Anonymous wrote:Be careful not to presume that things in the vast majority of the country are as expensive as they are in DC and its inner suburbs.

Yes, but that recent study just came out that showed that young people aren't buying homes and are choosing to rent instead and they aren't having kids either. What was it, something like a 30% drop in the birth rate? I'll look for the link. That wasn't just a local story, but America as a whole.

Of the 25-35 year olds I know, less than a handful are homeowners. The rest are renters. A small few even rent with another couple so they can afford a nicer house. Only two couples have kids and the one couple is only planning on having one kid, that's it. Too expensive.

Anonymous wrote:I vote the opposite. DH and I are financially MUCH better off having married in our early 20s and continued to work through having children. We easily have 3x the savings rate of our single friends.

+1,000

I vote the opposite. DH and I are financially MUCH better off having married in our early 20s and continued to work through having children. We easily have 3x the savings rate of our single friends.

Anonymous wrote:It just depends on your expectations. If you expect to buy a nice house at 30 with kids, then yes it's too expensive for most people.

If you are willing to have a starter home, or condo with kids, I think it's doable, even in DC area.

I see too many younger adults think they should be able to afford the same things that a 40+ yr old has. I had this conversation with another person. They are much younger than my DH and I. I reminded this person that we are much much older, and we are at a different stage in our lives.

This.

Anonymous wrote:Are we starting to reach the point where it is just too expensive and no longer worth it?

Sure there is the welfare and government assistance option but I am talking about for the average person and/or couple.

When I graduated in 1986, people were saying the same thing. People still got married had children and bought houses despite double digit inflation and mortgage rates.

Anonymous wrote:Be careful not to presume that things in the vast majority of the country are as expensive as they are in DC and its inner suburbs.

So true. It is kind of ridiculous that younger people want to start out living in an expensive city like DC, NY, SF, LA. Go live somewhere cheaper like Raleigh, Austin, Chatanooga, Detroit while you are young. The people who have kids and houses here in DC are older, not in their 20s.

It just depends on your expectations. If you expect to buy a nice house at 30 with kids, then yes it's too expensive for most people.

If you are willing to have a starter home, or condo with kids, I think it's doable, even in DC area.

I see too many younger adults think they should be able to afford the same things that a 40+ yr old has. I had this conversation with another person. They are much younger than my DH and I. I reminded this person that we are much much older, and we are at a different stage in our lives.

I mean, this is only true if you are uncomfortable living in an apartment or in a racially and economically diverse neighborhood.

No, the average person in DC cannot have a 4 bedroom house with a 2 car garage, an easy commute, and segregated schools like the ones they grew up with.

But you can have a smaller house in an integrated neighborhood, and both you and your kids will be fine, I promise.

Be careful not to presume that things in the vast majority of the country are as expensive as they are in DC and its inner suburbs.

As I watch a single friend enter her retirement, married is definitely the way to go financially, at least in her case.

Anonymous wrote:Housing, housing, housing.
We have exited the golden age of the post-war era, when incomes were rising for the fat middle of the population and housing was relatively affordable. As suggested by the PP, most people under 30 cannot buy a single family house in a decent school district within a 20 minute commute of their job.

The data suggest that more and more people think they will not do as well financially as their parents. And they are deciding not to have kids.

Sure they can just not in the top 5 most expensive metro areas in the US aka NY, SF, DC, Seattle, and Austin/Denver/???

Let me repeat this is only an issue for at most less than 10% of the total population of the United States

What is the 4 year tuition cost of decent school? 75k? 80k?

Notice I said decent and not great.

A great school will cost over 100k easily.

Housing, housing, housing.
We have exited the golden age of the post-war era, when incomes were rising for the fat middle of the population and housing was relatively affordable. As suggested by the PP, most people under 30 cannot buy a single family house in a decent school district within a 20 minute commute of their job.

The data suggest that more and more people think they will not do as well financially as their parents. And they are deciding not to have kids.

In certain areas where real estate is expensive, most people definitely need to downsize their housing expectations. This is what European cities have done for ages - families live in apartments.

Are we starting to reach the point where it is just too expensive and no longer worth it?

Sure there is the welfare and government assistance option but I am talking about for the average person and/or couple.