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It's very complex of course. The economy might feel different here in the Detroit area than it does in the Bay area or rural Oklahoma. It migh feel different at 26 compared to 46. White collar, blue collar, etc. Things here in Metro Detroit are the best I've ever seen. I was born in 82 so missed the glory post war days but things are booming here.
When I bought my second house in the 80s, the interest rate was 14 %. I am now in my 6th house and made money on every one as they got bigger and in better neighborhoods. People don't look for starter homes now so builders don't build them. They want to start off in that 3BR/3B 2500sf in a great neighborhood.
Houses are expensive, no doubt. But the MEDIAN house is not a starter home. And that's somewhat part of the problem...many young people would gag at many starter homes they could potentially get into much, much sooner than the median priced home in their given area.
The numbers give a snapshot of an area.
I want to, but that's more about just wanting my knees, hips, wrists, etc. not to hurt all the time.
Funny, my rent in 1990 was $700/mth for the two bedroom. Decent apartment for a single dude.
Slave driver. Let them take some vacations...haha
Good point. If all of these struggling youngsters had just put their lawn mowing and babysitting money in NVDA 10 years ago, they'd all own McMansions.
I won’t do the math but I’d trade places to be 18 years old again. All day. **** owning a house, give me my youth back.
Yep.
I didn't say starter home prices have stayed low. I said median homes are not starter homes. By definition, starter homes are priced lower than median homes.
our first house, bought in 2001, was built in 1900. It wasn’t small but really not ideally set up. We used one of the bedrooms as our closet, as the closets were barely large enough to fit a broom. IIRC our mortgage payment was around $800 but that included escrow. That’s 34 years ago
Enough to pay my mortgage for the year.
This is what my wife (then GF) and I did when we graduated in 1997. We rented cheap 1 BR places together for 5 years. Then we moved to expensive cities (SF, NY) and paid way more to rent, but still lived frugally and saved money. Despite coming to a cheaper geography (Chicago) in 2005, we didn’t buy a house until 2010 because the market was in a bubble (and I had followed the FBGs Housing Market thread thanks to TGunz). Over the course of that entire 13-year period, we saved 20% of our pre-tax income, not counting 401k as savings. We simply lived cheaper than other people. Took a limited number of trips. Didn’t go out to as many restaurants, and when we did they weren’t expensive. Rarely went out to bars. Etc.
I will say, I hope everyone here making that stonk money has also set-up a ROTH or 529 or something equivalent for their kids.
Yes! And think of how rare that is now.
History has probably been the kids do the same as the parent. Right?
Generally true. The Fed is doing a lot of dumb things that distort the market, so who knows?An inverted yield curve is not usually an indicator of good things to come....
I have two kids. One of them, I could toss him $100K right now and he'd set himself up for life with prudent/boring investing. The other one I don't think I would trust with anything more than gas money. I know exactly where you're coming from, but parenting is hard sometimes.
My son turns 25 this month, bought a home with his new wife last year
My daughter and SIL are renting. They don't want to purchase a home until they have at least 20% to put down so they don't have to pay the mortgage insurance. I told them about FHA loans, which is how I and my wife got started in the late 90s and the accountant husband said nothing doing. They don't want that much debt. Can't say I blame them given housing costs nowadays.
I hear you about the kids being different. Can always make a Roth or something and just not actually put it into their name until you think they are ready/earned it. But yeah a car and education is a great head start. Ultimately, they have to step up too.
That represents a 9% yield (gross) on their investment. Figure after taxes, insurance and minor maintenance 6.5-7% yield.
for the house I’m in now, for the first few years, just to make ends meet.
Marry the house, date the rate?
First house I bought was an absolute dump in the hood. I never lived there. Slept there a few nights. Did some DIY repairs and sold it for a small profit.
This, so much this.
You are part of the problem. Pay those people a living wage.
Rural Texas is really a steal due to the tax structure. If you don't have kids especially. Throw a remote job that pays ok and you can rake.
Two things happen, neither are good for you-
Sounds like the last several pages are moot.
By that logic people these people would be better off getting paid $2/ hour, this wouid ensure they keep their jobs and prices on things would drop like a rock. Very surprising to see these workers not demand this type of pay decrease.
Can't agree with this. There are necessities and then there are niceties.
Not sure why you're bringing up a trip to Hawaii, that's not what a living wage implies.
The lack of employee vacations implies they are not earning enough to have any disposable income. I consider some disposable income a necessity for mental health.
The employees in question are an entry level position, and we pay $3/hr more than anyone else in the state. They are making over 50k to start, with zero experience.
Yes, that's exactly true. When you are first starting your adult/work life you are establishing yourself. Your income is dedicated to taking care of necessities.
It seemed to be. I don't think @massraider is saying that his employees don't accrue vacation time, just that they aren't taking "getaway" vacations.
