Isn't trading up going to end as folks are priced out?
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Anonymous
| We bought a starter home 20 years ago and paid it off with a 15-year mortgage 5 years ago. We bought a $1M home this year and put in the entire $700,000 proceeds from the sale of the previous house earlier this year. But we don’t plan to move again just for the purpose of getting a bigger home. |
Anonymous
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It's harder for some people to trade up, but there are plenty of people who can afford the $1.5M+ homes. People who want to and can afford to trade up still will.
Trading down is what doesn't make any sense. It's harder to swallow paying the same mortgage for a smaller, less valuable home. |
Anonymous
Someone likely will, but no, nobody has to live in them. Certainly not me. Most of these are not historic homes worth preserving. Eventually, they will hopefully be torn down. |
Anonymous
| There is a housing shortage. There was a recent NYT article -- I think it focused on Kalamazoo, MI? Demand isn't going to decrease. And certainly not at 1M price point. |
Anonymous
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Price of elderly "starter house" plus re-piping the house (this cost $3k for us 10 years ago, so I'll guess $10k now) is still WAY less than a new build or an old house remodeled by someone else. And it wasn't a big deal timewise...we stayed with my in-laws for a few days.
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Anonymous
Why? They are well-built houses made of solid materials. They need new plumbing and electrical but there's no reason they should be torn down and replaced with a monster McMansion made out of particle board. |
Anonymous
Because they are not great houses, not efficient, and are aging and expensive to maintain. |
Anonymous
OP is talking about more expensive options. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| There will be people that can afford to trade up. I just might not be you. And this is true at literally every price point. |
Anonymous
| We just waited to buy our first home when we could afford a million dollar house. Did it at age 39 and rented before then. It’s also a hassle to move with little kids. |
Anonymous
| We got lucky with the starter home strategy but I’m pretty jealous of the people in my neighborhood now who bought in as their starter home and then did a gut+addition instead of trading up |
Anonymous
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No. People will always be richer than you.
We bought the cheapest house in our desirable neighborhood to put our kids in the great public schools. We had to do a gut-reno, and my husband did a lot of the work himself. A few years later, a neighboring house was bought up for an eye-popping price, the buyers promised the elderly seller not to raze it, and they turned around and tore it down anyway to build a huge house. In the 10 years we've lived in our neighborhood, this same scenario has repeated itself over and over again. Our area attracts stinking rich people from all over the US, and the world, because DC-type jobs support that. I'm surrounded by lawyers and businesspeople. We're the only doctor family - clearly the doctors are second class here  There is no ceiling! Get in while you can, or buy further out.
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Anonymous
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My family is skipping house buying one generation. If all goes well, ability to buy a house maybe available to my children.
I'm fine in a condo as a single parent. My kids would be ready to buy in about 15-20 years. They need to come up with the down payment themselves. I have about million growing in investments just for them. I believe in markets so much more than housing going up at the same rate. |
Anonymous
| I thought we were supposed to trade up because we went up a bunch of income rungs. |