Featured Possible future vice president J. D. Vance introduces bill to promote gas-powered vehicles

blackrock?

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Keep in mind- raw demographics says that in about 10 years the USA will have too many homes for its population. Sometimes an excess supply translates to low prices.

The trick is that I think we will see a good bit of housing stock become undesirable/unmaintainable/uninsurable in certain warm and low-lying regions, on a very similar time scale.

So there's a good shot at housing prices stalling or even falling- but it's going to be very unequal in terms of location.

 

Right now I guess I could move to Michigan and find an affordable house. I just don't know of any other reason. In 10 years I'll be 62. We'll see what happens I guess.

 

Ask your relatives if they felt the $60,000 was too much at the time. My dad thought anything over 10,000 was too much money. It usually has been jumping in at what can be safely handled with payments, and it’s considered a home not a stock investment, later on it’s paid for and the price has gone up. Prices will rise and fall but the home is still a home to live in with it slowly being paid off. A 15 year mortgage puts you at a normal retirement age with no house payments. Yes it seems tough to do and handle now. There could be a recession maybe then it becomes a better entry point.

 

in my 70 years of existence, housing prices have never fallen in desirable areas around here. they have flattened for a few short periods of time though.

 

we have state cap gains that have to be paid, even when under the fed limit. same with inheritance taxes

 

I know the answer. It was a good deal. Not too much. Low enough to handle. And they've paid it off and still live there.

Safely? I make enough here to afford a $120,000 home. I could have gotten into some government assisted, deed restricted, housing a year or so ago for $200,000, but I didn't make enough, and that's working full time in the same job for the past 15 years. I could go find another job that with time will pay more, but I'd probably have to start at minimum wage.

That means I need a house now if I want to have it paid off by retirement. On the other hand, if I could just lock in a fixed payment, that would be great too. You never know what rent will do. It has doubled and tripled, sometimes more, since COVID.

 

I wrote safely just because this is an internet forum and all. Jumping in may require not complete safety, but more or less safely. People jump in and lose their houses thinking they could stick to a planned budget but don’t. Of course rent is 100% not paying off anything, as you know. Plus the uncertainty in many ways. A mortgage can almost always be had, at a price. A lot of these house flippers are out there with high interest rates and in this good market have been saved by the demand and prices.

 

The thing is, if mortgages in my area are over 100% of my income, then no, the mortgage cannot be had. And if it's more than some 30 to 50% of my income, then it will be necessary to count on renting out rooms to make it work. And there's always the chance that the market flips and then you end up loosing those necessary renters. A $120,000 mortgage works out to around 25% of my income including all taxes, HOA fees, insurance, etc. So if the cheapest homes are around 3 times that, that's about 75% of my income. I guess I could work 2 full time jobs.

 

I know a number of people who are completely exasperated by the housing costs. Single people with children, etc. I guess I was trying to give a pep talk. Don’t give up I guess it is.

 

Lest we forget & it was previously brought up - affordability is w/in reach via roomies. Getting roommates has gone on for probably a century or more. Remember the 1951 sci-fi clasic, "The Day the Earth Stood still"? Where the human looking alien Klaatu escaped from the US Army & hid out in a boarding house?
Or do we now think our deflated dollar should still buy what it used to buy in 1970 - a 3 bedroom in Suburbia.

 

Ya, but when you already have a family consisting in a housewife and two children who are either under age or not ready to move from home yet, getting a house and renting the other bedrooms to roommates seems a bit awkward to say the least.

That, and there are no basic one or two bedroom starter homes. You either buy the two story with three or four bedrooms and a two car garage in Suburbia or go homeless. Why can't we take a home, divide it into a duplex and sell those to lower income families, instead of expecting everyone to get roommates?

 

in my parents day, it was two and three generations in the same house, or a two/three family

 

I only know two people who have done well by staying in the same job for more than four years.

I'm one of them, and it is because I own a significant fraction of the company that has employed me for the past 12 years. The other is my brother-in-law, who has a local government job.

My best friend spent 17 years working for the same company, and when it folded he was out in the cold overnight.

It's really rare for me to hear about anyone my age getting a useful raise or promotion from their employer. Virtually all the good progress reports come from those who jumped ship.

 

that's what we're seeing with our children. companies are more reluctant to pay more for the devil they know than the devil they don't.

 

That's right. The more they know about you, the more they can use against you. But if you're the new unknown thing? You get a free pass, and when combined with talent and some luck you can turn that into a big payday.

 

So you're saying I should go in halves on a house with, say, my brother and his family?

That's what I've heard too. I haven't seen any better paying jobs I can do, but maybe in another state or something.

Again, why do politicians what to get people cars when what we need are houses? Or will I be able to use this to buy an RV and plot of land where I can park my RV?

 

better to buy it yourself and charge them rent. when we buit our first house, my parents really tried hard to talk me into a two family.
and honestly, i've seen a lot of people start that way, and buy more and more of them. they have done very well for themselves.

 

a lot of politicians talk about housing, and some try do do things to help. there's been nothing but building homes, condos and apartments around here since the 70's, but it seems that demand cannot be satisfied.
we need to build on all of our farmland, and import cheap food from china.
that would save a ton of water and fertilizer at the same time.

 

I just found a duplex with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom on each side for $400k, which is pretty much the cheapest house on the market right now around here. However, it looks like it probably should be condemned. It's not in great shape, the stucco is falling off and the roof is sagging. It also comes with HOA fees. I'm also not sure where I'd get the down payment either. I'll think about it. Sadly, this same building was for sale for $100k before the pandemic and I didn't jump on it then.