Millennials: the house you grew up in vs. your house now

[Anonymous]

I remember reading about this exact same phenom in maybe the early 1980s. I remember a magazine article by someone whose Greatest Generation parents had a big, solid, beautiful home with cashmere blankets, while the writer and her peers were living in cheap tract housing with cheap furniture and sometimes mattresses on the floor because actual beds were unattainable. Or living with their parents. They became the boomers whose kids became the Gen x and millennials who are depressed about the exact same thing, and who are accused of having grabbed all the stuff leaving nothing left for their descendants.

[Anonymous]

Same size but worth more than twice as much because the area is more desirable.

[Anonymous]

I am curious about the part where you are a millennial and know that you are in your "forever" home. I am nearly 50 (not that much older) and the house I owned at 32 (not sure how old you are as millennial seems to be a huge span) was much smaller than where we live now. Maybe it is a frame of mind. Who knows what house you will be in forever and you build a lot of equity fast in DC. Just take it one year at a time and if you want more space or something nicer you can always move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about the part where you are a millennial and know that you are in your "forever" home. I am nearly 50 (not that much older) and the house I owned at 32 (not sure how old you are as millennial seems to be a huge span) was much smaller than where we live now. Maybe it is a frame of mind. Who knows what house you will be in forever and you build a lot of equity fast in DC. Just take it one year at a time and if you want more space or something nicer you can always move.

Np. I’m 36 and am raising my kids in our family home. Who knows if it’s my forever home but we’ve been here for 8 years and it’s pretty perfect. I definitely can compare it to the house I had when I was growing up.

[Anonymous]

I think some of the Millennial posters here are confused. Especially since so many of you didn't grow up in the DMV. It makes a lot of sense that the homes you lived in from other locales would be more spacious than the homes you're living in here in the DMV.

The close-in housing in Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda and Chevy Chase that is so highly valued now was actually looked down on in the 70s and 80s. If you want to know why, look at it. The homes that are left from that time period were clearly very small tract houses built in the 20s, 30s and 40s to house war time workers. The rich people lived further out, in much nicer houses and they certainly didn't muck about in yucky Lyons Village or Old Town or places like that. People who lived there were the worker bees, the poor people, not anyone who had any money.

The close-in homes only began to appreciate as a result of the gas and energy crisis. People working in government jobs began to want to live closer to the city to cut their costs. And as women began to enter the workplace as part of dual-income families, it made sense to live closer to their jobs so that their latch-key children weren't alone so long after school.

Which leads us to what we have now. A bunch of Millennials living in the small houses, or buying new properties built in the stead of teardowns. And you're all surprised that the little house isn't as spacious as the home you grew up in at some other city with a completely different real estate market.

Anyway, if you're going to make compare, then at least ensure that you're comparing apples to apples, and not apples to Zebras.

[Anonymous]

My parents moved into a nice, new house when they had us kids. It was bigger, nicer and in a better location than where I live now.

Overall, we're living a less financially comfortable life than either of our sets of parents. (shrugs)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Millennials have never grown up.

Yeah, it is becoming more and more apparent. Unfortunately now they're raising kids. Yikes. This is an accident that's happening before our very eyes.

They have kids, daycare workers, teachers and grandparents are raising them

Ah, yes, because Boomers and Gen X never had teachers or grandparents help them raise their kids... (please note the dripping sarcasm).

Gen X raised itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think some of the Millennial posters here are confused. Especially since so many of you didn't grow up in the DMV. It makes a lot of sense that the homes you lived in from other locales would be more spacious than the homes you're living in here in the DMV.

The close-in housing in Arlington, Alexandria, Bethesda and Chevy Chase that is so highly valued now was actually looked down on in the 70s and 80s. If you want to know why, look at it. The homes that are left from that time period were clearly very small tract houses built in the 20s, 30s and 40s to house war time workers. The rich people lived further out, in much nicer houses and they certainly didn't muck about in yucky Lyons Village or Old Town or places like that. People who lived there were the worker bees, the poor people, not anyone who had any money.

The close-in homes only began to appreciate as a result of the gas and energy crisis. People working in government jobs began to want to live closer to the city to cut their costs. And as women began to enter the workplace as part of dual-income families, it made sense to live closer to their jobs so that their latch-key children weren't alone so long after school.

Which leads us to what we have now. A bunch of Millennials living in the small houses, or buying new properties built in the stead of teardowns. And you're all surprised that the little house isn't as spacious as the home you grew up in at some other city with a completely different real estate market.

Anyway, if you're going to make compare, then at least ensure that you're comparing apples to apples, and not apples to Zebras.

What on EARTH are you talking about. I’m an older millennial and I was born many years after the gas and energy crisis. My DH grew up in McLean. One of our biglaw partner friends just bought two doors down from his childhood home. A crappy house built in the late 70s that cost over $1mm.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in a variety of terrible rental homes, including the one with thousands of cockroaches that would scatter when you turned on the light, the one trailer that didn’t have a floor in some rooms for some of the time we lived there, and the one place that kicked us out in the middle of the night leaving us homeless.

Own our 5 bedroom home in a beautiful safe neighborhood with great schools. It’s not a new build, but it’s a fine 1960s home in great shape in a desirable part of the dmv. If only my kids had a bit more perspective.

[Anonymous]

My house is probably the same square footage but it’s a tall skinny townhouse with no yard versus a single story house on a quarter acre. It’s impossible to compare but I think we did ok. Eventually I would love a yard but I'm happy with this is my 30s.

[Anonymous]

I’m 34 and moved to this country four years ago for work. Grew up in the capital city of a big developing country, tiny apartment, highly rated schools but very crowded neighborhood. Now owning a 5,000 sqft sfh on half acre in McLean. But my current house and my childhood apartment might be worth similar in dollar values. Do I feel like living a better life than my parents? Absolutely! I appreciate how affordable houses are in DMV and how many opportunities this country provides for people of all origins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My house is probably the same square footage but it’s a tall skinny townhouse with no yard versus a single story house on a quarter acre. It’s impossible to compare but I think we did ok. Eventually I would love a yard but I'm happy with this is my 30s.

I went from a townhouse to a SFH with a small yard last year (a pandemic purchase so we would have outdoors space for our kids). I have to say, so far with toddlers, the yard is overrated. It's just something to mow and weed. Still, I love the house and deck and patio, so I'm happy overall, but I could do without so much yard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do they compare? I am struggling coming to terms with the fact that our likely forever home is older, smaller by 1k sq ft (more for DH), and in a less desirable neighborhood than the home I grew up in. We make way more than either set of parents ever did and they were in this area as well, but of course housing prices have rapidly outpaced income so comparable homes to those we grew up in are hundreds of thousands out of reach for us. What about you?

Yes, this region has exploded in popularity and the housing prices have adjusted accordingly, which requires a readjustment of expectations. DH and I went through the same "coming to terms" when we were looking to buy our first house here 6 years ago. It was a small townhouse and served us well as we started a family, but it definitely felt like we weren't "adulting" effectively if we couldn't afford the single-family starter home our parents had been able to afford back in the day. It helped to know we weren't alone, and all our other friends were buying the same, or sacrificing location and moving out to Loudoun to get their dream home.

We recently sold our townhouse for a SFH, which still doesn't have some of the things we always expected to have based on our own upbringings (a garage, for example), but it's a great home and in a neighborhood we really like.

[Anonymous]

Had two childhood homes in Lancaster, PA and upstate NY, respectively. Current house is much nicer than the first. I'd say it's similar to the second house in NY, but I think cost us about $650,000 more from what my mom paid about 20 years ago. Just checked and that same house is still valued at about half what we paid for ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about the part where you are a millennial and know that you are in your "forever" home. I am nearly 50 (not that much older) and the house I owned at 32 (not sure how old you are as millennial seems to be a huge span) was much smaller than where we live now. Maybe it is a frame of mind. Who knows what house you will be in forever and you build a lot of equity fast in DC. Just take it one year at a time and if you want more space or something nicer you can always move.

DP here. Most people, once their kids hit upper elementary or middle school, would like to be settled into the home they will raise the kids in, at least until the kids go to college. I think that is what OP means.