Posted on 08/15/2017 6:42:18 AM PDT by Lorianne
Older Americans own half of the houses in the market. Many are simply refusing to sell and others have adult “kids” moving back in since they can’t afford a place to rent or buy. It is a Catch 22 and many people are looking at countries like Italy where the number of adults that live at home is enormous. Multi-generational families just don’t coincide with the “rugged American” worldview where you go out on your own and you make it with your own two hands. Of course, many house humpers had mom and dad chip in but that doesn’t make for such a sexy story. In the end, however there are many baby boomers that simply are not selling. This is actually an interesting problem that is not going away.
Refusing to sell
Housing used to be a young person’s game. The U.S. housing market and to a large extent, the economy was driven by home buying and big ticket purchases. But that has definitely changed since the housing market imploded with the 2000s. It has also changed in terms of people marrying later, having fewer kids, and basically preferring to live in city centers versus suburbs. In other words, not a big need for McMansions.
The oldies but goodies are now occupying a larger share of housing:
Over half of homeowners in the U.S. are now 55 and older. And this figure is only going to grow over time. In places like California, the Taco Tuesday baby boomers own the housing market. This is just a fact and has kept inventory to a very low level.
But housing has gotten more expensive across all U.S. metro areas so this is a much larger trend. It has absolutely crushed the available inventory out on the market:
SNIP
“And who pays the tax when renting?”
The renter. Liberals always think there is free money, that someone else pays. We call those people “ignorant suckers”.
“You have to live somewhere. If you don’t buy a place then you rent. With a 30 year fixed mortgage you are locking in the monthly expense. Rent tends to increase with inflation. What tends to happen is the before long rent raises far above your old mortgage. I couldn’t rent an apartment for what I pay on my mortgage now. “
Excellent point. I pay in PITI less than someone renting a single bedroom home in Denver now.
The juvenile anti-owner crowd always forgets they are paying far more in rent than many people pay to own.
The average home in Denver is probably purchased around $180K, or about $1,400 a month in PITI. The average apartment is now $1,300. The PITI guy also gets about $250 tax savings, so he is paying about $1,150 total. Plus, he lives in a house of 1800 SQ/ft average with a yard, and the renting sucker lives in 740 sq/ft. The owner has property appreciating as much as he is paying monthly. The renter gets the privilege of paying more and more and more every year. The owner is locked in at $1,400.
“I asked a friend why the hell he agreed to crazy alimony and he said “for the tax deduction.”
I have a friend whose divorce attorney did it right: Alimony, she pays the taxes; child support, he pays the taxes. He pays her only alimony. Hilarious!
For me, I long for the day when I can retire and have all the time I want to do yard work and mow. That's therapy. Both physical and mental. As far as snow, we don't get any here. That I like.
Good point. When I retire, I will probably enjoy the yard work a lot more. With my Manhattan job, I’m not home until 7 or 8 at night and in no mood for yard work! Weekends are sacred and all I want to do in summertime is sit by my grill in the backyard with a few cold ones.
The author of this pointless screed looked right at that graphic and failed to comprehend it. Not impressive.
When I built my home in 2000, in eastern NC, my then neighbor and I split a 26 acre lot. He built two homes, one for himself, one for his daughter.
After about seven years they both moved. A nice couple and some of their relatives from NY city bought both the homes.
They come down about twice a year and stay for a week. They are suppose to be moving down when they retire. But they don’t appear to be spring chickens. If they don’t move soon, they may not be around to move.
Anyway, I’ve had no neighbors for around the past ten years. Just two nice vacant homes on the path that my wife and I live.
I remember that scene.
My blood boiled then too.
Hello, that is not the attorney, that is how it works. the wife pays tax on alimony as ordinary income, and not on child support.
“Hello, that is not the attorney, that is how it works”
I think you missed the point. Attorneys can argue for child or alimony. A good one argues for alimony. That went right over your head.
Had a finance professor tell the class: Say your tax rate is 15% ... you just spent $100 in interest to save $15 in taxes. How smart is that?
The smartest thing I ever did was to pay my mortgage OFF in 12 years instead of 30... Now, I still owe the county every year to keep what I paid off... got to keep that common core centers full staffed.
Trust me, there are plenty of FReepers who will tell you your professor is/was nuts.
I don't know why I try. But, try I must. It's just something in me (no, not drugs). But I must dream the impossible dream (a sane world). Fight the unbeatable foe (ignorance). To try when my arms (fingers, actually, from posting common sense replies to FR threads) are too weary. And to run where the brave dare not go (see previous).
135 K in Bozeman? You must have owned it for awhile. Just how small is it.
I spent almost 400K building mine in the Bitterroot 12 years ago, 3,200 sqft 3 bdrm 3.5 bath on 24 acres. 575K was the last appraisal but who knows anymore what anything is worth. We get no mortgage interest deduction as we owe so little. Would pay it off quicker but the spousal unit wants to travel. So it’s New Zealand for 5 weeks this winter!
Smoke is much better here the last several days btw.
Sounds like the people that think getting a big tax refund means they outsmarted the IRS or something.
No, it means that you just gave the government an interest-free loan.
We paid $189k for our house 20 years ago. Zillow has it over $400k. Someone scratch me out a check and You can everything except the photo albums and the cats including the cars. We’ll walk down the hill.
Cats are outside cats so they may convey.
Hey, thanks everybody for all the great stories. This thread was a fun read.
dear buttons,
re: “That’s the trouble with assisted living facilities, they NEVER ignore you.”
Down here in the bayous, not only do they never ignore you in an assisted living home, they will steal your $20 Timex, your meds, your pocket change, made darn sure when you fill out your absentee ballot you vote Democrap, and beat you if you don’t have those things they think they deserve.
In Texas school district taxes are about half of all the property taxes you pay.
The city is about 1/4
so... if the city and school are locked in only the county and/or possibly a local community college part is the only part that could go up which is only 1/4 of the total.
bfl
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