Baby boomers to kill the housing market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did you see on TV this morning how the 'brady bunch' house is for sale in California? Original owners paid 60K and now it's worth 2 million. Somehow or other don't see that happening for any other generation. But of course we're all poor because we're lazy, unlike the baby boomer SAHM's who worked really hard smoking cigarettes and drinking cocktails.

60K was a lot for a house in the late 60s/early 70s. There was a big run up in prices starting in about 73 or so, but before that, 60K would have been on the high end for a house.

Sure, but now 2 million is on the high end for a house, and salaries have basically been stagnant since the 70s (statistically, not for you, law partner who makes more than his mechanic dad), so doesn't that sort of prove the point here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Yup. My parents don't have a reverse mortgage yet, though they may need one someday. Instead they mortgaged the first property to pay for a vacation home, and used their own inheritance from grandparents as a down-payment on a third home. 70 years old and 2 mortgages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Yup. My parents don't have a reverse mortgage yet, though they may need one someday. Instead they mortgaged the first property to pay for a vacation home, and used their own inheritance from grandparents as a down-payment on a third home. 70 years old and 2 mortgages.

Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in two generations. I’m impressed by the sheer audacity of their fiscal mismanagement

I’d like us to buy a 2nd home, but I want to be Airbnb’ing it to cover the monthly costs. Anything leftover is mine for enjoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Don't a lot of Boomers have kids who are Millennials and not Gen X? My mother was born in the first year that's considered part of the Boomers and I'm her oldest and the only one of her kids who is Gen X, and just barely. My 3 younger siblings are all Millennials.

[Anonymous]

Brady Bunch home for sale for 1.9 million. Boomers are smart

[Anonymous]

I am a boomer and my kids are 11-18 ain't selling soon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Don't a lot of Boomers have kids who are Millennials and not Gen X? My mother was born in the first year that's considered part of the Boomers and I'm her oldest and the only one of her kids who is Gen X, and just barely. My 3 younger siblings are all Millennials.

Your mom is 78 now and had her three younger kids when she was in her late 30s/early 40s. She is probably in the minority for people her age. More people who are in their early to mid 70s now were likely to have their kids in their 20s to early 30s, so those kids would have been born in the 1970s, so Gen Xers today.

[Anonymous]

I don't buy this for an instant. I'm Gen X. Since I was in college we have been told about all the ah-mazing opportunities that would be coming our way when X, Y, or Z happened to the Boomers. First they were all going to be retiring and there'd be all these amazing jobs for us. (HA! Because that happened.) Now, we're going to get the windfall from their home sales (either as buyers or inheritors). Sure. I'll believe it when I see it.

I get that the statistics may seem to point this way, but there's always been some reason why the generational windfall doesn't arrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Don't a lot of Boomers have kids who are Millennials and not Gen X? My mother was born in the first year that's considered part of the Boomers and I'm her oldest and the only one of her kids who is Gen X, and just barely. My 3 younger siblings are all Millennials.

Your mom is 78 now and had her three younger kids when she was in her late 30s/early 40s. She is probably in the minority for people her age. More people who are in their early to mid 70s now were likely to have their kids in their 20s to early 30s, so those kids would have been born in the 1970s, so Gen Xers today.

No, she turned 71 this year. She had me at 30, had other three during the next 10 years. She was on the older end of normal for first kids, but since she's right at the start of the Boomers, I don't think most Boomer's kids are Gen X.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Don't a lot of Boomers have kids who are Millennials and not Gen X? My mother was born in the first year that's considered part of the Boomers and I'm her oldest and the only one of her kids who is Gen X, and just barely. My 3 younger siblings are all Millennials.

Your mom is 78 now and had her three younger kids when she was in her late 30s/early 40s. She is probably in the minority for people her age. More people who are in their early to mid 70s now were likely to have their kids in their 20s to early 30s, so those kids would have been born in the 1970s, so Gen Xers today.

No, she turned 71 this year. She had me at 30, had other three during the next 10 years. She was on the older end of normal for first kids, but since she's right at the start of the Boomers, I don't think most Boomer's kids are Gen X.

Sorry, I meant to write 73, not 78. The first year of birth for Baby Boomers is 1945- that was about when the soldiers started returning from WWII.

A lot of Boomers were having their kids in the late 60s and through the 70s, since that is when they were in their 20s and 30s and people tended to have their children at younger ages back then than today. Yes, some were still having babies during the 80s, but the bulk of the Baby Boomers' babies were born before then.

[Anonymous]

This is so stupid. Downsizing is a American cultural phenomenon. Many foreign immigrants have no desire to downsize. I live in a 5 bedroom house and we are only three people left in the house. Two of our kids have left for college already. Culturally, I am geared to think that I will need the space if my kids and their families want to visit with us or live with us if they need to in the future.

Is it a pain to take care of a big house? Not really. The empty rooms remain closed. We are not using all rooms and they don't get dirty. We plan to live in the house for as long as we possibly can live, We have many empty-nesters around and frankly since we all bought these houses at very low prices we will never lose money on it even if we sell at a low price. We plan to leave feet first, as another pp suggested. Also there are so many conveniences where we live that it would be foolish for us to leave. We are not moving away.

Being in the DMV area, there is a great chance that our kids will get jobs here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are just as many studies out there that say the millennials, who have been putting off marrying and having kids, will finally want to settle down and buy houses. If anything, it is the hot urban markets that could suffer.

Less likely the cities that will suffer because declining crime and proximity to jobs will always shore up demand. I recall reading that the median age is dropping in the city and inner burbs and rising in the outer burbs and exurbs.

The exurbs more likely to suffer as the "drive till you can buy" motto that the boomers lived by isn't resonating as much with millennials who prefer to live in the close in burbs or city. The suburban experiment this country subsidized for decades post ww2 is failing as a trip on the major commuter arteries during rush hour can show.

Population patterns will adjust to time preferences as boomers pass on. They already are.

Not necessarily. Most Millennials are buying in the suburbs. Most work in the suburbs. There's been a flight of Millennials from DC proper.

The US population is still growing at a steady pace. For a city like Washington there will always be a steady demand for housing even in exurban areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Don't a lot of Boomers have kids who are Millennials and not Gen X? My mother was born in the first year that's considered part of the Boomers and I'm her oldest and the only one of her kids who is Gen X, and just barely. My 3 younger siblings are all Millennials.

Your mom is 78 now and had her three younger kids when she was in her late 30s/early 40s. She is probably in the minority for people her age. More people who are in their early to mid 70s now were likely to have their kids in their 20s to early 30s, so those kids would have been born in the 1970s, so Gen Xers today.

Agreed. My parents and most of their friends were born between 1942-1950 (mostly in '45-50 bracket) so that puts them at the beginning of the baby boom and just about all of them had children in the mid to late 1970s, possibly early 1980s. The early boomers up till mid 1950s are more likely to have children who are Gen Xers than Millennials. The boomers born after 1950s would be the parents of the Millennials.

Despite the catch-all term "baby boomers" there's a significant cultural difference between the early boomers born in the 1940s and those born in the late 1950s into the early 1960s (I think the generation officially ended around 1965?).

[Anonymous]

Millennials are the children of the boomers. That’s why there are so many of them.


http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/

Millennials aren’t having kids, so Gen X kids will be the ones suffering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Boomers sell and drive down prices, that helps the millennials who can't afford a home right now. But it hurts those who already have homes - e.g., Gen X. But Gen X is probably used to the Boomers screwing them by now.

When the houses of the boomers sell, it will many times be because the owner has died. So, who will get that money? The Gen Xers. So Gen X will actually come out all right in the end.

Hmmm not necessarily.

Lot's of Boomers are cashing out on their homes, getting "reverse mortgages", etc. There will be nothing for their Gen X kids to inherit.

Don't a lot of Boomers have kids who are Millennials and not Gen X? My mother was born in the first year that's considered part of the Boomers and I'm her oldest and the only one of her kids who is Gen X, and just barely. My 3 younger siblings are all Millennials.

On the other side too, my sister and I straddle the Boomer/Gen X line and we are only one year apart (64/65). I don't fell like I am a boomer in any way (nor Gen-x for that matter) Our parents were early depression babies (29/31). We basically skipped the boomer generation. My children now straddle the millennial/Gen Z (97/99)- so depending on where they eventually draw the line, we may have skipped the millennial gen too.