The world has become a confusing place to live lately. At least, I think it has. So many things don’t seem to make sense these days. Like real estate, for example.
Our oldest son would like to buy a house but the prices in his not-exactly-the-Riviera neighborhood are ridiculous. The last time we visited him I saw a cute little bungalow for sale and looked it up online only to learn it cost about the same as a smallish yacht, something else our son can’t afford.
Since he likes where he lives, he’s going to have to wait quite some time until he saves enough money for a downpayment or marries an heiress (I’m hoping for option two) before becoming a bona fide homeowner.
Strictly for entertainment, I looked up the first house we bought in the late eighties. We paid $34,000 for it and our monthly payment was something like $300.
Thirtyish years later, that same house, which was a very basic house with three bedrooms, one bathroom and no garage, is now selling for $340,000. There have been no additions like a greenhouse or an inground pool, it still doesn’t have a garage and the lot is what realtors term “cozy.”
Always a glutton for punishment, I looked up the second house we bought in the early 1990s for $36,000. Again, no garage, not a big lot and an older home. It happens to be on sale right now for $279,000.
Yes, there have been updates and I could see the price doubling, or even tripling, possibly quadrupling over the course of three decades but to go from $30,000 to $300,000? That’s a lot of zeros. It also smacks of greedflation.
There are people who say the younger set is picky and wants to skip the starter home and go straight to the house they’ll live in while they raise their children. While I’m sure there are some members of Generation X or Y or Z or whatever the current crop of first-time homebuyers belongs to, I’m just as sure that there are plenty of young people who’d like to live anywhere other than their parents’ house but can’t afford to.
Then there’s the supposed housing shortage, which is also confusing. How can there be a housing shortage when everywhere you look another apartment complex is going up?
I was discussing this with a young woman who offered up a rather grim solution: “Once the Boomers die there won’t be any more homeless people or a housing shortage since there will be a TON of houses available,” she told me with an absolutely straight face.
Pesky Boomers.
When I was able to talk again, I pointed out that most Boomers will most likely have to sell their homes to pay for assisted living OR they’ll leave their homes to their own children. My young pal looked doubtful.
“Maybe, but I also heard Boomers are going to leave TRILLIONS behind once they die,” she announced. “The economy is going to be great!”
I felt simultaneously guilty for still breathing and resentful for being pushed out the door with such little fanfare.
Somehow, I don’t think the housing market is going to improve all that much once the Boomers depart for greener pastures. I also don’t think the homeless problem will be solved. What I do think is that if the cost of living keeps going up along with the current rate of confusion, we’re all going to be suffering from a new malady — greedfusion. Methinks it’s not going to be pretty.