For fellow housing bears

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without trying to read the tea leaves on proposed budget cuts, my take on the DC area is that housing costs are way beyond historical norms, relative to HHI. This has been made possible by abnormally low interest rates. When rates rise (and they will) to historical norms (the average thirty year rate is 8.5% or higher) housing will be hit and probably hard in this area.

Households can and have borrowed four and five years' income at three percent interest for housing. That will be impossible at 8.5% or higher. Ergo, prices will come down. The math determines it, not some agent's opinion.

DING, DING, DING! Virtually everyone I know sitting in a 1.8 million house had one or both of the following:

1) "Help from family" - which is to say, money that was likely not earned in the region
2) The enjoyment of some ridiculous equity explosion, that they kept rolling forward to properties - which is to say, they could never pay to house themselves and live a good life in the region, while saving for a $700,000 down payment. They "saved" for their down payment by living in a house that just magically increased in value.

DC salaries, when you look at other ultra expensive cities are very low. We don't have loads of hedge fund folks or techies who are getting multmillion dollar bonuses, and we consider "rich" people to be big law attorneys. Further, government salaries are capped very low at $200k.

Also, Millennials have absolutely no money. Yeah, sure, a few of them do. I am a Millennial and it is very hard to break into the housing market, and no Millennial is going to enjoy the easy equity Gen X and Boomers took for granted. Millennials also aren't willing to buy properties they don't like. Millennials spend all their money on chai lattes and Chop't salads, and they want the best of everything with minimal inconvenience. In 10 years, do you think they're going to line up to buy your crappy new build which will by then be dated and probably falling apart?

I love that you started this thread, OP. I am a home owner (hot area, close in burb, straight 10s on the schools), and I'll still be delighted when this ridiculous market right-sizes.

Umm excuse me but gen X got screwed by the housing crash, we didn't get "easy equity".

Exactly what I was going to say - Gen X always gets screwed - always.

Please explain. You've had it worse than boomers, but boomers had it extremely easy. Housing prices were far cheaper when you were buying your homes the late 90s/early 2000s.

Just as one example, your college was still relatively cheap. I'm an older millennial, and even I can admit that the older millennials have it much better than the youngest millennials. The cost of college has skyrocketed since I graduated in 2008.

Maybe you're right for early gen x'ers but those of us that were late gen x bought at the top of the market right before the crash.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What I find more disgusting than house prices is the cost of services in this area. I can do much more for 1/2 the price elsewhere, and get a better job done. $2,500 to have people come, cut the tops off of weeds and mulch, leaving me with the same darn issue in a month's time? Just no.

I am now hand-weeding every bed and hand-mulching with cedar. Got done with one side, only to have the mowers cut the grass and throw grass-clippings all over the newly mulched beds. GRRR.

Boomer here. We never had people doing our lawn work growing up and we don't now. We also paint and do maintenance ourselves (like our "greatest generation" parents did). Heck, I'm 58 and my husband is 60 and we just did our own mulching and weeding. We don't pay for fancy gyms . . . we get our workout in the yard. Our parents (the Depression/WW2 kids) showed us how to do all of that. We also didn't grow up with fancy windows (we had to change the screens and storms in the fall and spring---it was a big job). So maybe you can understand why we think the millennials are a bit "whiny". You all need to learn to do things for yourselves. Believe it or not we cleaned our own houses too. Among many other things.

You mean the woman cleaned your house. I doubt many boomer men were actively involved in cleaning their house on a regular basis. Unlike boomer women I refuse to have two jobs - maintaining the household and a full time demanding job. So we outsource. Until my husband is able to contribute 50 percent and actually mops and cleans toilets we will be outsourcing the cleaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What I find more disgusting than house prices is the cost of services in this area. I can do much more for 1/2 the price elsewhere, and get a better job done. $2,500 to have people come, cut the tops off of weeds and mulch, leaving me with the same darn issue in a month's time? Just no.

I am now hand-weeding every bed and hand-mulching with cedar. Got done with one side, only to have the mowers cut the grass and throw grass-clippings all over the newly mulched beds. GRRR.

Boomer here. We never had people doing our lawn work growing up and we don't now. We also paint and do maintenance ourselves (like our "greatest generation" parents did). Heck, I'm 58 and my husband is 60 and we just did our own mulching and weeding. We don't pay for fancy gyms . . . we get our workout in the yard. Our parents (the Depression/WW2 kids) showed us how to do all of that. We also didn't grow up with fancy windows (we had to change the screens and storms in the fall and spring---it was a big job). So maybe you can understand why we think the millennials are a bit "whiny". You all need to learn to do things for yourselves. Believe it or not we cleaned our own houses too. Among many other things.

Gen X here. My husband and I do our own yard work, our own maintenance, clean our own house, etc.

When I was growing up, I was blue collar, but of my friends' families, EVERYONE paid for lawn service and chem lawn and what have you. Where I live now, there are a lot of Boomers. They ALL pay for chemlawn.

They also run sprinklers in the summer (and half the water goes onto the sidewalk or driveway). The most wasteful generation I've ever seen.

We bought out house from Boomers. They paid a lot for the precious lawn's upkeep (we couldn't care less about the lawn), but after living here, we realized they skimped on the actual maintenance of the house. They were all about the superficial stuff.

Anecdotal experience yes. But you are spouting anecdotal experience as well.

[Anonymous]

Guys stop buying these boomer crap shacks at high prices! If we all collectively stopped theyd have to take a price cut. I lowballed every seller who was the original owner and finally found one who needed retirement money. They marked up their property and after 3 price cuts didnt have any offers. This was last summer in falls church (good schools to boot).

[Anonymous]

I am a millennial and my husband and I do all our own lawn work, cleaning, and basic maintenance of the house.

My mother grew up with a maid and did not. Go figure!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What I find more disgusting than house prices is the cost of services in this area. I can do much more for 1/2 the price elsewhere, and get a better job done. $2,500 to have people come, cut the tops off of weeds and mulch, leaving me with the same darn issue in a month's time? Just no.

I am now hand-weeding every bed and hand-mulching with cedar. Got done with one side, only to have the mowers cut the grass and throw grass-clippings all over the newly mulched beds. GRRR.

Boomer here. We never had people doing our lawn work growing up and we don't now. We also paint and do maintenance ourselves (like our "greatest generation" parents did). Heck, I'm 58 and my husband is 60 and we just did our own mulching and weeding. We don't pay for fancy gyms . . . we get our workout in the yard. Our parents (the Depression/WW2 kids) showed us how to do all of that. We also didn't grow up with fancy windows (we had to change the screens and storms in the fall and spring---it was a big job). So maybe you can understand why we think the millennials are a bit "whiny". You all need to learn to do things for yourselves. Believe it or not we cleaned our own houses too. Among many other things.

You mean the woman cleaned your house. I doubt many boomer men were actively involved in cleaning their house on a regular basis. Unlike boomer women I refuse to have two jobs - maintaining the household and a full time demanding job. So we outsource. Until my husband is able to contribute 50 percent and actually mops and cleans toilets we will be outsourcing the cleaning.

This. Boomer men were able to provide a lot while still being relatively useless, due to circumstances of the workforce and the economics of the time. Boomers didn't have dual working parent households quite in the same way we know them today, where each parent is often expected to be on-call nearly 100% of the time via iPhone for clients and bosses. They weren't completing in a global economy. The line between home life and work was far clearer for Boomers. Homes here in McLean that are being purchased by dual lawyer families were accessible to a GS-13 with a stay at home wife 25 years ago.

Some of the things the younger generations are unwilling to compromise on (commute, convenience foods, occasional cleaning help) is because life is far more stressful and complex. So, no, I'm not impressed - and I don't think it is relevant - if said GS-13, who was able to pay for his life by working a mere 40 hours and head home to his SAH spouse who handled everything did all of his own mulching.