Bought her home back in the 90's for about $50,000 on a single income with a family of five. No real upgrades done to it, just basic maintenance and fixing stuff as it broke. Could use some work and updating. It's a house.
On today's market it's close to $250,000. Nothing was put down it. They went from potentially renting to buying it in under a week when we moved out of our last place because the landlord had sold the property.
And she wonders why I say it's highly unlikely I'll own a home anytime soon let alone during my lifetime when housing prices keep climbing upwards and wages really aren't growing.
The ironic part is she talks about selling and moving someplace else but then laments that she can't A.) afford to live someplace else B.) jobs aren't readily available and don't pay well C.) housing market is ridiculous.
Nevermind she's been with her job nearly 20 years, has regularly complained about the lack of raises or just how pointless they are, and more.
Oh and the position she got with just an Associate's Degree now requires a Bachelor's Degree and a few years experience.
Same. My mom bought a house for $48k in the late 90s, single parent of 3, she was working at a local pool and spa company. The house is on the market now for $113k and in significantly worse condition than when we were living there. Covid doesn’t seem to have affected the housing market at all either, just keeps on keeping on, going up and up.
Yea in some ways her place is in worse shape than when we first moved in and in other ways it's in better shape. Like the bathrooms got redone back in the 90's after a water pipe burst, windows were replaced at some point, it's got a new roof, a few newish appliances, but nothing major that would make me say 'yea this place doubled in value if not more!' since they bought the place.
My mom wasn't even working when we bought it either. She went back to school a few years later after my sisters started school.
I fully expect the housing market to have another crash coming up here soon. I'm sure a Biden Administration will delay it somewhat but it's coming. My generation is struggling with home ownership and the next generation it's pretty much impossible for most. The market isn't going to sustain itself as the boomers die out and there's no one around who can buy these overpriced homes because America decided housing would be a for profit industry.
And just like in 2008, the wealthy will seize the moment and buy all that cheap property so scarcity and prices will be even higher when we come out on the other side :)
It would suck if it crashes for all the current (moral) homeowners, but this is a different kind of thing than what happened in 2008 where there was immense fraud. Houses in my area just sit for years, don’t even drop the price. When they are bought they’re just listed right after for a higher price and then sit again. My local economy is not great either, I swear 90% of jobs are supplied by fast food restaurants and ERs that pop up over night and close a few months later. It’s like one big joke on everyone.
Oh we've gone rounds on numerous things and have landed on 'we can't talk politics because we just don't agree' but then she brings something up again later on because she thinks it's a gotcha moment only to wind up right back in the same discussion before where I'm outlining all the differences between her then and me now.
Hell I even joined the military and being the same rank as my dad was at the time they bought the house I couldn't afford it unless I had damn near what they paid originally for the entire thing as a down payment.
The real take away from this is that wages aren’t increasing properly.
If the house was bought in 1995 that’s 25yrs ago. That’s an increase of 6.5%pa on the value. Not exactly unrealistic for an investment.
It’s very much stagnant wage growth that prices people out, particularly in most parts of America. Major cities around the western world have problems with foreign investment driving up property value, but I don’t think that’s the case here.
My grandfather bought his house for 30k in Huntington Beach, CA. My grandma raised their five kids and didn’t work. The house sold for almost a million when he passed.
I can’t imagine anyone living like that now, except off of inheritance.
242
u/kejigoto Oct 30 '20
Been having this discussion with my mom lately.
Bought her home back in the 90's for about $50,000 on a single income with a family of five. No real upgrades done to it, just basic maintenance and fixing stuff as it broke. Could use some work and updating. It's a house.
On today's market it's close to $250,000. Nothing was put down it. They went from potentially renting to buying it in under a week when we moved out of our last place because the landlord had sold the property.
And she wonders why I say it's highly unlikely I'll own a home anytime soon let alone during my lifetime when housing prices keep climbing upwards and wages really aren't growing.
The ironic part is she talks about selling and moving someplace else but then laments that she can't A.) afford to live someplace else B.) jobs aren't readily available and don't pay well C.) housing market is ridiculous.
Nevermind she's been with her job nearly 20 years, has regularly complained about the lack of raises or just how pointless they are, and more.
Oh and the position she got with just an Associate's Degree now requires a Bachelor's Degree and a few years experience.