Posted on 01/23/2024 5:03:10 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
Baby boomers now own twice as many large homes as millennials with kids, Redfin reported.
Boomers don't have much financial incentive to downsize as millennials struggle to buy.
Land-use, tax, and other policies need to change, and many more homes need to be built, experts say.
Baby boomers whose kids don't live with them anymore are clinging to their large homes, making things worse for millennial families looking to settle down, according to a new Redfin analysis.
Empty-nest boomers now own 28% of homes in the US with three or more bedrooms — double the 14% that millennials with kids own, according to Redfin's analysis of 2022 Census data. There's no city in the country where millennial families own a larger share of big homes than boomers do. It's just more evidence of the massive advantage boomers have over millennials in the housing market, as prices have soared, mortgage rates remain high, and a shortage of homes persists.
Many boomers bought their large homes decades ago when they were much more affordable, even trading up for bigger houses later, said Jenny Schuetz, a housing policy expert at the Brookings Institution.
More than half of boomer homeowners don't have a mortgage.....
"They have no financial incentive to move," Schuetz said. "They're consuming a lot more house than they really need, but it doesn't cost them very much.".....
Staying in a large home as an aging empty nester isn't just a misallocation of the housing supply,
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
My family had a not so amusing incident.
My parents lived in a fancy CA condo a couple of doors down from another one of our relatives (cousin).
This was an exclusive resort where the police and paramedics are never seen—and are banned from sirens. The compound is protected by armed guards at the two entrances—so traffic is very minimal.
A cop car and ambulance shows up at the building so of course the cousins (and everybody else in the building!) quickly go out to see what is going on...
What they saw was my father had stab wounds and was being loaded on the ambulance.
Neither my father or mother ever said a word about it to anyone.
Fast forward a few years and both mother and father have passed away.
My sister and I decided to find out what happened. To make a long story short the local authorities and the condo association tried to stonewall us.
We hired a “Better Call Saul” junkyard dog attorney who sued the authorities and got them to provide us all documents in exchange for dropping the suit.
It turned out my senile mother had in fact stabbed my father.
She was arrested and sent for observation and review at a local mental hospital.
When she was arrested she denied everything and told the arresting officer “if I am lying you can kill me now”.
Amazing stuff—senility can get wild sometimes.
They'll complain that it's cheating or something, that there ought to be a waiting list for homes and that just because someone owns one now doesn't mean their kids get first dibs on it when they die.
-PJ
Yeah. That's where I am.
I did a non-cash out refinance a number of years ago. My mortgage payment is less than the lowest rental rate I could find for a one-bedroom apartment.
This is a far=fetched idea but maybe, just maybe, this situation has to do with the fact that boomers have worked and saved for over 40 years while millennials are in the early stages of their careers. At one time, us boomers were in the same relative position with respect to our grandparents and parents. We didn’t whine about it, like it would have done us any good as our grandparents and parents went through the Great Depression. We just sucked it up and went to work.
Exactly. Sacrifice. Live far below your means. Pay cash whenever possible. Relax during retirement.
That’s beautifully put.
The downsizing problem is the lifetime of stuff people acquire and what to do with it. While living it is their treasure, when gone it is someone's junk to get rid of and there is a lot of it.
The other problem, a bigger one, is some of us wait too long to downsize and by then we just don't have another move and all that goes with it in us.
There is probably a business opportunity for someone that can figure out how to efficiently and respectfully go through a life time of stuff and dispose of it but not in a landfill. Recycle and repurpose would be nice. After that someone would take care of all the relocation arrangements. It would be nice if there was an option to move into a downsized neighborhood that is not a ghetto but instead a single home retirement community with option for extended care / help. Dell Web is not the answer for me. If it is a problem and money can be made someone will figure it out. Money is the problem though. Capitalists want to make arbitrage level profits all at once then spring for the exit and the next boondoggle.
I lived in 2 of those WWII tiny box houses. 700 sq ft which included the enclosed carport making them 2 bedrooms. Could see the ground between the floor and walls so held together by imagination. Hubs would laugh about the bathroom saying he couldn’t turn around too fast or he’d be having whoopie with himself. The microwave was on top of the small fridge and I’d build shelves up around the ceiling and the stove for pantry space - honey, can you reach that can of corn for me. But we saved our money and were able to buy a foreclosed starter home. Maybe, just maybe, the authors could start out small and work they way up instead of jumping straight into a mcmansion. We’re still not in a mcmansion but are taxed like we are.
Well, uh, yes - that's the plan.
Governments in Europe are already discussing moving illegal immigrants into "extra" space in people's homes.
I think the Salvation Army will pick up stuff. I was helping my sister keep on eye the movers while boxing things up and putting them in the truck. She didn't want a few pieces of furniture so the movers called someone to come pick it up.
It should angry all Americans that value and understand things like freedom, limited government, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It should reacted to with revulsion and anger when government steps on our rights and freedoms.
this LENGTHY article by the ultra-hard-leftist Biz Insider is one gigantic lament that some people own more stuff than other people, and SOMETHING ought to be done to redistribute said stuff ...
interesting that they don’t dare mention the issue of those ultra-wealthy who own multiple homes and/or GINORMOUS palaces that have the most “unnecessary” bedrooms, but instead focus on the upper middle class ... after all, such mention would be biting the hands of the insanely-super-ultra-wealthy who are the ones most in favor of socialism [for other people, of course]
Great comment!
I think a lot of this comes from tax policy warping the market. California is the most egregious example because property taxes are locked in when the house was sold last. If you bought a house in the 70s for $20k that is now worth $1.2M and might happily downsize to a house worth $500k you aren’t going to because you would get hit with a massive property tax increase. It keeps a lot of homes better suited to families locked up with seniors who don’t need them.
Not the part I am talking about. I have done private treaty property purchase several times without a real estate agent.
KWYM. It is sad. Texas property taxes go up 10% every year. When we moved in, they were equal to 2 weeks of pay. Last year, it was 4 months, smh. Every year, taxes are a sore spot. Every dime throughout the year is pinched for taxes. The house is falling down, no eating out so it is cook from scratch (recently learned to use saved pepper stems for “free” yogurt starter, crazy!), last time at the movies was Harry Potter, sew my own clothes from thrift store fabric, cut each others’ hair, old vehicles, what’s a vacation, etc. A couple months ago, after 15 years, I splurged and bought a pair of Wally World shoes but hubby bought shoe glue for his. I saved some $$ over the weekend by fixing the cheapo coffee maker.
And wall off California. They found TX and brought their wacky ideas with them. They caused home prices, if you can find a home, to skyrocket. Ten years ago, you’d wave at the 4 cars you passed on the drive to town. Today, it is bumper to bumper the whole way.
A “misallocation of the housing supply.”
Spoken like a dyed in the wool communist.
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