Boomers can’t downsize

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My side of family

Great grandparents raised 8 kids lived in a small unheated loft above barn, no water, heat, electric
Grandparents raised 5 kids in a small two bedroom house no heat electric or water
Me raised 3 kids in 1,300 sf house with heat, water, electric

My kids want 5,000 sf to raise their 1.5 kids plus a beach house

You're blaming the people that you raised for unrealistic expectations? JFC, buy a mirror and a clue.

I guess that means you can't blame boomers for anything and everything that irritates you either, look at the picture album of your boomer's parents, blame them, they raised the boomers.

[Anonymous]

It’s the Boomer’s America, the rest of us just live in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a lot of boomers aging in place in these 2 story 3500 square foot homes and it doesn’t seem very economical to me—Paying taxes on, cooling, heating, and cleaning all that? Some rooms even sit empty.

My mom is one of those. She is willing to downsize but only if it’s a newish, SFH with a yard large enough for a garden. No shared walls. And it can’t be too big.

Houses new enough to require less maintenance than her current house either aren’t SFH or they are bigger than her current 3000 sq ft house but crammed onto a 5000 sq ft lot with neighbors 5’ away and barely any yard. She has deemed that unacceptable, and also refuses the idea of a condo, apartment, or row house because she says she should not have to listen to neighbors after 50 years of sfh living.

People aren’t really building cute new cottages on medium-size lots these days so she’s stuck.

55+ communities that have little sfh. Lots of those communities popping up, so they are new builds.

I can't be the only Gen Xer who abhors those types of place. We are just a few years from being eligible, and there's no way. They are at the absolute bottom of the housing list.

I absolutely agree. I also feel like the developers of those neighborhoods aren't really considering the upcoming demographics. Gen X is the smallest generation in existence. Not only will a majority of us hate such communities, but there won't be enough of any of us to fill them. I keep seeing Gen X sites talking about turning old malls into housing, complete with Orange Julius and Pizza Huts. I'd be much more game for that rather than some old gray-haired place to hide us.

Also, I must comment that I love the irony of this thread. Boomers complaining while THEIR OWN CHILDREN, the Millennials, screech at them about being selfish and gobbling up housing. It's pretty entertaining from afar.

What's funniest is the millennials will be coming into a massive amount of wealth transferred to them, for nothing more than existing, from their hated boomer parents.

Boomers parents who are rich enough to actually leave anything (1.) will live a long time so those "Millennial kids" won't inherit until their mid 50s (so maybe will help pay for college for the kids of Millennials) and (2) will be severely dwindled by end-of-life care for Boomers. Not sure if you've noticed, but there's a real shortage of medical and nursing labor in this country - it's going to suck up a big portion of those inheritances.

+1 if you’re rich enough to leave anything significant to your kids, you will in all likelihood pass away at 85+. Maybe even 90+ for women. By then Millennial kids will be nearly senior citizens themselves, and Gen Alpha grandkids will be working age adults. The cost of senior care is through the roof anyway, and will eat up any money that could have theoretically been passed down. Which, honestly - is fine by me. My IL’s have quite a bit of money in that small town “millionaire next door” kind of way. I expect them to spend it all on themselves when they can’t live independently. And I hope that they do, because we and DH’s siblings aren’t equipped at all to deal with aging-related support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the Boomer’s America, the rest of us just live in it.

Well statistically it’s just the reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s why I’m buying where I want to retire now. Will rent/keep for future and then sell primary home and move there.

That’s what we did. Bought in Rehoboth in 2003 at age 33 with plans to possibly enjoy, rent and move there when we retire. Retirement was a long way off when bought. Now 53 and spend over half our time in Rehoboth as can remote work. Can retire anytime and glad already have a place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We would downsize from our 3000sf house in a close-in MoCo suburb, but there's very little to downsize *to*. If we bought e.g. a townhouse or a condo then by the time you factored in the costs of selling and buying and moving, we wouldn't save anything at all. So what is the point?

To free up your house for the next generation!

[Anonymous]

The young today aren’t nearly as cheap and miserly I was to get ahead financially.

The easiest and laziest way to get wealthy is to save and invest down to the penny. Never eat out, zero subscriptions, no travel, no A/C, Pump it into index funds. If a car is necessary nothing higher priced than a Mitsubishi Mirage. If single share rent with housemates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The young today aren’t nearly as cheap and miserly I was to get ahead financially.

The easiest and laziest way to get wealthy is to save and invest down to the penny. Never eat out, zero subscriptions, no travel, no A/C, Pump it into index funds. If a car is necessary nothing higher priced than a Mitsubishi Mirage. If single share rent with housemates.

Ah yes. Because getting rid of Netflix is what will help young people buy homes in an environment with high interest rates, out of control student debt, and high housing costs.

Oh and in the middle of dangerous heat levels, we should go without A/C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The young today aren’t nearly as cheap and miserly I was to get ahead financially.

The easiest and laziest way to get wealthy is to save and invest down to the penny. Never eat out, zero subscriptions, no travel, no A/C, Pump it into index funds. If a car is necessary nothing higher priced than a Mitsubishi Mirage. If single share rent with housemates.

Ah yes. Because getting rid of Netflix is what will help young people buy homes in an environment with high interest rates, out of control student debt, and high housing costs.

Oh and in the middle of dangerous heat levels, we should go without A/C.

800 percent more people die of cold worldwide. A/C is almost always unnecessary. No subscriptions, no eating out, no travel. Don’t take out student loans.. community college and then satellite state flagship institution degree. 20k total … cheaper than a Mitsubishi Mirage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, don't worry. Housing crash is coming. Wait for it.

People have been saying this on here since 2012. It’s not happening.

[Anonymous]

Boo freaking hoo. I’m never going to be able to retire or own property. Wah wah for you that you have hundreds of thousands of equity in your house. Cry my a river

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My side of family

Great grandparents raised 8 kids lived in a small unheated loft above barn, no water, heat, electric
Grandparents raised 5 kids in a small two bedroom house no heat electric or water
Me raised 3 kids in 1,300 sf house with heat, water, electric

My kids want 5,000 sf to raise their 1.5 kids plus a beach house

Off-topic but curious about the loft. It sounds like traditional homes in the Alps. I’m imagining the illustrations from my childhood copy of “Heidi”. Was it in the US?

It was actually in Ireland and was literally above the barn. On cold night they bring the animals in for heat. Back then the English taxed the Irish if they had windows so was dark and up a ladder and slept on straw. That place was literally from potato famine days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Boo freaking hoo. I’m never going to be able to retire or own property. Wah wah for you that you have hundreds of thousands of equity in your house. Cry my a river

Nobody “owns” property. By the time you pay off the mortgage, the tax bill is equal or greater than the original mortgage payment. We all rent from the government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boo freaking hoo. I’m never going to be able to retire or own property. Wah wah for you that you have hundreds of thousands of equity in your house. Cry my a river

Nobody “owns” property. By the time you pay off the mortgage, the tax bill is equal or greater than the original mortgage payment. We all rent from the government.

I am an advocate for the boomer’s passive income industrial complex, not home ownership.

(I am a “mom and pop” landlord who wants to “provide” housing for you aka have you work 3 jobs to pay for my retirement)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They really need to RTO everyone to get remote people out of Florida etc so retirees can move there again.

Forced relocation? Great idea! — A. Hitler