Reply to Was there ever a time when your average nine to fiver could afford the American Dream?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Of course this was possible, OP.  My dad was a fed. gov't. employee and my mom was a SAHM.  They bought a home in Great Falls in the late 70s.  The house cost $100,000 and was paid off by the mid-80s when my sibling and I started high school.

That would never happen today.  I'm so worried for my own kids' futures.[/quote]

I believe you but I'm also curious how many sq ft the house was, how many bedrooms & baths?

I grew up in a nice neighborhood on my dad's teacher salary in the 1970s, feeling middle class, but it was a 2 bedroom house and I shared a bedroom with 2 siblings and a bathroom with siblings and parents, so 5 of us using 1 bathroom.

So while I absolutely agree people have to spend more of their salary on housing today, I also think expectations of the type of home people want have greatly increased. How many middle class families in the DMV would be fine living in a house where 5 people shared one bathroom and 3 kids shared 1 bedroom? [/quote]

I don't know the sq. footage of the house, but it was a traditional colonial - four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, almost two acres.  Nothing fancy, but very solidly comfortable.  That would never happen today.[/quote]

True. But I bet your family couldn’t have afforded that much house in NYC during those same years on your dad’s salary, could they? DMV has become more desirable in the ensuing years. Not quite NYC desirable. But any time an area becomes a place lots of people want to live then it becomes more expensive. Population has risen tremendously in this area since the late 70s. [/quote]

My parents came to this country in the ‘50s with 8th grade educations.  They managed to buy a house in the NYC suburbs in a very good school district.  Mom stayed home once we were born, and dad worked as a bus driver.  They sent money home to their families regularly.  [/quote]

NYC suburbs are not the same thing as Manhattan price wise. [/quote]

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