Should current homeowners wish for home values to decline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


I think you answered your own question. Major political change due to economic stresses. We are already seeing it. Dollar is ourbeing devalued. Markets collapse. Your home relative to the strength of the dollar will weaken as an asset. But hopefully you view it as a place to live and not an appreciating asset. When you consider taxes, insurance, and maintenance it's not really a great "investment" anyway unless you get lucky with your location improving or something like that.

Exactly this! That is why when I retire and pay off my home I’ll be putting the [b]2M in the bank and become a renter in the same neighborhood. [/b]Or, I’ll be given my children the money to purchase their move up home. I’ll still have enough retirement to cover living expenses and health

How old will you be when you retire? How many more years do you think you might live? It could be 30 or more. Here's the thing. When the dollar is devalued (it has been devalued 10% since Trump took office) and your bank is paying very little interest, your 2M might not look like such a great amount (especially if you give some of the money to your children for their move up home as well). Your money will be worth less as time goes on. But if you keep your home and enjoy it, you won't have to worry about rent increases and you will likely have a nicer place than the "rental". Plus your children can inherit a real home and we all need shelter. It's real estate (you know, something real). So it can be important to have that as part of your wealth. Your rent could well be more than the taxes, insurance and maintenance costs on your house and you don't know if your $2M in the bank will keep up with your costs anyway. Personally I plan to keep up my house because it's a very comfortable place (garage and parking steps from my door, beautiful yard to maintain privacy from neighbors) and I feel like quality of life is worth a lot as you age. Then again, my house is not worth $2M. It's probably half that, but it's a nice place and the right size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do wish they would decline. My wife and I were discussing how none of our young friends (responsible professionals) are finding it possible to afford a house. My 9-year-old daughter asked for more info, and my wife explained that housing prices have gone up much faster than wages over the last 10 years. And that we wouldn't have been able to afford our own house under these circumstances.

My daughter said, "What will happen to us (her and her siblings), then?"

What indeed?

DH and I live below our means (except for private school) to be able to buy each of our 4 kids a decent house in NW DC. We buy and rent so the rent pays for the mortgage. We have been lucky so far, but I do worry about rents decreasing/unemployment increasing…

Yes, agree, this is more or less what we told her. We have 4 kids, too, and 1 on the way. I don't know that we'll be in quite as good a position as you are, but we'll be able to help substantially.

Sorry, I meant to say we have 3 kids. Helping 5 kids with buying a house is a lot!

[Anonymous]

I hope not. I finally got into the housing ladder and I’d like to climb it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


I think you answered your own question. Major political change due to economic stresses. We are already seeing it. Dollar is ourbeing devalued. Markets collapse. Your home relative to the strength of the dollar will weaken as an asset. But hopefully you view it as a place to live and not an appreciating asset. When you consider taxes, insurance, and maintenance it's not really a great "investment" anyway unless you get lucky with your location improving or something like that.

Exactly this! That is why when I retire and pay off my home I’ll be putting the [b]2M in the bank and become a renter in the same neighborhood. [/b]Or, I’ll be given my children the money to purchase their move up home. I’ll still have enough retirement to cover living expenses and health

How old will you be when you retire? How many more years do you think you might live? It could be 30 or more. Here's the thing. When the dollar is devalued (it has been devalued 10% since Trump took office) and your bank is paying very little interest, your 2M might not look like such a great amount (especially if you give some of the money to your children for their move up home as well). Your money will be worth less as time goes on. But if you keep your home and enjoy it, you won't have to worry about rent increases and you will likely have a nicer place than the "rental". Plus your children can inherit a real home and we all need shelter. It's real estate (you know, something real). So it can be important to have that as part of your wealth. Your rent could well be more than the taxes, insurance and maintenance costs on your house and you don't know if your $2M in the bank will keep up with your costs anyway. Personally I plan to keep up my house because it's a very comfortable place (garage and parking steps from my door, beautiful yard to maintain privacy from neighbors) and I feel like quality of life is worth a lot as you age. Then again, my house is not worth $2M. It's probably half that, but it's a nice place and the right size.

Honestly, after working my ass off to pay off my mortgage I hate the idea that the tax man will still be harassing me. I will also not want the cost of maintaining my home - yard, AC, plumbing and electrical stuff that I do currently. I want to be free and I think renting is the better option in that regard.

[Anonymous]

My assesment taxes are going too high in the next cycle. I am considering to sell in near future and move to a cheaper place. I don't need this much space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


How old will you be when you retire? How many more years do you think you might live? It could be 30 or more. Here's the thing. When the dollar is devalued (it has been devalued 10% since Trump took office) and your bank is paying very little interest, your 2M might not look like such a great amount (especially if you give some of the money to your children for their move up home as well). Your money will be worth less as time goes on. But if you keep your home and enjoy it, you won't have to worry about rent increases and you will likely have a nicer place than the "rental". Plus your children can inherit a real home and we all need shelter. It's real estate (you know, something real). So it can be important to have that as part of your wealth. Your rent could well be more than the taxes, insurance and maintenance costs on your house and you don't know if your $2M in the bank will keep up with your costs anyway. Personally I plan to keep up my house because it's a very comfortable place (garage and parking steps from my door, beautiful yard to maintain privacy from neighbors) and I feel like quality of life is worth a lot as you age. Then again, my house is not worth $2M. It's probably half that, but it's a nice place and the right size.



Honestly, after working my ass off to pay off my mortgage I hate the idea that the tax man will still be harassing me. I will also not want the cost of maintaining my home - yard, AC, plumbing and electrical stuff that I do currently. I want to be free and I think renting is the better option in that regard.

Well, you will be paying for taxes and utilities through your rent and you will have to depend on a landlord to do the maintenance (which may or may not be done in a quality fashion). Have you ever rented? We rented for years and love owning. You are never free of taxes no matter where you live. If you move out to low tax land, you might be unhappy with the quality of your services, but maybe not.

[Anonymous]

^ Instead of having the tax man "harass" you, you will be forced to harass the landlord in order to get things done. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
^ Instead of having the tax man "harass" you, you will be forced to harass the landlord in order to get things done. Ask me how I know.

That said, renters have peace of mind that they do not have to deal with maintenance. If you don't own the property, you start to not care that much about that home maintenance. As a renter, I routinely let things linger.

[Anonymous]

It is pretty affordable in the exurbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

^ Instead of having the tax man "harass" you, you will be forced to harass the landlord in order to get things done. Ask me how I know.


That said, renters have peace of mind that they do not have to deal with maintenance. If you don't own the property, you start to not care that much about that home maintenance. As a renter, I routinely let things linger.

That's not me. I like to live in a nice place. I also don't like to be at the mercy of someone else for things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems weird to expect people who own an asset to hope the value will go down so that someone else can afford to buy it. If housing values drop, some people will be underwater, lose all equity and may be forced to sell. This would benefit you nicely but that other family just lost their home.

It’s similar to the whining as to why boomers aren’t updating their homes AND pricing them as if they aren’t updated, so new buyers get a better deal and hassle free move in ready with HGTV design.

The housing crisis is about basic high density housing and fast, reliable public transit not being available leading people into homelessness or sitting in their car 3-4 hours a day commuting. The housing crisis is NOT you not being able to afford a nice SFH near walkable restaurants, great school district and short commute.

This. I'm sorry that your priorities and expenses now are not the same as mine were when I was your age, but your salary is also significantly higher than mine was when I was your age and the cost of everything has gone up for me, too. Do what the rest of us did and start small and crappy, then work your way up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It seems weird to expect people who own an asset to hope the value will go down so that someone else can afford to buy it. If housing values drop, some people will be underwater, lose all equity and may be forced to sell. This would benefit you nicely but that other family just lost their home.

It’s similar to the whining as to why boomers aren’t updating their homes AND pricing them as if they aren’t updated, so new buyers get a better deal and hassle free move in ready with HGTV design.

The housing crisis is about basic high density housing and fast, reliable public transit not being available leading people into homelessness or sitting in their car 3-4 hours a day commuting. The housing crisis is NOT you not being able to afford a nice SFH near walkable restaurants, great school district and short commute.


This. I'm sorry that your priorities and expenses now are not the same as mine were when I was your age, but your salary is also significantly higher than mine was when I was your age and the cost of everything has gone up for me, too. Do what the rest of us did and start small and crappy, then work your way up.

This is great advice. Find the crappiest place you can in a preferred location. That's what we did. Buy the house with the unfinished basement, bathrooms that function but are ugly (we lived with that for a long time while we saved money to fix them and did a lot ourselves). If the house has a bigger yard even better (and most older homes had bigger yards). This way you have privacy and may actually be able to add on in the future. We bought a solid, but outdated house years ago. We have touched every room and finished the basement (added a full bath there). The yard is beautiful. Don't watch HGTV! And be proud of what you are doing. You have the opportunity to make something the way YOU want it (not with the cheap stuff the flippers put in).

[Anonymous]

^ Plus you will be much better off financially than buying a house that is a couple hundred thousand more and watching it decline in value as this area goes into a recession (which is very likely right now). With the crappy cheaper house you will not see the hundred thousand dollar decline in value. It could decline, but not by nearly as much. If you fix it up it is likely to sell faster than the more expensive house just because it will be more affordable for people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sort of do. Our house is overpriced. Even I can see that. We can’t upgrade because the houses we’d consider are going up faster than ours. The percentage may be the same but the dollar gap grows bigger. Also, my kids will never be able to purchase anywhere in the DC region at this rate. Our young adult college grad daughter works full time and can’t even afford rent within an hour commute of Bethesda.

She should consider getting a roommate. It was the only way I was able to live in DC in my 20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems weird to expect people who own an asset to hope the value will go down so that someone else can afford to buy it. If housing values drop, some people will be underwater, lose all equity and may be forced to sell. This would benefit you nicely but that other family just lost their home.

It’s similar to the whining as to why boomers aren’t updating their homes AND pricing them as if they aren’t updated, so new buyers get a better deal and hassle free move in ready with HGTV design.

The housing crisis is about basic high density housing and fast, reliable public transit not being available leading people into homelessness or sitting in their car 3-4 hours a day commuting. The housing crisis is NOT you not being able to afford a nice SFH near walkable restaurants, great school district and short commute.

This. I'm sorry that your priorities and expenses now are not the same as mine were when I was your age, but your salary is also significantly higher than mine was when I was your age and the cost of everything has gone up for me, too. Do what the rest of us did and start small and crappy, then work your way up.

Aaaaand this. Boomers who just do not get it. The small and crappy home that you bought back then is now a $1M home. Salaries have gone up but so have expenses - and housing has gone up significantly more. Of course, the answer is go even smaller and go even crappier. And take a 2+ hour commute on top of that.