1950s: – Two people working retail could afford a starter home.
1970s: – Two people working retail could afford a starter home.
Today: – Two people working retail can afford a starter home. . . . except now that home i sin a rotten neighborhhod with rotten schools so they don’t even consider it.
We don’t have a housing problem, an affordability problem, an interest rates problem etc…
We have a crime and schools problem.
I don’t believe it is that simple and straight forward. Housing affordability varies greatly by State.
Usually driven by poor economic/taxation policies and excessive regulation in the more expensive states.
What specific excessive regulation are you referring to?
Thank you for that. Very good read. Seems like a small number
You mean like Williamsburg 25 years ago
Or bushwick today?
Gentrification destroys the entirety of your premise.
Name a US city.
I’d bet if we found the time either one of us could document there are affordable starter homes in the city, the same exact spot where the greatest gnerartin and the baby boomers bought starter homes
I’d bet we could find that those same homes often renovated are “affordable” above means still affordable to a young couple today working McJobs (just like in previous generations.)
3.) I’d bet many young people living in that metro area say “Homes are not affordable today” they are not considering those same homes in those same cities . . . and the reason they don;t cosndier those homes is becasue of crime ans schools.
It’s an unpopular opinion because it isn’t true.
We have housing affordability problems, crime, and school problems.
Just compare the regulatory environment, including government mandates, in the most expensive states against the less expensive states. The list is damn near endless.
Housing pretty much tripled locally because stupid people from Cali and Ny came in paying Cali and NY prices rather than TN prices.
Young people looking to buy their 1st home suddenly cannot afford one!
Affordable home in LA.
The same exact home that ther grtest genreation and the baby boomers used as a starter home.
The same exact home is still avialabe and the price is still affordable to two McWorkers (one part-time)
Are homes not affordable in LA?
Or have the neighborhhods gone to ■■■■ and young people (rightfully) refuse to consider buying them
The homes are there.
The homes are affordable.
Why won’t today’s generation buy a starter home in the same affordable neighborhood previous generations did? It’s not that the homes don’t exist. It’s not that the homes are unaffordable.
That’s not a rhetorical question. I will repeat it for emphasis.
Why won’t today’s generation buy a starter home in the same affordable neighborhood previous generations did?
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never considered “starter home” and “new construction” to have much Venn diagram overlap.
Why do you think those baby boomers left those homes and moved to the suburbs?
I have the true definition of a starter home. First of all it isn’t even a house. It’s a trailer I bought off of repossession before the mortgage company moved it (moved it myself) for 13,000 dollars. That’s a real starter home.
Now will it ever build me equity? Of course not. But what I can do with it is when I’m able to upgrade to a small house I can rent this trailer out and cover most of my mortgage payment on that future house with it.
Just saying … When you are ready to move, someone else who was in your position would likely be glad to have a starter dwelling for 20K. (Or even for 13K plus the cost you spent to have it moved, if you would let it go for that price.) Or, as you suggest, it generates rental income for you (which goes toward the income that will qualify you for your next home.)
The thing is, most people in our consumeristic culture want a “starter home” that comes out of Better Homes and Gardens. You had the vision to settle for something that was cheap to get into, and counter-cultural. But maybe it’s the culture that needs to change. The home posted at the top of the thread was a common starter home in our grandparents’ culture. Now even that gets bypassed (never mind a mobile home.)
This market still has multiple ways for the starter family to get into their own real estate. Each usually involves some level of work, or sacrifice, or re-adjustment of expectations.
My advice would be to buy a 4-unit property, rent out three units and live in the 4th. It’s not hard to find one where the three rents cover the mortgage (or close to it). But it takes the extra work of being a landlord. The rental income helps the buyer qualify for the mortgage. (For many lenders, it’s 75% of the current rental income that goes toward qualification. That’s serious money!)
You are probably correct.
Chicken
Egg
I watched 20k people keep 40 million on their knees and they did it for almost 100 years.
It doesn’t take many, especially if others profit from it.
@Guilds knows.
