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Baby boomers are becoming homeless at a rate ‘not seen since the Great Depression’ (moneywise.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/usa@lemmy.ml
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[+] -74 points 3 years ago (28 children)

I still everyone thinks that boomer`s houses magically built themself and cost nothing. No interest was payed for the loan and the time there where built money rained from the sky.

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  • [–] 59 points 3 years ago

    Tell me more about how you want every to know that you know nothing about the changes to monetary policy, socio-economic issues, or regulatory change that has happened since the mid-70's.

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  • [–] 53 points 3 years ago (12 children)

    If you think that, I know you're unfamiliar with the economy and real estate.

    They bought them, yes. In fact, they had higher interest rates! My dad's first mortgage in the 80s was at 17%...but the loan was less than 2 years of his salary which made his payments pretty easy. Now I'm expecting to have to pay 5-6x my salary for a similar home.

    And to get ahead of some rebuttals: adjusted for inflation, I am making more than he did at the time so it's not that. And the homes I'm looking at are in less desirable neighborhoods than I grew up in so it's not that either.

    Furthermore, his parents' generation wasn't hoarding real estate for Airbnb rentals.

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  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Also, there has been a drop in new housing construction since 2008.

    There was a massive multigenerational push to build new housing, with government agencies either facilitating new construction with infrastructure or helping to fund its construction.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Do you mean new housing as in individual stand alone houses, or does that also include multi unit apartment buildings?
    I only ask because in the old area I used to live in it seemed like they were building new apartments left and right. Meanwhile as far as houses go I would be inclined to agree, as I haven't really noticed any new construction going on. But that's just in the area I live now. It'd be interesting to see nationwide numbers.

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  • [–] -4 points 3 years ago

    if he bought his first home in the 80's then your dad is a really young boomer to. or waited awhile for some reason. anyway there is a different with each generation over the 20 year span. not that it makes much of a difference when things are great. just older boomers had it a bit better even. The basic pattern is the younger the worse you have it if you where born in the 70's or later. I really can't fanthom why people are still having kids.

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  • [+] -8 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    Hey wasn’t Airbnb started by millennials?

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  • [–] 8 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Hey wasn't Ford started by Henry Ford? It's an equally relevant question.

    Are you a boomer going for some sort of gotcha here or something? Karl Marx could have started Airbnb and it wouldn't change the situation we're in now so...what does it matter?

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  • [+] -6 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    The point obviously is that the relentless attacks on “boomers” conveniently and consistently leaves out that Gen X and Millennials are the landlording generations, who have grown up with cheap money.

    Buy to let didn’t really take off until interests rates fell in the late 90s

    But this doesnt fit the narrative, and would leave you looking like fools tricked into fighting a generational war, instead of the criticising government policy like the savvy individuals I’m sure you all are. 👍

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    But you're the one inserting a generational war here, not me.

    I was explaining the difference between buying a home in the 80s and buying one now and why boomers DID have it easier in that regard because you made a dumb joke about young people thinking boomers got free houses. Then in response you pulled out some unrelated millennial bullshit...? I didn't even say BOOMERS held the rentals...I said prior generations weren't hoarding real estate.

    Neither of your replies have addressed the comments you replied to. You just kinda made up an enemy to argue with.

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  • [–] 21 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Money does rain from the sky if you properly tax the rich.

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  • [–] 15 points 3 years ago

    Nobody with a brain believes that straw man.

    The topic is complex and nuanced but it isn't hard to see that, say, single family homes are harder to afford now versus in the past by several measures.

    Here are some examples articles...

    https://anytimeestimate.com/research/housing-prices-vs-inflation/

    Though the title of the following sounds like it disproves me until you get to the part about wages not keeping up.

    https://www.supermoney.com/inflation-adjusted-home-prices/

    Now compare the rise in the median price of a home to the median income of Americans.

    if you adjust for inflation, the median income of Americans has only increased by 33%. The median housing prices, however, have increased by 60%. It’s even worse when you look at the income of younger adults. For instance, the median income of people between 25 and 34 only increased by $30 in 44 years (1974 to 2017). It’s no wonder homeownership rates among Millennials are lower than for previous generations.

    Particularly in the last few years things have gotten worse.

    https://cnn.com/cnn/2023/08/24/homes/home-affordability-worst-since-1984/index.html

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  • [–] -5 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    People also fail to factor in the difference in ameneties between boomers' 2 bedroom, single floor, no-garage house vs what people demand today

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I'm actively searching for a house to buy - smaller than the one that what I grew up in - and while you're right about people wanting more space, it does not matter. Homes are disproportionally more expensive than they were in the 80s

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    The house I grew up in is now worth 1.4 million dollars.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I was going to include house much they sold it for a few years ago but I didn't think it was a fair comparison because they added a second floor

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    It's the thing I use to hammer home the idea that our lives are dramatically worse than our parents. I could not dream of paying that mortgage but my mom could pay it as a single mother of two because they bought it in the 80s for 300k and engineer salaries allowed them to pay it.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    Is it demand or is it a question of builders wanting to maximize profits by building larger homes vs small starter homes?

    https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/what-is-a-starter-home

    Data from the Census Bureau shows that 40% of homes constructed in 1980 were considered entry-level homes. In 2019, only 7% of homes were entry-level, according to a 2021 report from Freddie Mac, and almost every state is building fewer starter homes.

    “Because of the cost of labor and supplies, builders are mainly focused on building more expensive homes, since it no longer makes sense for them to build more affordable homes,” Carlton says.

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