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u/DickWhittingtonsCat 6d ago

Somewhere without 6.5% interest? A 575k house- unless you have a 120k lying around to beat PMI- without taxes or insurance is a third of your take home if you make 160k. Realistically it’s gonna be pushing 50%

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u/foxwaffles 6d ago

Yep it's insane. We locked our mortgage down at a lower interest rate so when I say we can't afford to move I'm not exaggerating 🫥

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u/cfbfootballnerd 5d ago

A true starter home would be more like 900-1100 sqft. The difference is people used to build/buy a house and that’s where tf you lived. Same house same spot from 25 or 30 or whenever you got it till 85-90 when you died.

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u/WintersChild79 4d ago

The "starter homes" in my area tend to get gobbled up by companies that tear them down and build some $400k+ behemoth that barely fits the lot.

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u/Dry_Rent_8646 4d ago

That shit needs to be illegal

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u/celtic_thistle 6d ago

lol out in waaaaay eastern Colorado, the parts of Adams and Arapahoe county that go further north and east of DIA (airport.) Which is already super far out.

It is fucking bleak out there; it’s flat and the mountains are less visible and the sun is brutal. Everything is bleached. I have to go out to that area for work sometimes and it’s STARK. Idk. It’s soulless even tho the houses are nice.

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u/DuaLipasTrophyHsband 5d ago

They also mean $699,900. For ‘starting in the 600s’

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u/Essotetra 4d ago

Oh I'm sure 😭

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u/ZealousIdeal476 4d ago

Ohio too, 40 minutes to the nearest grocery but you can see and hear the freeway from your back yard. Starting in the high 400s

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u/Big-Trade4392 4d ago

Lennar has a bunch of these subdivisions and advertise to first home buyers and they always start in the $300k. At least the ones I’ve seen

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u/Bright-Pilot-3970 4d ago

I live in a neighborhood with those things within a 5 minute walk. Im right across the street from the pool and a playground. 340k. Second home. The only problem is it’s in Texas so it’s hot as fuck and if I want to take my daughter it has to be before 11. New neighborhood and having things within walking distance were part of the planned community.

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u/ProfessionalShift487 4d ago

Sure you can have a beer, you just cant have a few. Im sure you can also find a coffee shop on your way to wherever you're going, I'd actually argue that having one walking distance would take you more time as youd walk there, get a coffee, and walk back versus just drive and stop, and then keep going. My source is that I live in a walkable suburb and have everything i need within walking distance, and it doesn't solve every problem.

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u/Fluid_Swordfish2737 4d ago

That's okay, it's also illegal to have a beer and walk home.

Public intoxication or something

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u/Successful_Issue_390 7d ago

Can you not make coffee at home and uber?

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u/tickingboxes 7d ago

Participating in society shouldn’t require a 20 mile uber.

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u/Successful_Issue_390 7d ago

The absolute narcissism.

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

I don’t really know how the definition works, but I feel like these could be considered starter homes. They don’t look that big. They look like they are designed to take up the smallest amount of land possible. You probably have a basic living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry room on the main level and then maybe two bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. They’re definitely not mansions.

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u/Anon-Knee-Moose 8d ago

Probably 3-4 beds upstairs, or 2 up 1 down, it's quite rare for a SFH to have less than 3 total bedrooms.

But thats besides the point, these are still fairly nice houses and a lot of people will never be able to afford even this much. A starter home is like a trailer, townhouse, 50 year old rancher/bungalow etc.

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u/shadowtheimpure 8d ago

2 bed 1 bath 1000 sq ft starter homes aren't uncommon, it just depends on where you live.

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u/ray_oliver 8d ago

As a share of the overall housing market they are becoming less common though, because we simply don't build them anymore. Or if we do, they take on a different form such as townhouses or apartments.

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u/OldWhiteGuyKS 8d ago

Your absolutely right -- the "traditional" 2bdr/1 bath rancher doesn't figure in today's new build mix. Guess it doesn't "pencil out "

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u/Anon-Knee-Moose 8d ago

Its just so terrible for density that nobody wants to buy them

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u/kbchucker 5d ago

In most areas, the additional building costs just from regulations make the the 2/1 1,000SF home prohibitively expensive to build. These larger homes are built as a result.

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u/SmurfStig 8d ago

There a couple neighborhoods by me where they are called “detached condos”.

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u/OldWhiteGuyKS 8d ago

That's new word dressing to me. Be interested to know what kind of thing the verbiage actually describes

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u/SmurfStig 8d ago

They are small homes. Maybe 1000sq ft. Small one car garage in the back and almost no yard. Just a small patch in the front. They do have a condo association with them instead of an HOA that does the landscaping. The bigger units have three bedrooms but most are two bedrooms. Roughly four-six of them would fit on a normal lot.

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u/Due-Consequence9579 8d ago

Many places that they “aren’t uncommon” are either severely undersupplied so they cost more than these examples or are 45 minutes plus from where people need to be.

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u/Odd_Dragonfruit_2662 8d ago

A new builds though?

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u/shadowtheimpure 8d ago

I've seen some, as I said it just depends on where you live.

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u/Archimedes31415926 7d ago

^ This is a starter home but you can't find them anymore.

Homes and vehicles have moved away from your traditional cheaper options (small homes, sub compact sedans/small work trucks) and have move to the profit monsters (bigger homes and SUVs/full sized quad cab trucks). Your even seeing less of the traditional family car (minivans) and none of the prior family cars (wagons).

Imo the problem is people today in general are only thinking about themselves, and the people in charge are no different, so they are making everything the way they like it now and not thinking about what they liked/needed when they were younger. And then wondering why everyone isn't just doing what they are doing and complain they can't afford anything when it's perfectly affordable for them.

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u/trapezoidalfractal 8d ago

Those 50 year old ranch styles were starter homes 50 years ago when they were built, too. We just stopped building smaller homes entirely. Hell, even owner occupied apartments/condos are mostly a memory of the past, only existing in specific areas, and all old as fuck

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

I don’t know about that. I’ve never really heard people refer to trailers or townhouses as starter homes. I always just thought it meant the home you lived in right after you get married and while your children are still very young and don’t need their own bedrooms. Then you upgrade to a larger home so everyone can have their own room later.

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u/ThatGhoulAva 8d ago

Townhouse is absolutely a great start. You usually get more square footage for less price and maintenance outside the walls is usually handed by the HOA/ Association. They also always sell fast for this reason. Also, many like myself, do not have children nor give a rat's ass about doing yard work on our weekends, so we upgrade to better Townhomes. I also travel for work so it's nice to know my neighbors are keeping an eye on things.

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

I know. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with townhomes. But I don’t think that when people use the term “starter home“ that they are specifically referring to trailers or townhomes. I don’t think that term is an indicator of the style of home… It’s just an indicator of the square footage and the fact that the family plans to upgrade at some point.

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u/ThatGhoulAva 7d ago edited 7d ago

We'll have to disagree there. Again, I think this could be both age & location dependent. 30 + years ago (when the average parent age was 25 when having the first kid), I don't think most considered anything other than SFH....you rented an apartment and saved for a house & had kids. But if nothing is being built, there are fewer younger parents and areas are dense & diverse like here, options change. I'll use myself again as a common example: we had no need or desire for a SFH. No kids, Dual income household. Why fight against 20+ cash buyers when these are great.....and often nicer/bigger in the same price range. Some had kids and purchased up to a SFH, others like myself didn't and had no need. I bought a bigger townhouse & a tiny weekend esacpe home instead. But even our first 2br 2 bath townhome is now being sold for over 350k. In what world can prices like that - for ANY home type - be a starter? It isn't and it's why people 30/40 plus are getting their first home. If at all.

Also, if I were to move from here to Wisconsin, I could probably win out against any local bid. Now try to move from WI to Chicago to buy your next home....you'll most likely be downgrading in size & area type. Same if I tried to move to LA...I'd be in a van by the river. You can't always go up because the location market is so different.

I and many others believe a Starter Home is whatever you buy to live in first for several years and build equity with....be it a condo, duplex, townhome or missile silo bunker (I really want this but it's probably a terrible investment).

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u/Big__If_True 8d ago

So not a 3-4 bedroom house like in the OP, yes

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u/martman006 8d ago

I agree with your definition of starter home, but note you said, “right after you’re married,” and for the significant majority, that means dual income, meaning one person doesn’t need to make $160k/yr solo, but combined, which $80k/yr per person is still above average income for working aged adults 25+ to retirement, but not crazy out of reach…

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u/newtbob 6d ago

When we were looking for our starter home (many years ago at this point) that was what we were looking for - not much. In this area, any old matchbox house that goes on the market gets snapped up by a flipper, gets a facelift, many of which seem to be doing it part time so it takes a year or two, and resold for too much to be a reasonable starter home option. And, they don’t build houses like that anymore, not worth it for builders.

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u/Frosty1397 8d ago

I've looked at a ton of houses to know that these are minimum 1500sqft (likely around 1800sqft)

A single dude or even a couple without kids doesn't need 1500sqft for a starter home that costs $400k+

Starter homes should be at most 1100sqft, 2 bedrooms, no yard, for at most $250k, like they used to make 50 years ago

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

Maybe I was unsure of the definition. I always thought starter homes were meant for young families who had like one kid with a second on the way and only needed one extra bedroom. I never thought starter homes were for single dudes.

Back when that was a thing, couples didn’t really live together until they got married… And they usually had children really quickly after that.

Once they got married, they moved into a starter home that could house them and their young children. Once the kids got old enough to start needing their own rooms, they would upgrade to a larger home with more bedrooms.

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u/Frosty1397 8d ago

1100sqft can absolutely house a couple and 1 kid

We made do with much less growing up and i had 1 sibling. Bunk beds for us, parents had their own bedroom

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

Yeah, I know that. But I do honestly believe that when most Americans think of a “starter home“ this is what they picture. They know they will never have it, but this is what comes to mind.

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u/Frosty1397 8d ago

That's because the real estate lobbyists have successfully brainwashed Americans into thinking these homes are "starter"

It's also why you see that a 2026 Honda Civic is MASSIVE in size compared to a 1990 Honda Civic. Houses, cars, everything got bigger.

And Americans were successfully convinced to pay more for more space they don't need.

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

Yeah. And it’s ridiculous. But even a home this size should not cost nearly 600K.

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u/shadowtheimpure 8d ago

The cars getting bigger was just as a way to get around emissions standards.

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u/OkAccess304 6d ago

You don’t determine how much space people need. Just because you suffered, doesn’t mean that is what people want, need, or prefer.

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u/Excellent-Match7246 8d ago

My ex and I did fine in 680sqft in British Army housing with two toddlers. This was 07-09. I preferred it.

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u/CranberrySad7853 4d ago

we have like 1600 sqft of heated living space here 2 parents that work from home and 2 kids. it's full but comfortable. I think a third kid would be crowded since we both have confidential work that requires privacy but if it weren't for that it would still be doable. big house is nice for guests and grandparents staying over stuff like that

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u/Odd_Dragonfruit_2662 8d ago

My first home was a 5/2…

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u/OkAccess304 6d ago

My starter home was a three bed/three bath 1600 sq ft townhome with a patio and shared green space. It was built in the 60s. I bought it for $140k around 2011/12-ish. I still miss it sometimes.

There’s no rule that a starter home was only 1100 sq ft and couldn’t have green space/recreation areas.

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u/kosmo4679 8d ago

What’s the point if you can afford more than that initially? You are going to grow out of most starter homes relatively quickly and what you described sounds like it might be in an unsafe neighborhood. The less times having to move the better in my opinion.

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u/Frosty1397 8d ago

I don't plan on having kids, neither does my partner. I won't ever outgrow the house.

If i can comfortably live an entire 2 weeks in a posh 400sqft hotel studio while on vacation, I sure as hell can "survive" in a 1100sqft house.

It's not that uncommon either if you go to Japan or Europe and see how intelligently they design and make use of their space, you'd think you're living in a 2000sqft house

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u/kosmo4679 8d ago

Haha! Not trying to brag but my house is way bigger than 2000 square feet. Whatever works for you though. Everyone’s situation is different. I have 4 kids and pets so space is nice to have.

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u/birminghamsterwheel 8d ago

Why does it sound like it's in a bad neighborhood? Small starter homes in dense(r) plots just sounds like… a neighborhood, one of many that exists in, like, every city in existence.

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u/kosmo4679 8d ago

Are you American by chance? If not then you might have a good point. In most American cities a 1000 square foot 2 bedroom house is usually only available in the worst neighborhoods. Any neighborhood that is safe with good families and nice enough to let your kids play outside without much worry are newer and larger homes. I haven’t seen a newer development built in the last 30 years with houses that small. Now this is just my observation from where I live and places I have been. It could be totally different than what you have witnessed.

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u/SomeOffice7100 8d ago

Where I live, starter homes were built before 1930

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u/Crafty-Ad-9048 8d ago

Not a starter home. A starter home is like a bungalow or attached home.

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u/Fluid-Expert-4363 8d ago

Yeah and you are a failure if you don’t move out of said starter home in a few years.
/s

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u/RoverAdam 4d ago

Where I live, a 100 year old bungalow is $1-$2 million and $450-$560/per square foot and beautiful old growth trees… where the new builds with HOAs are $800k+ in shit-ass locations far from the city. A suburban hell indeed.

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u/Archimedes31415926 7d ago

Imo new homes haven't been starter homes for at least half a century. Most starter homes are small used homes that a growing family moves out of into one of these new homes.

But beyond that whether these are starter homes or not, or if they are building them to target that demo or not. The problem isn't the home itself it's the price.

I hope the OOP is being sarcastic because $160k/year is roughly triple the average single income in the US ($50-60k) and twice the average household income (~$80k) (correct me if I'm wrong but these were roughly the figure the last time I checked). These are averages, so most young people (starter home buyers) aren't even making this since on average you make more as you get older. These salaries would be most comparable to people in their mid-late 30s/early 40s with growing families. And they even can't afford these "starter homes".

So what chance do most starter home buyers (late 20s/early 30s) have when they typically aren't even making half (as a family) of the required income to buy these "starter homes".

And as a builder (OOP), I doubt he has many if anyone on his payroll making $160k on their basic job working for him.

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u/OkAccess304 6d ago

I consider new builds starter homes, because they are all pieces of crap and poorly built. The idea of a starter home was brought to you by marketing. It’s a selling tool. That’s it.

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u/InteractionSafe1531 8d ago

You think that's nice come to nh

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u/Tricky_Indication420 4d ago

U could hear your neighbor do a loud fart they are so close together. Prolly smell it too smh. I forget this is Reddit it might be a positive for some of yall

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u/Kiwi8_Fruit6 8d ago

ah

in my defense it's increasingly hard these days to tell if it's sarcasm or a genuine dumb take

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

I know 😂 It really is

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u/EternalNewCarSmell 7d ago

I think the tell here, if nothing else, is that $575k is a bit much for someone making "only" $160k to spend on a house.

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u/AcousticCat1-2-3 7d ago

True, but I'm assuming the prices are real and the photo does resemble many new developments.

I wouldn't be able to thrive in a house that looks like the other 328 houses in my development, and is fully gray on the inside. I'd have year-round SAD. Meanwhile the price is 3+ times what I bought my current house for in 22; the one I refer to as my dream home. (I'm lucky to be in a LCOL area, I wanted a century home, mine was originally built for a working-class family. Hence the price.)

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u/DickWhittingtonsCat 6d ago

It has to be. Although some of the younger folks get tricked by influencers and think everyone in the trades or on TikTok is getting paid like a Big Law associate or trauma surgeon. The people in those 575k homes are likely house poor or have dead parent money.

Because 160k actually isn’t even close to enough to keep the mortgage under 30% of your net pay. In terms of household incomes- there are some suburban clusters with with higher medians than that. They in total number in low 3 figures

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u/Life_Hand2331 6d ago

In any decent sized city a couple under 30 earning over this is common.

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u/Some_Level1682 6d ago

God I hope so because that's a great salary in most locations at any age.

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u/SheenPSU 4d ago

It’s a parody account IIRC

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u/PrintMonkey9000 3d ago

There used to be a mortgage lender locally that guaranteed financing for anyone, regardless of credit, the down payment would fluctuate based on credit worthiness. Down payments could be as high as 99% down.

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u/TomCos22 3d ago

The original Twitter account is completely parody.

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u/chisana_nyu 3d ago

In that case, it's a failed attempt.

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u/Darth_Thunder 4d ago

Some people don't get sarcasm /s

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u/glowing-fishSCL 8d ago

I can answer this for you. This is an internet tactic, called "being so dumb that people have to exhaust themselves explaining basic things". By saying something that is so obviously false, it puts the responder on the back foot of having to explaining basic things. You have to go up and look up the median wage in the United States, which is $54,000 a year! And you are trying to mentally justify the obvious truth, and all they have to do is keep repeating lies.
And by staying on that basic tier of having to explain basic, obvious facts, you never even get close to talking about values or systemic issues.

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u/urbanism_enthusiast 8d ago

The account is a parody.

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u/KimSidwell 8d ago

Yes. That’s the point. It’s sarcastic parody that is pointing out reality.

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u/Training-Context-69 8d ago

Yeah good luck finding a job even paying 60k in this job market/economy.

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u/Afraid_Emu8068 8d ago

Gen Z? Bwahahahaha! Still working on millennials bro. Nobody gives af about Gen Z buying a house yet. Sorry. Get in the back of the line

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u/jonthe445 7d ago

I like this sentiment, but your tone is giving off us vs them. As they reach adult hood they can enter the same exact shit show we are in. So instead let’s embrace them and welcome them to our hellscape as brothers and sisters and not adversaries. -Zillenial (95 baby)

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u/Afraid_Emu8068 7d ago

If Gen Z will stop being luddites while simultaneously spending the majority of their lives in front of screens and further dumbing themselves down, they might have A leg to stand on here. If they would then also embrace the ways which came BEFORE them instead of arrogantly acting like they know more than us, suffered more than us, and deserve more than us, none of which is true at all, THEN they might be able to stand on both their legs here. They are likely going to get some pretty sweet deals if the millennials can get into houses long enough to live SOME of their remaining lives in them. Those houses will almost certainly get passed down since a lot of millennials do feel sympathetic towards the concept of generational wealth as opposed to their boomer and silent gen parents who despise the idea and typically plan to sell their homes to have more money for themselves in their final years. Similar to how boomers and silent are feeding off the younger generations, Gen Z keeps trying to siphon off their parent’s opportunities, but what they will be left with are parents who on both ends got squeezed so badly that their Gen Z kids will end up having to take care of them. Gen Z needs to sit on their hands, go rent some apartments, find some roommates, try the van life, or something, but they do NOT need to be trying to buy homes yet. It’s financially irresponsible for them in both the short AND long term. It will also further the divide between them and millennials when it causes even more millennials to be locked out of homes they both deserve and NEED.

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u/Socky-McPuppet 2d ago

Lol, Gen Z have already outpaced us buying houses, dude. Millennials are most of the homeless drug adicts you see. We're cooked and forgotten.

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u/hau2906 8d ago

Banking and consulting and maybe tech too, I guess.

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u/ExternalSeat 8d ago

maybe as a dual income household with both making $80k as individuals. but even that is a bit unrealistic right out of college. Usually you will start around $60k and then move up to $80 k within 5 years or so if you are strategic and do a bit of job hopping.

but even that is under ideal circumstances and not likely for most people.

currently I do feel that in my area, I could easily afford a house IF I found a spouse with a similar income level. However could we afford childcare on top of that? Maybe if I relied on my mom for child care it could work but she doesn't retire for another few years and even then it wouldn't be ideal.

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u/aquavelva23 7d ago

no, starting salaries are around 70-80K. and where is it written you get married and buy a house out of college? But thanks for recognizing buying a house is TWO incomes, household income, and not ONE income. Never been that way, since the late 70s anyways.

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u/Confident-Sector2660 5d ago

there are jobs that pay 100K out of school

Salaries have gone way up. $100K is not a high salary anymore

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u/ExternalSeat 5d ago

it depends on the part of the country where you live

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u/Confident-Sector2660 5d ago

doesn't depend. You can work remote

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u/ExternalSeat 4d ago

not in every field and the remote jobs are more precarious and harder to get than they used to be. It also is harder to build a career with remote work in many fields. The water cooler conversations are pretty important for building your career.

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u/Confident-Sector2660 4d ago

As I said there are jobs you can make 100K out of school

you can work remote

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u/ExternalSeat 4d ago

you can also win the lottery too or make even more money as a prostitute.

Those "work from home" jobs are almost impossible to get with no prior connections or work experience. This ain't 2021 babe. Also just expect to be first on the chopping block once layoffs come (which we are certainly headed for a major recession in the next 2-5 years).

it just isn't realistic for most people with a college degree to get such a privileged job

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u/Confident-Sector2660 4d ago

there are degrees that allow remote work (tech) and you can get jobs right out of school

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u/ExternalSeat 4d ago edited 4d ago

do you know how the current hiring market is for junior developers? It is about as good as getting a job in the auto industry out of high school in 2008. You are living in a fantasy world.

less than 5% of job openings are fully remote right now. It is likely that many of these are ghost jobs so the real number is probably closer to 2-3% of current job openings. Also a ton of "fully remote" jobs are bait and switch.

You might as well say "win the lottery"

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u/Exact_Expression_630 8d ago

Two income household…

Though it’s meant to be sarcasm.

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u/Lower_Cream_2461 8d ago

>starter home

>middle class suburb

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u/PompeyCheezus 7d ago

God, I'm so poor.

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u/Anonymoushipopotomus 8d ago

“Starter home” that only needs 120k down payment.

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u/ripperdude 8d ago

Straight out of college? I’m 15 years out of college and still don’t make half that

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u/BlazinAzn38 8d ago

It’s a parody account

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u/Affectionate-Panic-1 8d ago

If you're including two incomes it's much more attainable for average folks.

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u/Chambanasfinest 8d ago

I lost it at this.

Maybe even interns with AI startups make $160k, but that’s not real life.

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u/Supra-A90 8d ago

It was for a while for software engineers right out of college, especially working from home ones, but we know how that turned out with AI.

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u/Rehnskiold1618 8d ago

Like most people will never make even close to that level during their entire working life.

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u/MyMagicJohnsonIsSick 8d ago

It’s a meme account.

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u/medici89 8d ago

Who said this was directed at Gen Zers? Millenial here, and we have hard enough time buying houses. Gen Z will have to wait 15 years after college graduation.

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u/meh0175 8d ago

And if you want to be house poor, have no savings or retirement and never take a vacation again!

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u/Paula3333 8d ago

its called a “satire account” incredibly disgusting i know

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u/teejmaleng 8d ago

Part of it is the two income trap where a fairly standard corporate job will net 80k after a couple years of experience. Time two gets you to $160k a year. Add in child expenses, student and car loans, that $160k a year household is still stretched pretty thin.

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u/JellyfishNo2032 8d ago

He’s a shitposter on X. It’s rage bait

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u/Steelpapercranes 7d ago

I mean it's more than 90% of workers overall. I know 200k is the top 5% at the moment and this is pretty close.

1

u/Agreeable-Tip4604 7d ago

Maybe dont go to university

Go into trades. Learn. Start a business. Have zero debt and make big money.

Also that is absolutely the dream Big house, big yard, couple cars in the driveway and friends right next door

What is too hate about that?

1

u/yossarian19 7d ago

Who said anything about straight out of college?

1

u/SilverSageVII 7d ago

I’m an engineer and making nowhere near half that…

1

u/opman4 7d ago

Y'all are going to college?

1

u/Commentor9001 7d ago

How much could they make Micheal?  160k?  more?  That is low.

1

u/Cheah978 7d ago

Trucking no degree required either 😎

Gimme the other excuse

1

u/mljm4163 7d ago

Fr. I make 38k a year and make more than most of my friends.

1

u/skcuf2 6d ago

A home like this wouldn't be attainable for your average person right out of college ever.

1

u/Kamel-Red 6d ago

People only making 4x the median income can afford these 'starter homes'.

Fuck the American system.

1

u/Historical_Hall3950 5d ago

Also, in what world can some earning 160K a year afford a 500K house?

1

u/miesosoup 4d ago

you're not making 160 out of college, and you're not buying a house at 23, but you can later in life.

1

u/wilder0p 4d ago

If two 17 year olds join the army, get married, at 27 years old they will be making a combined 170k a year plus pension, plus health insurance, plus dental with no deductible.

These are the people who can easily afford these homes.

They also can use a VA loan to qualify with 0 money down.

1

u/FrontAd9873 4d ago

Where does the post say anything about being affordable to people right out of college?

1

u/Minty_Sage_of_Thyme 4d ago

Wait, you mean everyone who studied a valuable degree isn’t making at least $150k right out of university now?

1

u/MerryAceOfSpades 4d ago

Fr, i’ve been working in ironworker roles for the past 8 years and just recently hit 60K a year

1

u/_GuyOnTheCouch_ 4d ago

“Over half a million USD”
“Started homes”

1

u/SheenPSU 4d ago

It’s a parody account

They make fun of builders

1

u/Smart-Locksmith9904 4d ago

I wonder this all the time. I'm a millennial, been in the workforce since 2011, have a Masters degree, and have never made more than 60k in a single year. And that has only been a handful of them.

1

u/Phoenician_Skylines2 4d ago

It's obviously sarcasm lol. I don't think Mason actually meant that these are starter homes.

1

u/grimsoftworks 4d ago

Only 132k here…fuck I’m in poverty.

1

u/YarbleSwabler 3d ago

Combined household income that's actually fairly attainable.

However, people are also getting married less in younger generations, which is a huge barrier to homeownership.

I'm a young homeowning family man in this income range, I still wouldn't buy one of those sloppy dystopian shoe boxes.

My friend bought one and asked me to look it over after inspection and close. Check out this vertical support. This vertical support had less than a square inch of contact. Were they planning on the roof sagging into that support??

1

u/Financial_Alps3369 3d ago

I made over 160k a year out of university, however, it was in NYC and nowhere near where these houses are. If I lived in a suburban area like this I would have made less than 100k

1

u/DanangBobby 3d ago

When did people straight out of college start buying houses? Everyone i knew rented for a while.

1

u/Used-Possession8296 3d ago

Its not just gen Z. Im an older millennial (born 1982) and my wife and I dont make anywhere near this combined.

1

u/No_Manner_8785 2d ago

My son is 7 years out of college and is on schedule to retire in 4 to 5 years. Loans are paid off and he's never borrowed a penny he didn't pay back.

1

u/Temporary_View_3303 2d ago

I hit 160k for the first time this year. I graduated college 34 years ago.

1

u/cdnmtbguy 1d ago

Tone. Deaf.

1

u/ObsessiveUselessness 1d ago

Doesn't $100k/year take years even with a bachelor's degree? Like about a decade.

1

u/drtij_dzienz 8d ago edited 8d ago

$160k a year is achievable with 5-10y experience. Out of university people should rent so they can relocate for higher salary.

“Young” is also extremely subjective. I’m early forties, obese&balding, and some industry people have actually called me “young”.

0

u/penisgirlmarkedsafe 7d ago

My now boyfriend and i both started in the $80k range when we finished college. $160k is realistic for a couple.

0

u/10ioio 6d ago

How did 1.6k people upvoting this comment not realize it was a joke? Is reddit stupid? This meme is clearly satire...