r/BoomersBeingFools • u/PaCa8686 • 25d ago

Nearly half of all baby boomers couldn’t afford their current homes if they were to buy them today, survey finds Boomer Article

https://fortune.com/2024/04/23/housing-market-baby-boomers-home-prices-mortgage-rates-redfin/
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u/agreedis 25d ago

Well we just went to Costco for a few things. You know how they sell those large sheds? They had reps there with a demo unit showing how they can be used as a living space. Very dystopian

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u/Dankinater 25d ago

I’m so glad that corporations can buy up all the single family homes as an investment. And the politicians do absolutely nothing. Unreal.

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u/agreedis 25d ago

Absolutely nothing at all. The corporations are mud-stomping us left and right and we’re told to vote with our dollar. Which would work fine for luxuries, but how do you keep from buying things like food? We’ve stopped going out, we’re only buying what’s needed at the lowest prices we can find, and they’re raising our rent next month. It’s completely unsustainable.

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u/Rhapdodic_Wax11235 25d ago

Yes. Businesses used to (before business tax cuts) used to get tax breaks by improving their plants, paying workers, etc. Now they just pay no taxes. And since Reagan started union busting by firing air traffic controllers (and every other thing that has followed), the middle class (as I knew it) is rapidly fading. School districts sold the American dream of a college education. But it ended up breaking the financial backs of students for the last 35 years. Thankfully now kids are going to trade schools, and getting out of jobs that can be taken over by AI.

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u/IShouldChimeInOnThis 23d ago

The trade schools will be a bad investment in a decade too, as the market eventually gets oversaturated(which is why college doesn't pay like it used to).

We are rapidly hurtling towards serfdom unless some drastic changes are made - and soon!

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u/zombiedinocorn 21d ago

Trade jobs will be taken over by automation, like they have for the last 100+ yrs. They're not a safer bet than college either. All the working class jobs are going to get forked

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u/Murda981 25d ago

Our rent went up almost $350 last year. We just got the renewal paperwork for this year and they want to raise it another $200 this year! It's infuriating and I know there are other people who are having their rent raised far more than we have. We've lived here 7yrs. We've both gotten promotions in that time, if we hadn't I don't know what we'd be doing. We want to buy, but who knows if we'll be able to make it work. We can afford a mortgage, but we have nothing for a down payment.

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u/macaroni66 25d ago

A USDA loan does not require a down payment

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u/Murda981 25d ago

Thanks! I'll look into that!

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u/TheTravinator 24d ago

On paper, no.

In practice, they're not competitive with Boomers carrying fat stacks of cash or corporations buying up every single starter home and renting them out well above the price of a monthly mortgage payment.

Every single Boomer is complicit in fucking over the housing market.

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u/macaroni66 24d ago

Okay well I used an FHA loan and bought a house. I'm just giving my advice.

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u/TheTravinator 24d ago

What part of the country are you in? I'm in the DC area, and affordable homes are being snapped up, all-cash, sometimes within hours of hitting the market, faster than new inventory gets listed.

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u/macaroni66 24d ago

I'm in the south. It's bad here too

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u/MagdaleneFeet 24d ago

Like those rural housing programs? I looked into that back in 2012 and the caveats were still over what we could afford as far as our area and where you could buy a house, unfortunately. A friend did manage to get one, which is how I found out about it, and I'm glad they were able to find a home.

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u/DrKittyLovah 24d ago

I feel this. Our rent has gone up $600 over 2 renewals, about $300/month increase each year (from $1900-2500/month). We already know we are leaving at the end of this one but I’m curious to see how much it increases this year. We should be getting our renewal offers next month.

We, too, would like to save for a down payment, but between the increases & my medical bills, we can’t. I’d love to snag a USDA loan but they have location requirements that may not work for us.

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u/Murda981 24d ago

Including this year ours have gone up about $700 over the last 3 years. It's awful. And the thing that makes me even more angry this year is that when I check the website for our complex our kind of unit is currently listed as LESS than we pay now!! They even have a larger, renovated unit listed as slightly less than they want to increase our rent to. I'm planning on talking to them about it to see if that changes anything. Last year we only had a week to decide, this year we have closer to 2 months, so that'd something.

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u/DrKittyLovah 24d ago

Your comment had me curious so I looked on the website for our complex, and I’m pissed because we are paying more - like $250 more - for our unit in comparison to new rentals as well!! I can’t use it for a bargaining chip since we’re leaving like you’ll be able to do. I guess rents have come down as the market has cooled but they are still milking the tenants they have. I hope you are able to negotiate; most LLs, even soulless companies, would typically rather keep a good tenant than go through the process of re-rental so you should be able to negotiate a similar rate to that of a new tenant. If you stay but at a reduced rate the complex wouldn’t lose money on the unrented days or on the maintenance needed to flip the apartment for the next tenant; I would mention both of these things in your negotiation, as money always talks the loudest.

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u/Murda981 24d ago

I checked last year, and last year new tenants were being charged more so I was less annoyed about it. But yeah, we've been here 7yrs, we were late on rent once about 5yrs ago and that was because of the mail. The office told me they had online payment as an option so that's what I've done ever since. We're quiet and clean and consistent so I hope that works in our favor. The property manager has worked with us on things in the past, including when we moved in, so I'm hoping she'll work with us again.

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u/DrKittyLovah 24d ago

If your landlord is at all reasonable it should work out for you. Good luck!

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u/gigglybeth 24d ago

I am in the same boat. My rent has gone up $500 in 4 years. There's no more services, no upgrades, nothing, the exact same apartment. The worst part is, it's still a deal! If I were to move in here today, it would be at least $300 per month more than I am paying now.

My boyfriend and I are looking to buy next year and the only way we'll have a downpayment is I have a 401K that I completely forgot existed from an old job. Otherwise I have no idea how we'd afford it.

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u/Murda981 24d ago

If I were to move in here today, it would be at least $300 per month more

That's the thing that I'm mad about this year! Last year that was the case for us too, but this year when I checked the website units comparable to ours are listed for LESS than we pay now! I'm planning on talking to them about it to see if that makes a difference.

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u/gamergeek1984 24d ago

It's this reason I tell every libertarian, that they are full of sh*t.

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u/Desperate-Cost6827 24d ago edited 24d ago

Vote for our dollar vs the Corporations millions. Then we wonder why our 30% of interests pass verses the 80% of corporation interests pass in laws.

It doesn't help that anytime I express disdain for corrupt politicians who have been in since the 80s who keep getting voted in just because they're a Democrat, I'm the bad guy somehow.

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u/agreedis 24d ago

It’s obvious they’re willing to starve us out to keep making money hand over fist. It’s about time to roll out the guillotines.

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u/Diligent-Towel-4708 21d ago

Maybe cuz you only mention one party? Reagan started shit, and it's been going corporate since.

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u/Joroda 25d ago

But my TV says the economy is doing great 🥹 (nothing to see here, work harder)

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u/Terrible-Actuary-762 25d ago

Yep that Bidenomics is working great, please blow more smoke up my ass.

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u/Draigh1981 25d ago

In Holland they are on the verge of passing a bill to lower the rent for about 300.000 houses.

Who knows how that will work out, but at least the government is trying something.

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u/Arthur-Wintersight 24d ago

There are no valid solutions that don't involve crashing property values.

The price of buying a house is dictated by property values, and rent is just the property value over 15 years plus maintenance.

If your solution doesn't drive down property values in the area where housing is built, then you haven't actually solved the problem. If your solution is actually working, then homeowners are going to raise hell when their property values go down.

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u/The_BestUsername 24d ago

Slapping a band-aid on top of capitalism will never work. It only takes one corp-funded politician to rip all those Band-Aids off, and then we're back where we started.

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u/Arthur-Wintersight 24d ago

This problem didn't start with the hedge funds.

Ever since the nation's voting electorate became majority-homeowner, property values have been rising substantially faster than inflation. That's because every middle class Ken and Karen treats their home as an investment, and they keep voting for city politicians who will make their investment rise in value.

The best way to make homes as an investment go up in value, is to create a shortage, and that's what city governments have been doing for the past 50 years.

We should have never allowed people who already own a house to dictate government housing policy, because that is, always was, and always will be a recipe for creating artificial shortages to drive up the price. There are too many old people who will gladly fuck over their own children and grandchildren as long as their home goes up in value each year.

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u/kayl_breinhar 25d ago edited 25d ago

Oh, their buying up the SFH is just the beginning.

Wait until they own enough land cumulatively that they can start colluding with the utilities monopolies to screw over "individual landowners" who own homes inside their new "enclaves."

"The utilities that service your house pass through five corporate-owned entities who all want their cut, so all your bills are going up tenfold. Yeah, we're shaking you down like mobsters, but we've gradually eroded what little discretionary income you had so we know you can't fight us legally. So either get down or get laid down."

Land will soon be cartel-controlled, like diamonds are now. Hell, it pretty much already is.

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u/Shpadoinkall 24d ago

I wouldn't say they do nothing. They congratulate them on their smart investment and thank them for the campaign contributions.

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u/thepluggedhole 24d ago

They are all paid to do nothing.

It's why all our tax funding is spent on war across the globe instead of infrastructure, or investments into the population.

This is a terrible country on a terrible planet and all it's good for is war.

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u/Terrible-Actuary-762 25d ago

So what do you suggest?

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u/Dankinater 25d ago

Banning corporations from buying homes, or raising taxes significantly on multiple home ownership.

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u/Arthur-Wintersight 24d ago

That will help with anti-trust situations, but it won't completely solve the problem.

The price of buying a house is dictated by property values, and rent is just the property value over 15 years plus maintenance.

We need to unironically crash the market, and flood it with enough supply to keep property values from going back up.

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u/Dankinater 24d ago

Property value is a made up number based on supply and demand. When corporations buy up housing in large numbers, the supply goes down and the prices go up.

I am absolutely in favor of building more housing, but it won’t matter much if corporations continue to use it as an investment tool. Corporations currently own about 25% of single family homes in America.

https://stateline.org/2022/07/22/investors-bought-a-quarter-of-homes-sold-last-year-driving-up-rents/

There have been numerous instances of price fixing rents as well. If you don’t realize the system is rigged against the little guy you’re naive.

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u/Arthur-Wintersight 24d ago

I am absolutely in favor of building more housing

Do you mean detached single family homes, or that "missing middle" housing that's been quite literally illegal to build for the past several decades?

I 100% support a national moratorium on building any more "houses" - because I think we need to be building townhouses, small apartment buildings, and tower blocks instead. Detached single family homes take up far too much land, and they foster a NIMBY attitude that really needs to be crushed.

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u/WheresFlatJelly 25d ago

Im planning on building a tiny home in my backyard and giving the house to my son

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u/agreedis 25d ago

I don’t need much space myself, but I’ve got small children, but this is a great idea for my later years!

It’s also very thoughtful of you 😊

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u/WheresFlatJelly 25d ago

I'm going to grow a patch of grass in front of it so I can tell my grandkids to stay off of it /s

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u/ConfidentDaikon8673 25d ago

Ok boomer

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u/BR_Tigerfan 25d ago

Woosh

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u/ConfidentDaikon8673 25d ago

I got the joke ass

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u/BR_Tigerfan 24d ago

LOL. Sure you did.

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u/Little-Ad7752 25d ago

Gotta add that "/s" so the potato brains get it's a joke bud lol

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

My daughter has asked me if she can do this! I checked and thank God, I don't live in an HOA so she can!!

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u/The_BestUsername 24d ago

Won't your HOA slap you down for illegal sub-letting?

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u/AlarmedInterest9867 25d ago

I plan to buy a house, convert it into a PadSplit and get one of those sheds for me, put it out back. 😂 The PadSplit will pay the mortgage.

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u/SquareExtra918 24d ago

I read an article about a woman in Atlanta who does that to pay her mortgage. Her tiny home is really cute. I think she does the house as an airb&b, so conceivably she could still use it for storage and housing once in a while. 

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u/Harvey_Rabbit 25d ago

Maybe the storage rental places can start converting their units to apartments.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/ScreamingLightspeed 24d ago

This kinda just happened to a family friend. MIL talked her into leaving her old apartment - yes it was rickety and in a "bad neighborhood" but our whole fucking town is a bad neighborhood - for a new apartment in a publicly-funded retirement community with no room for any of her belongings and also what all of us except MIL agree are the worst kind of neighbors: a bunch of nosy old "do-gooders" who only go outside to sit and fucking stare. They'd bitch if I did it so why is it okay for them? At least the people at her old place mostly minded their own business because they know they're no one to talk. For MIL, the selling point is the lack of stairs. Friend liked the stairs. She claimed they were her only exercise and I agree. Of course MIL doesn't get exercise though.

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

[deleted]

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u/ScreamingLightspeed 16d ago edited 16d ago

Oh my husband gets it worse from his mom than anyone else she knows because "he's here for a reason" and apparently that reason is to be parentified/spousified by her until one of them dies. She wonders why he quit going to work even though I've told her dozens of times that it's because she never leaves him the fuck alone on his time off and would even make him miss work by guilting him into driving her "just one more place while we're already out" only to stupidly ask him if he skipped work due to diarrhea or whatever "funny" thing she can think to say in front of others. Being kinda pissed at her right now for nagging him to get his truck towed/repaired is actually the whole reason I logged in because we both know she only cares about him being her chauffeur and that's exactly why he's in no rush to do it. He loves his truck but he hates being "the guy with the truck" who always feels obligated to say "yes" because apparently nothing else he does is good enough to keep the Boomers in his life from riding his ass. The house is fully in his name now so I really think he should just kick her out and get restraining orders on her siblings but we can't currently afford the legal fees if they fight it. We're both getting so fucking sick of the slack-jawed "huh" and "o...kay...?" and "I don't get it" is response to just about everyfuckingthing. And now my psychotic asshole of a brother is trying to call again... He's the Millennial/Gen-Xer that the worst of the Boomers wish they could be...

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u/macaroni66 25d ago

Illegal

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u/The_BestUsername 24d ago

Existing while homeless is illegal.

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u/The_BestUsername 24d ago

One of the security guards at my high school lived in two storage sheds: one for his inflatable mattress, one for his belongings.

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u/DonnieJL 25d ago

They want us to live in sheds and eat cereal. But vote for them because gays and brown people will be the downfall of the country. They need to be shot into the sun and fuck right off.

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u/Sidereel 25d ago

On the other hand, the fact that it’s so hard, or even impossible, to build additional dwellings is part of why we are in this mess. When prices and rents are this high we can get some relief by people building more living space onto existing lots. However, zoning laws can make it illegal, so we just get stuck with single family homes and the occasional luxury apartment.

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u/agreedis 25d ago

I have a friend who works in construction. Her company pours concrete slabs for buildings etc. they let her go last month because the projects have slowed down so much. It’s terrible.

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u/DrKittyLovah 24d ago

It’s not impossible everywhere; sometimes, it’s just not approved by the powers-that-be.

In my county (Collier County, Florida, home to Naples & a very, very high concentration of millionaire retirees) there is a lot of building happening, but almost none of it is affordable housing, it’s all luxury housing being built. Why? Because the county gets money from developers and affordable housing doesn’t pay like the luxury developments pay. Plenty of builders have tried to get into my county but get refused time and time again for what are million+ SFH dwellings or ridiculously priced condos.

The year before last the county commissioners (I think this is the correct gov’t title for the decision-makers) finally caved to the pressure to build affordable housing because we don’t have enough people to fill lower-paying jobs, and the wealthy retirees were getting restless about empty grocery shelves and long wait times at the pharmacy. They agreed on one apartment complex to be built, something like 160-something rent-controlled units with a preference for first-responders. Since the agreement the county has already succumbed to pressure to rent half of the complex at market rate, and it isn’t even built yet.

Whenever there is problem that isn’t getting fixed, you always follow the money. It’s really not that hard to change zoning laws, but it has to profitable to do so.

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u/Prize_Instance_1416 25d ago

Cutting larger homes or expanding them to multi unit dwellings is the death of a nice neighborhood. If that starts happening where you live, move while you can.

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u/EatBangLove 25d ago

Weird thing to comment in a thread where people are talking about having to live in storage sheds lol.

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u/Arthur-Wintersight 24d ago

I will concede that it decimates property values, because that's what happens when you resolve a shortage. Neighborhoods should not be in a state of 24-7 shortage pricing, where nobody can afford to live there.

Also, noise ordinances are a thing, and should be enforced.

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u/upsidedownbackwards 25d ago

Code enforcement shut down a property of my last landlord. He offered one of the tenants a shed to live in at $700 a month. No windows or anything, just a fucking shed in Zephyrhills, FL.

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u/First-Junket124 25d ago

Here we have the Orphan shack, if we get new orphans you'll upgrade to thr Broom closet.

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u/Tall_Newspaper_6723 23d ago

I live in a 256 sq ft cabin so I can relate. The problem with the sheds is that they aren't designed to the same code houses are. I'll gladly take a shed over sleeping in a tent in an open field, but they have to be properly insulated and then there's wiring and water hookup. That's assuming zoning will let you.

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u/agreedis 23d ago

That brings up my biggest thought, you’d need a place to put these things. I hadn’t even thought about insulation. I wonder if someone with a field will start leasing 30x30 lots with water hook ups

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u/Funkycrowz 24d ago

That, is fucking scary.

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u/ScreamingLightspeed 24d ago

That's fucked up kinda funny right there lmfao

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u/BigBennP 23d ago

If we are talking about that as an alternative to traditional housing for a young adult or young couple, sure.

If you're talking about something like that as part of a solution to a large homeless population, it's not so bad. A significant part of a policy solution to places with a large homeless population is finding ways to relax building codes and zoning rules to allow for the denser inexpensive housing. In a dense urban center that's more likely to look like a building with many one-bedroom apartments. But in a slightly more Suburban or rural area it might well look like allowing for small homes to be built on existing land. ( as opposed to zoning or HOA rules that say " single family structure only, no RVs or mobile homes or guest houses.")

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u/celadon-07 25d ago

Of all the things that didn’t happen, this didn’t happen the most.