Looks like we'll be living in an apt forever!

[erub]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
at some point, many of the generation that is currently coming of age will need to make a choice: do i live in Bumfvck, Nebraska, but have a home, or do I live in an apartment until someone in my family dies and wills me a home? the chance to get into the market in places you'd actually want to live is long gone for those just starting out, unless you and your SO are both in very lucrative careers from the get-go. suddenly the suburban home is like the Family Estate in the 1800's, where you have to come with a family with "land," in order to ever have it.

It creates an interesting mindset, because suddenly all those "conspicuous consumption" items like fancy cars and fancy televisions seem attractive to those who don't even own a home, because you could easily afford those things, and still be orders of magnitude away from ever owning a home.

I'd rather have a fancy car and TV, where I'm not fooling myself that I'm "building" equity in a home. Then again, I'm perfectly happy with my 800 sf condo, most of the time I'm alone, but it'll still be plenty big enough to have 10-15 people over this weekend. In the meantime I avoid the lawn and other maintence issues. Maybe when I get married I'll feel differently

 

[nageov3t]

some people just aren't built to be homeowners. heh. I get stir crazy if I live in the same place longer than 3-4 years.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: lilcam
I'm currently living in an apt just outside of philly, away from the crime and traffic.
Anyways, we've been thinking of family and what not and where we would want to live when we decide to have kids. I just browsed for houses in our area and it's ridiculous! $300k+ for a decent house. I can get a condo for low $200s but that gets me a townhome next to neighbors w/ no land!

At this rate, we'll be in an apt. Anyone else feel the same way?

you need these guys to help you:

Glass Joe
Piston Hurricane
Bald Bull
Kid Quick
Pizza Pasta
Mr. Sandman

you'll be a knock out soon afterwards

besides $300k mortgage just means u need a combined household of $100k. pretty easy

 

[Regs]

NJ its about 250k for a 2 bed 2 1/2 bath town house. 200k for just a apartment sounds like NYC to me. Of course some apartments there are built like ranch houses on stilts.

 

[KillerCharlie]

MOVE or quit whining.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: sniperruff

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Uhh its $400k for a shit house here.

same here in NYC. $800k for a 2BR 800 sq ft UES apt. insane.

800k for a 2BR is a damn good deal. I'm on the other side of the park and everything is over a million, even most one bedrooms.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Tango

Originally posted by: sniperruff

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Uhh its $400k for a shit house here.

same here in NYC. $800k for a 2BR 800 sq ft UES apt. insane.

800k for a 2BR is a damn good deal. I'm on the other side of the park and everything is over a million, even most one bedrooms.

Whoa. Well it's NYC.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Just wait a bit, things are going to get a bit cheaper.

Just read about a whole new class of mortgages that haven't even been discussed that'll end up screwing up the economy "Alt A's"

Keep your credit rating polished up, save some $ for your down payment & plan on getting a house in the next 2 years.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: Regs

Originally posted by: Tango

Originally posted by: sniperruff

Originally posted by: FleshLight
Uhh its $400k for a shit house here.

same here in NYC. $800k for a 2BR 800 sq ft UES apt. insane.

800k for a 2BR is a damn good deal. I'm on the other side of the park and everything is over a million, even most one bedrooms.

Whoa. Well it's NYC.

Yes. Incredible how much stuff you can condone in this city with the simple line "well, it's NYC""

😀

Edit: on the other hand still quite good compared to Europe...

 

[mrrman]

Originally posted by: randym431
As a home owner I miss apartments. No mowing, no shoveling, no property taxes, no repairs. Something breaks, call the landlord. Want a new location, simply move. Bad neighbors from hell, simply and easily move. Ownership is way blown out of reality and proportion.

You might want to consider an upscale mobile home park with a pre-fab type of home. My parents just moved into one. Not the typical, but strict rules. And their home is a nice prefab 3-bed 2 bath home with a small yard and huge kitchen. Now to me... THATS the way to go now a days. Its like new and the sellers were too old and went to a senior complex. So they got it for $25,000 cash. No mortgage, little taxes. Just lot rent, and thats much less than property taxes on a $200,000 home. If I didn?t have 3 dogs, I'd go that route in a second. And once the dogs are gone, thats the way I'm going.

Its an upscale park, with a pond, geese, pool, club house and NO trailer trash tenants with broken down cars in the yards. Just perfect!

just stay out of the tornado zones

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: lilcam
I'm currently living in an apt just outside of philly, away from the crime and traffic.
Anyways, we've been thinking of family and what not and where we would want to live when we decide to have kids. I just browsed for houses in our area and it's ridiculous! $300k+ for a decent house. I can get a condo for low $200s but that gets me a townhome next to neighbors w/ no land!

At this rate, we'll be in an apt. Anyone else feel the same way?

Just a bit of advice...

You aren't entitled to the same home you grew up in when you start a family. Your parents worked very hard to get there.

poor baby! You have to buy a condo!!! boo-freaking-hoo.

-edit-
I honestly see a very big problem with new couples or new homeowners. They think they are entitled to the same home/lifestyle as when they lived with their parents. Little do they know that lifestyle takes money. When 20 somethings believe they should have/deserve a 4 bedroom home to start a family...that's more entitlement mentality.

The only reason you are still in an apartment is because you are so coddled and feel entitled to the lifestyle you had when you lived with your parents.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: lilcam
I'm currently living in an apt just outside of philly, away from the crime and traffic.
Anyways, we've been thinking of family and what not and where we would want to live when we decide to have kids. I just browsed for houses in our area and it's ridiculous! $300k+ for a decent house. I can get a condo for low $200s but that gets me a townhome next to neighbors w/ no land!

At this rate, we'll be in an apt. Anyone else feel the same way?

Just a bit of advice...

You aren't entitled to the same home you grew up in when you start a family. Your parents worked very hard to get there.

poor baby! You have to buy a condo!!! boo-freaking-hoo.

-edit-
I honestly see a very big problem with new couples or new homeowners. They think they are entitled to the same home/lifestyle as when they lived with their parents. Little do they know that lifestyle takes money. When 20 somethings believe they should have/deserve a 4 bedroom home to start a family...that's more entitlement mentality.

The only reason you are still in an apartment is because you are so coddled and feel entitled to the lifestyle you had when you lived with your parents.

Yeh but when home prices go up 50% in less than a decade without a similar increase in salaries it makes it hard to even get into a starter home.

 

[SSSnail]

(\..../)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

/steps back, look, nod.

 

[villageidiot111]

Wow man move to Fargo North Dakota. Its by no means a small town, the metro area has a population well over 100,000 , and my 4bed 2bath house cost $115,000.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: lilcam
I'm currently living in an apt just outside of philly, away from the crime and traffic.
Anyways, we've been thinking of family and what not and where we would want to live when we decide to have kids. I just browsed for houses in our area and it's ridiculous! $300k+ for a decent house. I can get a condo for low $200s but that gets me a townhome next to neighbors w/ no land!

At this rate, we'll be in an apt. Anyone else feel the same way?

Just a bit of advice...

You aren't entitled to the same home you grew up in when you start a family. Your parents worked very hard to get there.

poor baby! You have to buy a condo!!! boo-freaking-hoo.

-edit-
I honestly see a very big problem with new couples or new homeowners. They think they are entitled to the same home/lifestyle as when they lived with their parents. Little do they know that lifestyle takes money. When 20 somethings believe they should have/deserve a 4 bedroom home to start a family...that's more entitlement mentality.

The only reason you are still in an apartment is because you are so coddled and feel entitled to the lifestyle you had when you lived with your parents.

Yeh but when home prices go up 50% in less than a decade without a similar increase in salaries it makes it hard to even get into a starter home.

This is true. I hate posting a fact without the ability to back it up, but I read in a realtor industry association newsletter (my mother-in-law is a realtor) that people in their 20s today have far less purchasing power when it comes to home than people of the same age did in the 1970s. Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

 

[OS]

i am in socal, where it is still ~500K for a 3 bdrm house, so no sympathy here. 😛

before i hear reverse bitching about "entitlement", i probably make more than the average household in LA, so yes, in theory, i do sort of deserve a house.

but it's a pyramid scheme anyways, it's just whoever bought in first reaped the benefit.

that's ok, this BS is going down, especially now with the collapse of the mortgages and tightening credit. I'll just short this BS on the way down and take my profits to vulturing a house at the bottom.

that said, when I visited south carolina, it seemed like 150K could buy a decent house and i'm not that far away from being able to buy something like that outright. I just gotta find an EE job out there.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: mugs
This is true. I hate posting a fact without the ability to back it up, but I read in a realtor industry association newsletter (my mother-in-law is a realtor) that people in their 20s today have far less purchasing power when it comes to home than people of the same age did in the 1970s. Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

This is the problem. You think you should be able to afford a house like your parents.

Entitlement for the loss.

-edit-
And have your cell phone, your intarweb, your cable, your home theater, your computer, your car that you can't afford (but 20 somethings buy it anyway), etc.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs
This is true. I hate posting a fact without the ability to back it up, but I read in a realtor industry association newsletter (my mother-in-law is a realtor) that people in their 20s today have far less purchasing power when it comes to home than people of the same age did in the 1970s. Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

This is the problem. You think you should be able to afford a house like your parents.

Entitlement for the loss.

Sorry spidey, if you can't interpret my post properly I'm not going to dumb it down for you. I'm sure vi_edit understood me. He's a smart cookie.

 

[Rogodin2]

I'm looking around my area at houses (for fun since I just bought some land and a house) in your $300000+ range and this one caught my eye.

http://www.windermere.com/inde...ail&ListingID=18498017

Rogo

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs
This is true. I hate posting a fact without the ability to back it up, but I read in a realtor industry association newsletter (my mother-in-law is a realtor) that people in their 20s today have far less purchasing power when it comes to home than people of the same age did in the 1970s. Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

This is the problem. You think you should be able to afford a house like your parents.

Entitlement for the loss.

Sorry spidey, if you can't interpret my post properly I'm not going to dumb it down for you. I'm sure vi_edit understood me. He's a smart cookie.

Sorry, all I saw was "i'm in my twenties making decent money and can't purchase the house my parents who have spent a good 25 years in the workplace, WTF!!!?????"

No shit sherlock.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs
This is true. I hate posting a fact without the ability to back it up, but I read in a realtor industry association newsletter (my mother-in-law is a realtor) that people in their 20s today have far less purchasing power when it comes to home than people of the same age did in the 1970s. Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

This is the problem. You think you should be able to afford a house like your parents.

Entitlement for the loss.

Sorry spidey, if you can't interpret my post properly I'm not going to dumb it down for you. I'm sure vi_edit understood me. He's a smart cookie.

Sorry, all I saw was "i'm in my twenties making decent money and can't purchase the house my parents who have spent a good 25 years in the workplace, WTF!!!?????"

No shit sherlock.

Yeah, I'm sorry the whole literacy thing is apparently new to you. Like I said, I'm not going to dumb it down for you.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: mugs
Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

Entitlement mentality.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs
This is true. I hate posting a fact without the ability to back it up, but I read in a realtor industry association newsletter (my mother-in-law is a realtor) that people in their 20s today have far less purchasing power when it comes to home than people of the same age did in the 1970s. Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

This is the problem. You think you should be able to afford a house like your parents.

Entitlement for the loss.

Sorry spidey, if you can't interpret my post properly I'm not going to dumb it down for you. I'm sure vi_edit understood me. He's a smart cookie.

Sorry, all I saw was "i'm in my twenties making decent money and can't purchase the house my parents who have spent a good 25 years in the workplace, WTF!!!?????"

No shit sherlock.

What you said originally was "They think they are entitled to the same home/lifestyle as when they lived with their parents." and then "You aren't entitled to the same home you grew up in when you start a family. Your parents worked very hard to get there." Now it's "parents who have spent a good 25 years in the workplace". I don't know about you, but when my parents bought the house I lived most of my childhood with them in, they didn't have 25 years in workplace. My parents bought the house I spent a good portion of my childhood in when my dad was 3 years younger than I am now (I'm 31), and my mom just a couple years older than I am now.

So how am I feeling "entitled" to wanting to be able to purchase a similar house to the house I grew up in? This was no mansion, it was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath 1800 sq/ft house. My wife and I make more now (adjusted for inflation of course) than my parents did when they purchased that house, but there is no way in hell we could come close to affording an equivalent house in that area (an area we left, BTW, to at least have a chance to afford a house somewhere else). Hell we can't even afford a 900 sq/ft condo that was converted from an apartment in that area.

Now the house my parents own now is a different story, I don't expect to be able to afford that house. But the house I grew up in is not one they purchased after 25 years in the workforce.

edit: I just looked it up, the house I grew up in is estimated by zillow to be worth 1.02 million now. LOL. And my recollection was off, it was 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, 1519 sq/ft.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs
Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

Entitlement mentality.

Did you manage to glance over the part where he mentioned purchasing power relative to the 1970s?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: mugs
Hell, my wife and I are in our mid 20s and we already make more than my parents do, but there's no way we could afford a house like my parents'.

Entitlement mentality.

Yeah, see that's what happens when you take things out of context. I was responding to vi_edit's post and providing an example. Housing prices have risen much faster than salaries (in some areas of the country more than others). My parents aren't able to afford more house than me just because they worked hard - they were able to buy the house they live in because their money went further in the housing market when they bought it in 1985 (when they were the same age as me and my wife). Houses cost less relative to income.

I never said I should be entitled to a house that is similar to my parents' house. If I really wanted to I could move to Kentucky and pay cash for a house like my parents' house (in part because I don't waste money on cars I can't afford 😉). I'm content with what I can afford, even if it's less than what someone could have afforded in a similar financial situation 20+ years ago.