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Baby Boomers not Millennials are to blame for poor housing recovery

ElNino

Member
i mean being able to go out any night of the week and being able to find some small venue with a great lesser-known band in town just for the week, with 20+ options on weekend nights

just can't do that in the burbs
Possibly not. But the 'bubs also allows me to to be within 30 minutes of several nice golf courses and a few decent locations for snowboarding.

When I was in the city it was well over an hour in traffic to get out to the courses, or dealing with 6+ hour rounds at the shitty municipals.
 

ElNino

Member
Generally better performance outcomes, better amenities for playgrounds / sports, larger classrooms with less students and usually more engaged parents. Minor metrics.
This was a large factor in my wife and I choosing our home location as well. However, with my older son at least, his public school experiences have been inconsistent and so we are now considering a private school for him.
 

AP90

Member
I hear you - but I would point out, young boomers would have taken the smaller house in many cases. I mean have you seen post-WW II (or even Vietnam) bungalows? they're pretty tiny. not that this absolves anything market-wise.

I don't have kids, but we're in a 3 bedroom / 2 bath house now, that's pretty small by exurb standards, and it feels actually a bit too big for me. and yeah too much to clean! I grew up in a 3 bed / 1.5 bath place with my sister and it was totally ok.

I hear you to man. It's not just the cleaning, but the utility bills, upkeep and etc all factor into the cost. I was ontop of it while we were looking and asking the sellers there typical electric and heating costs in the summer and winter. As it does get overlooked.

We were looking for a home that was just big enough to grow with a family so that we wouldn't have to buy another home again in 5years like my brother will have to do, which he will then have to burden the selling expenses purchasing expenses again, not including the moving expenses and time lost reconfiguring and setting up your home.

Because in New York, buying and selling is absurd 2-3month process.. We purchased our house without a realtor to help save on the cost/fees and closed I'm 2months. It was a pain to stay on top of everything and ride the bank/under writers so that the deadline was not delayed. Wish our state had a 2week turn around like some other states =/.

EDIT: And we were very fortunate that my folks let us move in for a little over a year so that we could save more quickly...(it did put a strain on our sanity as you have to live under someone else's rules again after living on your own, but it was definitely worth it in the end.)
 

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
I just need me a detached two bedroom 1000 Sq foot house. I'd be fine with a townhouse honestly if the walls weren't paper thin. Don't want to spend 30 years listening to my next door neighbors arguing.
 
My wife has been looking at options for our next house here in town, whelp, those nice houses are just not going up for sale. So our next house will most likely have 1 more bedroom, same amount of land, and an expiration date of 5 years until we purchase another one.

On the other side of that, our current house will become a rental income for use, same with the next smallish house.
 
what exactly do burb schools have/not have that differs from urban schools

Better teachers, more honors/AP courses, better resources, larger number of arts offerings, more intramurals, high parental involvement, smaller classroom size, more field trips, etc.... Since property taxes are used to fund schools the better the neighborhoods the schools pull from the better funded the school becomes.

I currently live in a townhouse in what has become a trendy area. It's made up almost entirely of young married couples and older couples. Once the young couples have kids they look to move because the school system here is awful, pretty much failing grades all around. It's why we are moving. I'll take a little extra commute to the city for great restaurants and the arts if it means my children will get a much better education and learning environment.
 
what exactly do burb schools have/not have that differs from urban schools

Generally, smaller class sizes, more money for amenities, and somewhat better pay for teachers. That said, a teacher that connects with students and actually cares is above and beyond anything that a well funded school can provide without. Thus, mileage may vary, but typically you're getting a good return on investment.
 
Much like "Baby Boomers aren't retiring so Millennials can't move up" this is a really stupid take because if that was required the system is broken. They need more housing, especially cheap housing. If Baby Boomers are responsible for anything it's draconian land use laws.
That is required.
 

sikkinixx

Member
My folks did their downsize and made an absolute killing in this Vancouver shit show. Moved a few hours away to the Sunshine Coast, got waterfront property where they can retire. They did their typical boomer move.

I honestly wish i was 10 years older than I am now. Could have bought a decent house in a decent area for a decent price that would now be worth double what I paid. Instead we have to leave because prices are astronomical. Fucking sucks man.
 

Gattsu25

Banned
Add that to the long list of things that boomers blame millennials for, but it's actually their fault

I...don't really blame Baby Boomers for this though.

They are holding onto their investment instead of getting a second mortgage on it and defaulting or selling.

Congrats?
 

Brokun

Member
My folks did their downsize and made an absolute killing in this Vancouver shit show. Moved a few hours away to the Sunshine Coast, got waterfront property where they can retire. They did their typical boomer move.

I honestly wish i was 10 years older than I am now. Could have bought a decent house in a decent area for a decent price that would now be worth double what I paid. Instead we have to leave because prices are astronomical. Fucking sucks man.

How many millions did they get for it? Lol

I live in Surrey and bought a house with the wife a few years ago. Even down here it's worth almost double what we paid.
 

KingV

Member
This is way too complex to simply say, "lol boomers"
It's honestly a pretty dumb hot take.
I mean, who is going to approach people and say, " Dear sir or madam in your 60s or 70s, please surrender your home and move in with relatives or an old folks home so young people can buy this real estate."
People are living longer, they're working longer, they're active longer, retiring later, and by default will want to live independently longer.

I think part of the problem is the recession having violently put the brakes on housing starts has reduced inventory and is now spiking demand. Demand spikes price, and a lot of young buyers are effectively priced out of markets that were once affordable even a decade ago. Combine this with what I think will be a very serious lack of construction labor and I don't see this letting up any time soon.


TBH, I think that the recession is more of this than any "boomers never move". A LOT of builders went under during the recession.

In some places it seems Ryan homes is almost the only builder.
 

Yoritomo

Member
Leaded Gasoline + Baby Boomers.

Fav conspiracy.

Could explain why so many fathers/parents of Gen xers and older millenials were absolute rage monsters.

Friends and I call it 70s dad syndrome.
 

Calamari41

41 > 38
Both the neighborhood I grew up in and the neighborhood that I just moved into are amazing, perfect places to raise a family - very safe, parks, pools, top schools, churches, everything. And both neighborhoods overwhelmingly consist of elderly couples in 4+ bedroom houses. I think that I helped break the dam in this neighborhood though because two others decided to sell to young families soon after we moved in. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that's because we paid a premium and made it a no-brainer to put their houses up for sale.
 

GONZO

Member
My lady and I are both Gen x and we actually just bought a 1,300SQ Ft. home in new jersey for $370K and it's already valued over that amount. The market in this area is steadily climbing. And we both agreed we didn't want to buy something huge since we really are only home to sleep since we both work and our hobbies take up a large majority of our free time. Eventually we'll be moving out of state so we welcome as much equity we can build up. I think Mcmansions and large homes in general are just not reasonable investments. More and more people are seeing the value in smaller homes which is helping drive the prices up as well.
 
My folks did their downsize and made an absolute killing in this Vancouver shit show. Moved a few hours away to the Sunshine Coast, got waterfront property where they can retire. They did their typical boomer move.

I honestly wish i was 10 years older than I am now. Could have bought a decent house in a decent area for a decent price that would now be worth double what I paid. Instead we have to leave because prices are astronomical. Fucking sucks man.


It's happening in Toronto too. All the Boomers are selling their homes in the GTA at ridiculous prices and buying bigger houses in the towns around K-W, London and Windsor. The problems in the big cities isn't Boomers it all the new money Chinese oligarchs coming in with lax real estate laws buying up all the property to turn into rentals to use as their investment vehicles.
 
I'm in one of those neighbourhoods from the 60-70s. Back in the 79s apparently there were 40-50 kids on the street alone.

Everyone stayed, but finally the older couples are moving on and new families with kids are coming back in.
 

LakeEarth

Member
It's definetly a seller's market in my neighborhood. Never does a 'for sale' sign go up without a 'sold' sign being slapped on it within a week or two. Even my neighbor's house with two kitchens (which is usually a deal breaker) didn't take that long.
 

Kill3r7

Member
Why would you downsize your expanding asset? You try and sell on the high, not on the upswing.

Boomers are also retiring later.

Rental prices are high and investors are keeping prices inflated.

A lack of housing in many instances is also a reason prices are high as this drives rental as well as purchase price.

Article just feel kinda click baity.

Agreed. They have no reason to sell, especially if the properties in question are paid off. Many municipalities have implemented tax exemptions or reduced tax rates for the elderly. Unless they are moving to FL or AZ there is little reason to sell.
 

br3wnor

Member
I think it has more to do w/ Boomers working/living longer than previous generations. If you’re 60, still working and your house is paid off, why are you going to sacrifice part of your retirement nest egg (profit from house sale) to downsize while you can still afford it? My in-laws live in a house they bought in 1995 for $200,000. It’s now worth a bout $550,000. My father in law is retired and my mother in law still works. They still have a mortgage but it’s totally manageable for now on their income. Yeah there’s maintenance on the house but they’re able to still handle it and they live in a great neighborhood. Wife and I also live in the neighborhood so they want to stick around for when we have kids. At some point, they will likely downsize to a condo or something, but for now the housing market is still booming in our area and they have incentive to stay so they aren’t going anywhere.

Housing is still going bonkers on Long Island with plenty of young people buying houses. The floor for houses in nice neighborhoods here is past $400,000 at this point so it’s dual income professionals or rich single income families doing the buying, but houses don’t last more than a week around us if they’re priced correctly. We were really lucky and got in just under the gun last April and were able to buy a house right on the limit of what we could afford. At this point our house would sell for probably $50,000 more than we paid for it and that’s w/ less than $10,000 worth of work put into it. Most of my friends have purchased homes in the past few years around other parts of the east coast as well. It’s taken longer than previous generations, but I think this coming decade you’re going to see a lot of millenials become home owners as more boomers get out of the job market and open up new slots for higher paying jobs.
 
I purposely bought a big house in the burbs for these reasons. I can host upwards of 50-100 people if needed and I spend about 15 minutes a week cleaning it because I always keep it clean so there is little upkeep. I'm on a 8,000sqft lot too, so lots of yard a pool and other stuff I take care of myself.. and that takes a few hours a week. However, I very much relax when I do the yards or clean my pool.

But you do make a good point, many people don't want the size. But where I live the housing market issue isn't about some mysterious "bubble", its simple supply and demand. There are way more buyers than houses, just like the article states. It is a real issue for sure.

My parents are boomers, but I can't blame them. They bought their home in 1980 for $90,000 and today its worth over $800,000. They paid it off a few years back so they are just sitting on this with no intention of selling. They'll leave it to myself and siblings to sell and split that cash once they're gone. Selling now, downsizing or most other options actually don't make much sense at all. I'm hoping I can do the same one day too, I don't plan on ever moving again.

This is how I feel.

Wife and I bought our home last year (3k SQFT / 4br2ba) - no reason to "upsize" no matter how much our income grows (unless one of us gets an insane job offer and we have money in the bank to rent a place).

Our home is already up $40k from what we paid for it last year. I wanna see that shit grow. There is nothing else I can think of that posts RoI's of that nature.
 

ElNino

Member
This is how I feel.

Wife and I bought our home last year (3k SQFT / 4br2ba) - no reason to "upsize" no matter how much our income grows (unless one of us gets an insane job offer and we have money in the bank to rent a place).

Our home is already up $40k from what we paid for it last year. I wanna see that shit grow. There is nothing else I can think of that posts RoI's of that nature.
Pretty much this. Our home has gone from $390k to $950k in just under 10 years. Considering capital gains on selling your primary residence is tax exempt, and it's (almost) a no brainer.
 
This. I have a 1000sqft townhouse condo and I love it. Big enough to have some room to move around, but small enough to get to any aspect of the house quickly and very easy to clean and maintain.


Can you not see that a family with 3 kids may have different space needs than yourself?
 
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