Genz and millennials don't want your small starter homes want forever homes now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My in laws bought and lived in a huge house. When it came time for selling it even though all the kitchens and baths had been renovated within the last 5 years and they custom built it 25 years prior they had to keep cutting the price. It was in an excellent school district too.

The one house their owned before their 6000 square foot home was a 2500 square foot colonial in a walkable town about 15 minutes away. That home sold about the same time as my in laws second house. This colonial had not been updated since my in laws owners it and sold for more than my in laws second house!

I live in what would be considered a starter home for many. I love it! I lived in Europe and other countries where you don’t have these huge houses and I would rather spend my money to invest and travel than on a big home and its maintenance and taxes. To each their own I guess.

Not quite a 1:1 but similar happened to my in laws, though because their previous home was in an area of huge appreciation they made a bunch on it and were able to pay cash for house #2 and then sell that and downsize with cash for house #3.

The happiest they all were was the smallest (less than 2000 sq ft) house with a community and walk ability.

I feel similarly about trading off the huge home for a walkable true community and flexibility is other areas.

DP
I can't fathom living in a 6k sq ft home or maintaining it. But when people talk about "starter homes they are often referring to 1000-1500 sq ft ramblers with no closets and old roofs, leaky windows and 20 year old HVAC systems. Our "forever home" is actually a townhome and no, not a fancy DC row house. But it's 2500 sq ft and has closets. Many of the homeowners are the original owners from when the community was built decades ago. For lots of people, a townhome is a wonderful forever home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

+1 this

I do have friends that climbed the property ladder. They are college sweethearts that married in their mid twenties. They also started their careers out of college.

DH and I married in our early thirties. Our careers were just getting started because we each spent our twenties trying out careers that ended up being dead ends/bad fits and then going to grad school, where we met. We didn't have a down payment until our late thirties after we had a kid. It was during the pandemic so we each wanted an office and wanted to have a workout space. With a kid and two full time jobs, we knew we didn't have bandwidth for a fixer upper.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

Nothing wrong with this, as long as you are prepared to pay accordingly. You don’t get a big home at a starter home price just because you are older first time buyers.

Okay? This is a market. As a seller, you need to recognize not everybody wants what you are selling, so stop whining about Gen Z and millennials because we don't want your 70+ year old home that was unfortunately not built to last.

lol. What is actually happening is that the 70+ year old home is now the forever home because of home price and interest rate escalation. It’s dumb to pretend like this is a matter of personal preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

All houses require maintenance. So many people try to buy a new home thinking that it won't need much maintenance only to discover issues with the build that require tons of work, from mis-installed plumbing to nail pops to bad drainage to terrible plant landscaping choices or no landscaping to stupid kitchen design to defective appliances. The new build next door to us had a builder install MDF as exterior trim. It swelled with rain the following summer and every bit of trim on the house had to be replaced. The builder was no where to be found. Another new build up the street was installed with terrible drainage and 3 months into owning the home they had a storm at 6' of water in their basement. It cost them $300k to install water mitigation. The new build across the street from us had all the landscaping die because it was improperly selected and planted so the house looks like poop and needs entirely new landscaping--not cheap.

There's a lot to be said about a tastefully renovated older home. Ours is 84 years old and was in rough shape when we bought from deferred maintenance, but we've tastefully renovated and it's now really nice. I cringe when I walk through a McMansion new build and see crappy vinyl windows, ugly MDF trim, crooked tile backsplashes, and poorly thought out layouts. New builds in the DMV are full of bad build quality and poor design choices.

+1. I would never buy a new build. With an older home (assuming proper disclosures and inspection) you can tell what the issues are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

+1 this

I do have friends that climbed the property ladder. They are college sweethearts that married in their mid twenties. They also started their careers out of college.

DH and I married in our early thirties. Our careers were just getting started because we each spent our twenties trying out careers that ended up being dead ends/bad fits and then going to grad school, where we met. We didn't have a down payment until our late thirties after we had a kid. It was during the pandemic so we each wanted an office and wanted to have a workout space. With a kid and two full time jobs, we knew we didn't have bandwidth for a fixer upper.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

Nothing wrong with this, as long as you are prepared to pay accordingly. You don’t get a big home at a starter home price just because you are older first time buyers.

Okay? This is a market. As a seller, you need to recognize not everybody wants what you are selling, so stop whining about Gen Z and millennials because we don't want your 70+ year old home that was unfortunately not built to last.

lol. What is actually happening is that the 70+ year old home is now the forever home because of home price and interest rate escalation. It’s dumb to pretend like this is a matter of personal preference.

Many people have correctly determined that buying those homes is not a good choice financially more will it make them happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

+1 this

I do have friends that climbed the property ladder. They are college sweethearts that married in their mid twenties. They also started their careers out of college.

DH and I married in our early thirties. Our careers were just getting started because we each spent our twenties trying out careers that ended up being dead ends/bad fits and then going to grad school, where we met. We didn't have a down payment until our late thirties after we had a kid. It was during the pandemic so we each wanted an office and wanted to have a workout space. With a kid and two full time jobs, we knew we didn't have bandwidth for a fixer upper.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

Nothing wrong with this, as long as you are prepared to pay accordingly. You don’t get a big home at a starter home price just because you are older first time buyers.

Okay? This is a market. As a seller, you need to recognize not everybody wants what you are selling, so stop whining about Gen Z and millennials because we don't want your 70+ year old home that was unfortunately not built to last.

lol. What is actually happening is that the 70+ year old home is now the forever home because of home price and interest rate escalation. It’s dumb to pretend like this is a matter of personal preference.

Many people have correctly determined that buying those homes is not a good choice financially more will it make them happy.

Sorry
Nor will it make them happy

Of course personal preference matters.

[Anonymous]

IME the "starter homes" our friends had were condos, not moldy SFHs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IME the "starter homes" our friends had were condos, not moldy SFHs

Condos are a scam. If you don’t own the land under your house you ate throwing away money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IME the "starter homes" our friends had were condos, not moldy SFHs

Condos are a scam. If you don’t own the land under your house you ate throwing away money.

Both owning your home (condo or single family) and being a renter involve "throwing money away". The question is how much money are you spending vs how much equity are you building up vs how much money are you saving. And do you like where you live? Our friends had some nice condos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IME the "starter homes" our friends had were condos, not moldy SFHs

Condos are a scam. If you don’t own the land under your house you ate throwing away money.

Both owning your home (condo or single family) and being a renter involve "throwing money away". The question is how much money are you spending vs how much equity are you building up vs how much money are you saving. And do you like where you live? Our friends had some nice condos.

Condos don’t appreciate. They lose value after adjusting for inflation. SFHs tend to hold their value after adjusting for inflation or appreciate. Generally, condos make you poorer, and you are better off renting rather than buying a condo. HOA fees (for condos) also tend to increase much faster than inflation due to misaligned incentives that discourage HOAs from adequately maintaining shared structures.
Here are some inflation-adjusted examples of why condos are a terrible investment
https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/1201-E-West-Hwy-20910/unit-335/home/12330282 (2013->2025 17% decline in value)
https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/326-8th-St-NE-20002/unit-402/home/10190022 (2004->2025 29% decline in value)
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/1205-N-Garfield-St-22201/unit-609/home/11281068 (2010->2025 9% decline in value)
https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/1511-Lincoln-Way-22102/unit-201B/home/9838476 (2003->2025 17% decline in value)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

All houses require maintenance. So many people try to buy a new home thinking that it won't need much maintenance only to discover issues with the build that require tons of work, from mis-installed plumbing to nail pops to bad drainage to terrible plant landscaping choices or no landscaping to stupid kitchen design to defective appliances. The new build next door to us had a builder install MDF as exterior trim. It swelled with rain the following summer and every bit of trim on the house had to be replaced. The builder was no where to be found. Another new build up the street was installed with terrible drainage and 3 months into owning the home they had a storm at 6' of water in their basement. It cost them $300k to install water mitigation. The new build across the street from us had all the landscaping die because it was improperly selected and planted so the house looks like poop and needs entirely new landscaping--not cheap.

There's a lot to be said about a tastefully renovated older home. Ours is 84 years old and was in rough shape when we bought from deferred maintenance, but we've tastefully renovated and it's now really nice. I cringe when I walk through a McMansion new build and see crappy vinyl windows, ugly MDF trim, crooked tile backsplashes, and poorly thought out layouts. New builds in the DMV are full of bad build quality and poor design choices.

99% of the homes in DMV are poor quality, including the old ones. DC was a poor town and the housing stock was made for veterans coming from the war and for the government workers. That's why there are so many ranchers that are a step above a chicken coop and those awful split levels. Don't get me wrong, there are some amazing old houses, like those on the Main Line in Philadelphia, Angelina Heights in LA, or even Pendleton Heights in Kansas City, but not in the DC suburbs. - European and daughter of architect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

+1 this

I do have friends that climbed the property ladder. They are college sweethearts that married in their mid twenties. They also started their careers out of college.

DH and I married in our early thirties. Our careers were just getting started because we each spent our twenties trying out careers that ended up being dead ends/bad fits and then going to grad school, where we met. We didn't have a down payment until our late thirties after we had a kid. It was during the pandemic so we each wanted an office and wanted to have a workout space. With a kid and two full time jobs, we knew we didn't have bandwidth for a fixer upper.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

Nothing wrong with this, as long as you are prepared to pay accordingly. You don’t get a big home at a starter home price just because you are older first time buyers.

Okay? This is a market. As a seller, you need to recognize not everybody wants what you are selling, so stop whining about Gen Z and millennials because we don't want your 70+ year old home that was unfortunately not built to last.

lol. What is actually happening is that the 70+ year old home is now the forever home because of home price and interest rate escalation. It’s dumb to pretend like this is a matter of personal preference.

Many people have correctly determined that buying those homes is not a good choice financially more will it make them happy.

No, many people have determined they don’t have the money to buy any SFH until they are in their 40s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

+1 this

I do have friends that climbed the property ladder. They are college sweethearts that married in their mid twenties. They also started their careers out of college.

DH and I married in our early thirties. Our careers were just getting started because we each spent our twenties trying out careers that ended up being dead ends/bad fits and then going to grad school, where we met. We didn't have a down payment until our late thirties after we had a kid. It was during the pandemic so we each wanted an office and wanted to have a workout space. With a kid and two full time jobs, we knew we didn't have bandwidth for a fixer upper.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

Nothing wrong with this, as long as you are prepared to pay accordingly. You don’t get a big home at a starter home price just because you are older first time buyers.

Okay? This is a market. As a seller, you need to recognize not everybody wants what you are selling, so stop whining about Gen Z and millennials because we don't want your 70+ year old home that was unfortunately not built to last.

lol. What is actually happening is that the 70+ year old home is now the forever home because of home price and interest rate escalation. It’s dumb to pretend like this is a matter of personal preference.

Many people have correctly determined that buying those homes is not a good choice financially more will it make them happy.

No, many people have determined they don’t have the money to buy any SFH until they are in their 40s.

Well they are waiting to buy until their 40s because they can't afford the SFHs they want until then. They could have bought a crappy SFH in poor condition but they know it would cost too much to maintain and make them miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

All houses require maintenance. So many people try to buy a new home thinking that it won't need much maintenance only to discover issues with the build that require tons of work, from mis-installed plumbing to nail pops to bad drainage to terrible plant landscaping choices or no landscaping to stupid kitchen design to defective appliances. The new build next door to us had a builder install MDF as exterior trim. It swelled with rain the following summer and every bit of trim on the house had to be replaced. The builder was no where to be found. Another new build up the street was installed with terrible drainage and 3 months into owning the home they had a storm at 6' of water in their basement. It cost them $300k to install water mitigation. The new build across the street from us had all the landscaping die because it was improperly selected and planted so the house looks like poop and needs entirely new landscaping--not cheap.

There's a lot to be said about a tastefully renovated older home. Ours is 84 years old and was in rough shape when we bought from deferred maintenance, but we've tastefully renovated and it's now really nice. I cringe when I walk through a McMansion new build and see crappy vinyl windows, ugly MDF trim, crooked tile backsplashes, and poorly thought out layouts. New builds in the DMV are full of bad build quality and poor design choices.

I'm with you, my parents were completely horrified when we bought a 1927 house in our 20s that needed pretty much everything done. But 12 years later our house is beautiful and my friends who bought new builds have some unbelievable problems with water damage and cheap materials that they never thought they'd have to deal with. They paid so much money up front to have a shiny new house.
I'd move tomorrow to get out of this area (Chicago) but not just to get a new house. It seems impossible to get a well-built new house unless you are rich and working with an architect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider starter homes when people got married in their 20s when we think about starter homes. Now people get married and have ykids at 40... yes, they want a nicer place.

+1 this

I do have friends that climbed the property ladder. They are college sweethearts that married in their mid twenties. They also started their careers out of college.

DH and I married in our early thirties. Our careers were just getting started because we each spent our twenties trying out careers that ended up being dead ends/bad fits and then going to grad school, where we met. We didn't have a down payment until our late thirties after we had a kid. It was during the pandemic so we each wanted an office and wanted to have a workout space. With a kid and two full time jobs, we knew we didn't have bandwidth for a fixer upper.

Plus, let's not forget that the "starter homes" of yesteryear are now 70+ year old homes, often with deferred maintenance issues, and aren't especially cheap either.

Nothing wrong with this, as long as you are prepared to pay accordingly. You don’t get a big home at a starter home price just because you are older first time buyers.

Okay? This is a market. As a seller, you need to recognize not everybody wants what you are selling, so stop whining about Gen Z and millennials because we don't want your 70+ year old home that was unfortunately not built to last.

NP. I'm puzzled by the assertion that older homes aren't "built to last." From my perspective it's the newer homes that have a very ticky-tacky feel. The quality of materials and construction just isn't there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rather than climb the ladder we will wait for the forever big home. Sorry please tear down those little homes and ensure you provide recently renovated or new larger homes

https://www.newsweek.com/gen-z-millennials-dont-want-buy-starter-homes-2069778

I thought my little home was my forever home. We don’t need a big home.

My sister who is older Gen X bought a starter TH in the late 80s. They tried to move up to a bigger house in the late 90s but everything in their school district was ridiculously expensive plus needed upgrades. So they got a storage unit to offload extra stuff and squeezed into their TH, eventually putting in a new kitchen, baths and over flooring. Their kids are grown and they are so glad they kept the TH. It looks beautiful with the upgrades and they saved so much money which they used for fabulous vacations. The only downside is the stairs due to aging in place issues over the next decade or two, so they are trying to decide when to sell and where to go when they do.

most people don't consider a townhome a real house.

That's their problem.

I don't care if idiots think my house where I live and raise my kids and host family and friends and nurture my marriage and cook meals and live my life is "not a real house." Sorry they are so limited and judgmental I guess.

I wouldn't listen to the nitwits on here. They're always slagging off apartments and apartment dwellers as well--guess they've never been to NYC and seen a truly gorgeous apartment. Like do they think celebs in NYC mostly live in single family homes?