Anonymous wrote:Take this one, for example. Described as a starter home in the listing:
https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/632-Mississippi-Ave-20910/home/10953314
Maybe the listing agent wants to appeal to buyers who'd prefer some larger with more than one bathroom, but calling it a "starter" at $575,000 is insulting. I hate the idea that, even if it's a financial reach to spend that much, we should see at as a compromise relative to a house that costs even more.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's not offensive, you are just pissed that you can't afford a better house.
Just because you don't have upward mobility (or want it) doesn't mean we have to erase a commonly used phrase from our vocabulary.
Offensive would include verbiage that disparages a protected class. You are just slightly less rich than someone else, that situation does not put you in a protected class, its just kind of unfortunate for you.
Agreed. This looks like a perfect example of a starter home. It's nice, affordable, in a decent area, and has potential for later equity to sell for something bigger in a few years.
What’s so affordable about a $600k house? Median home value in DC metro is $400k. In Maryland it’s $290k. And the home ownership rate is only about 60% so lots of people can’t afford to buy at all. Wealthy and entitled people are making a lot of assumptions when they say that your average young couple can buy a $600k house.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's not offensive, you are just pissed that you can't afford a better house.
Just because you don't have upward mobility (or want it) doesn't mean we have to erase a commonly used phrase from our vocabulary.
Offensive would include verbiage that disparages a protected class. You are just slightly less rich than someone else, that situation does not put you in a protected class, its just kind of unfortunate for you.
Agreed. This looks like a perfect example of a starter home. It's nice, affordable, in a decent area, and has potential for later equity to sell for something bigger in a few years.
What’s so affordable about a $600k house? Median home value in DC metro is $400k. In Maryland it’s $290k. And the home ownership rate is only about 60% so lots of people can’t afford to buy at all. Wealthy and entitled people are making a lot of assumptions when they say that your average young couple can buy a $600k house.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's not offensive, you are just pissed that you can't afford a better house.
Just because you don't have upward mobility (or want it) doesn't mean we have to erase a commonly used phrase from our vocabulary.
Offensive would include verbiage that disparages a protected class. You are just slightly less rich than someone else, that situation does not put you in a protected class, its just kind of unfortunate for you.
Agreed. This looks like a perfect example of a starter home. It's nice, affordable, in a decent area, and has potential for later equity to sell for something bigger in a few years.
Anonymous wrote:
As a scientist in a medical field, I can't even begin to tell you how patriarchal and punitive medical terms are. They were coined by men in a warlike world. Think about "advanced maternal age" starting at 35, "incompetent cervix", "insult" when they mean injury, etc...
Compared to that, "starter" seems very innocuous.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Take this one, for example. Described as a starter home in the listing:
https://www.redfin.com/MD/Silver-Spring/632-Mississippi-Ave-20910/home/10953314
Maybe the listing agent wants to appeal to buyers who'd prefer some larger with more than one bathroom, but calling it a "starter" at $575,000 is insulting. I hate the idea that, even if it's a financial reach to spend that much, we should see at as a compromise relative to a house that costs even more.
I don't get it. What's so bad about calling it a starter home? It's small and for the price, something that a younger couple can both afford and make into a home for a few years until they have kids that are older than 10.
The layout is actually pretty good considering the sq ft and they have an entire unfinished basement just waiting to be finished.
Seems like a perfectly reasonable starter home to me. It's not a forever home imo.
It's insulting because it implies that no one would live in it for the long term. You DO understand that one person's "starter home" is another person's "forever home," right? To say it is a "starter" is to imply it isn't good enough (and by extension the people who buy it aren't good enough) as it is. But it is a house, a home, that people may live in for a little while or for the rest of their lives. Call it a small house, a cozy house, a two bedroom house.
I live in a house other people call "a starter house" - two bed, two bath, 1300 sq ft. I am 46, married, with a kid. We will live in this house until we downsize when the kid grows up. Do you call my house a starter house? Why? It wasn't my first house, so not my starter, and I never moved on from it. Its insulting to call any house a starter house. Its just a house.
It's not offensive, you are just pissed that you can't afford a better house.
Just because you don't have upward mobility (or want it) doesn't mean we have to erase a commonly used phrase from our vocabulary.
Offensive would include verbiage that disparages a protected class. You are just slightly less rich than someone else, that situation does not put you in a protected class, its just kind of unfortunate for you.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
This isn't "insulting". What's insulting is you projecting onto others what should and shouldn't be the ideal long-term house just because you didn't buy a bigger house.
Huh? Seems like people who use the term "starter" in a listing are projecting onto buyers what their long term goals should be even if they're buying small right now.
Anonymous wrote:
This isn't "insulting". What's insulting is you projecting onto others what should and shouldn't be the ideal long-term house just because you didn't buy a bigger house.