Anonymous wrote:Also, I am married to a financial planner and most would advise you that student loan and mortgage debt is good debt. It is often better to be in debt than cash-poor. What you don't want is credit card debt.

Actually, there's been a lot of talk about this "good" debt and "bad" debt concept. At this point the general consensus is there's no such thing as good debt. All debt is bad.

Are these Gen Yers that go to job interviews with a parent in tow?! Perhaps their parents felt they should remodel before they moved in because living in the place while renovating would be too difficult for them. Why, OP, would you worry about the coddled little children; their parents do enough of it.

Anonymous wrote:

I do. I'm a Baby Boomer and DH and I are still living with our run-down, pink-tiled original 1952 master bath, 12 years after buying. Our HHI is close to $200K but we are saving aggressively for retirement and college. As long as the bathroom is functional, we're not remodeling.

We re-did our kitchen 10 years ago, but kept most of the cabinets and chose very modest materials for everything else.

Generational for sure IMO.

So, because you did something one way, and you are a Boomer, all Boomers do the same thing? And any variation by younger people from how you do things is BECAUSE they are younger?

Did they not teach (in your one room schoolhouse, by candlelight) logic to you in school? Or did you have to leave early that day to feed the oxen before your Pa started plowing?

Repeat after me - the plural of anecdote is not data.

Anonymous wrote:There's a lot of this type of thing on HGTV's House Hunters. Young couples look at houses and turn their noses up at kitchens and baths that are not brand-new and high-style (and even ones that are brand-new, but not high-style)

There's a lot of this thing on DCUM!

Also, I am married to a financial planner and most would advise you that student loan and mortgage debt is good debt. It is often better to be in debt than cash-poor. What you don't want is credit card debt.

Maybe they got a construction loan because they could only afford to do the work if they stretched out payments over the life of the mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:You people are stupid, Gen Y are smart, they don't want to lower their standard of living to a 3rd world country. if they can't get what they want they will wait or continue to rake in more money and get higher income jobs because of their vast superior knowledge of technology over the old boomer fuck heads.

Wow. You must be...young. Gen Y has the highest level of boomerangs who flew back to their parents' nest since the Great Depression. Gen Y has an overabundance of unemployed college grads who cannot find work that they are willing to take and go home to live off of their parents hospitality. There are more kids that are just trying to rake in enough money to move out on their own into a rented apartment, let alone buy a home. Gen Y has the highest accumulated level of debt of any generation at the same age due to the huge amount of school loan debts.

No, the point that I got out of OP's post was not that Gen Y home buyers were doing anything different than others (e.g. buying, doing renos before moving in) was that they were doing this on borrowed money while having extensive school loans, e.g. when they could not afford it. They have extensive school loans and are doing expensive upgrades to homes (especially when it is only for aesthetic reasons and not for functional reasons) and will be the ones that are going to be have huge financial problems in several years due to the overwhelming debt:earnings ratio. And probably the ones whining about needing a bailout from the government.

Anonymous wrote:You people are stupid, Gen Y are smart, they don't want to lower their standard of living to a 3rd world country. if they can't get what they want they will wait or continue to rake in more money and get higher income jobs because of their vast superior knowledge of technology over the old boomer fuck heads.

And the Gen Y has given their opinion.

Then they wonder why everyone doesn't have the warm fuzzies about them...

I do. I'm a Baby Boomer and DH and I are still living with our run-down, pink-tiled original 1952 master bath, 12 years after buying. Our HHI is close to $200K but we are saving aggressively for retirement and college. As long as the bathroom is functional, we're not remodeling.

We re-did our kitchen 10 years ago, but kept most of the cabinets and chose very modest materials for everything else.

Generational for sure IMO.

So, because you did something one way, and you are a Boomer, all Boomers do the same thing? And any variation by younger people from how you do things is BECAUSE they are younger?

Did they not teach (in your one room schoolhouse, by candlelight) logic to you in school? Or did you have to leave early that day to feed the oxen before your Pa started plowing?

Repeat after me - the plural of anecdote is not data.

You people are stupid, Gen Y are smart, they don't want to lower their standard of living to a 3rd world country. if they can't get what they want they will wait or continue to rake in more money and get higher income jobs because of their vast superior knowledge of technology over the old boomer fuck heads.

My DH must be from GenZ - he makes us live in a fixer upper and then through renovations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have done it both ways and it is definitely less expensive over all to do renovations at once time before moving in. It might seem counterintuitive, but there are significant cost advantages if you have the cash or a low interest line of credit to hiring one contractor, getting his or her full attention, looking inside of walls and seeing what the real state of the house is so that you can fix minor problems before they become major problems. Plus, it is significantly less disruptive to get major areas done when not living in a house.

BTW, I am a Gen X'er. I don't think it is a generational thing. If these people have friends or family who have renovated houses, they may be getting good advice about how to maximize a renovation budget.

I do. I'm a Baby Boomer and DH and I are still living with our run-down, pink-tiled original 1952 master bath, 12 years after buying. Our HHI is close to $200K but we are saving aggressively for retirement and college. As long as the bathroom is functional, we're not remodeling.

We re-did our kitchen 10 years ago, but kept most of the cabinets and chose very modest materials for everything else.

Generational for sure IMO.

Can you tell me what it was like when the Dinosaurs were around?

Gen x here and we did a ton of remodeling before we moved in. We did a "rent back" on our house we sold in order to have the time for this. This is not a Gen Y thing.

We did not have to do the renovations, the house was in clean working order, but we just don't like looking at old run down shit.

OP, I think you are jealous.

My parents are in the process of doing this and they are in their 60s.

It cracks me up when people create a post for the sole purpose of patting themselves on the back (and/or getting other people to support their judgy resentment of their friends). It's just so.....small. Do what works for you, OP. Life's too short to spend your time worrying about other people's choices. If you're that concerned about government spending (LOL), there are much more intelligent ways to get involved.