Pfft that’s stupid. Everyone knows millennials prefer to rent because settling down just doesn’t fit our lifestyle, bro.
Plus we aren’t “handy” enough to deal with all the work of owning a home.
Just kidding, it’s because we’d rather be driving for Uber or something, I don’t know.
Point is, we’re just lazy, entitled, inept children.
Sadly, Millennials aren’t handy. Baby boomers are famous for the idea of being able to fix it themselves. If the dishwasher broke, they fixed it. If the carpet needed cleaning, they cleaned it. They enjoyed doing these tasks on their weekend. That is not the case with Millennials. They don’t care to understand how to fix something.
These are the same people that can't use an iPad unsupervised without somehow getting tricked into sending $2k worth of bitcoin and their SSN to a scammer.
Boomers created the current system where you can't "just fix" your dishwasher. The old dish washer at my parents can be fixed with a screw driver and a ¢25 washer from home depot. The newer ones are all glue, one way plastic clips, and stickers that say it can only be repaired by a certified repair shop. I get kinda what they are saying but the change didn't happen in a vacuum. I used to repaired computers for a living and I noticed year after year computers became more difficult to repair. For most laptops you can't just open them up and swap out bad parts. It's all glued together and has micro components that need to be resoldered to the motherboard. Great for size but impossible to repair outside of the manufacturer. I mean for fuck sakes their are billion dollar military equipment that can't be serviced without the manufacturers help. It's all a scam to keep us dependent on corporations.
My parents' washing machine broke when I was probably like 8 or 9. I helped my dad fix it over a weekend; it cost like $20 and took us a few hours over the course of Friday and Saturday, not counting a couple of trips to the hardware store. We didn't need much in the way of tools other than a Philips screwdriver and a socket set. That washer is still working today, 30 years later.
Contrast that with the washer I bought when we moved into our home five years ago. It broke a month ago, and I didn't even have the tools required to open it. The defect was with the motherboard, the tech discovered; and it would cost $550 to get a replacement made since the part was discontinued three years ago. That replacement would be ready in a month. Or I could spend $600 to buy a new machine.
We live in a very different world.
Shame they didn't extend that idea of fix it yourself to the environment... Oh wait, they did. 'Fix it yourself', they said.
That last article comes sooo close to figuring it out.
Finally, renting allows millennials to live in more desirable or “happening” parts of cities that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive for home ownership.
That sure sounds like a fancy way of saying we can't afford to buy houses.
A boomer I know blames young people being in house debt because "they all buy houses with quarts and granite counters, hardwood floors and heated tile floor bathrooms. They skip the starter homes and go right to the forever homes".
He doesn't consider the fact that no one is building starter homes anymore. Everything has heated tile floors, granite counters and hardwood floors because the contractors are demolishing all the older "starter" homes to build luxury houses and 55+ only condos to sell to boomers who throw all their money at it. There's no profit in building starter homes anymore.
Around me all the 55+ condos are dirt cheap and price controlled, while the regular condos and sfh are 2-3x price. So, when the boomers want to downsize they can just sell their that the vigorously fought to keep zoned without density to a millennial for a huge profit and then buy a cheap condo (conveniently dense and conveniently 55+) and live off the rest of the proceeds. It’s as if the boomers get to use their kids future earnings as a piggy bank for their retirement. It’s the same story with offloading the climate change impacts of their gluttonous lifestyle to their kids as well. They really did pull up the ladder.
At least in our area, most of the starter homes were purchased and then completely redone internally to fancy up and then flipped. All of the homes went up about $100,000 at minimum because of people trying to profit off the housing market.
My first house, I bought in 2009 (so right during the crash). We offered full asking price, only to be told there was 3 higher cash offers, which I couldn't compete with as a mortgage (FHA) offer. The seller made living in the house for 1 year a condition of sale, and all the higher offers disappeared. Guarantee those were just flippers looking to make a profit, rather than homebuyers.
Ehhh, I disagree with this a bit. People are still putting LVP instead of hardwood in new builds, with granite instead of quartz countertops, and no fancy heated floors, and the cheapest carpet they can find at Home Depot. I feel like most new builds I see going up are more on the "starter home" side of things, but maybe it's an area specific thing.
The real problem though, is even these cheaper options still end up being unaffordable.
In my area that's how they do the flips. And those are still sold for 150% what they would've been sold for three years ago. To a landlord.
I was fortunate enough to buy a house this year and the options seemed to be:
- Under $250K: needs $100k of work
- $250k to $350k: houses with less sq ft than my apartment that are >80 yrs old
- $350k to $400k: okay house/location, probably with one glaring issue. If you're lucky you'll find one of those 'starter homes' will be here
- over $400k: acceptable
- over $500k: built within the last 15 years
The new starter homes seem to be townhomes, me and my wife considered buying one instead and the market for them was blistering as they were all that most people could afford that aren't shacks/fixer-uppers... and people buying those will usually have to pay steep HOA fees on top of the increased interest rates, which is less going into their equity.
No one is building starter homes and with investing being so more accessible, you might as well do that while living in a nice apartment and wait to buy a nicer house.
Where I live: double your numbers.
Ha, jokes on them. I moved to the countryside, and purchased a former starter home.
The joke on me is that it was 3/4 of a million dollars. I would have not been able to buy it at all if I didn't have the support of my SO, who works full time like me, and my brother AND his wife, who all had full time jobs at the time of purchase....
Six bedrooms, two bathrooms, nearly 2800 sq ft. At least 15 minutes from anywhere, and at least 30 minutes from mid sized cities, and an hour and a half from the nearest major metro area. It's quiet here... Like, weirdly quiet.
I was going to but then I saw an avocado toast and now I can't afford a house. Silly me.
Wait, why didn't you get a 34k gift from your grandfather to buy your first property, like avocado toast dickhead did?
Youre just doing it wrong, bro
Mmmm... Avocado toast sounds yummy... Here I go again wasting money on silly things like food. I can't help myself 😭
Obviously, everyone just prefers to give their landlord 2/3 of their after tax salary. /s
Ooh, I feel like rent payments should be pretax or tax deductible and it would help a ton of people out.
Someone tell me why that would be a bad idea, I'm genuinely curious.
Rents will go up by whatever amount the average renter's budget increases and that lost tax revenue goes straight into the pockets of landlords.
I own a home with a mortgage. I’d sell my house to an llc, and rent to myself. The. I’d be able to deduct the profit of the llc from the expenses (the mortgage and upkeep of the home), and then deduct the rent I’m effectively paying to myself from my income.
I mean I’d love for this to happen, but if every home in the country did this, no one would pay taxes, and communities would be underfunded. Goodbye water treatment, police, firemen, teachers. Probably not great for society as a whole.
Someone told me recently that one should only spend max. 1/3 on housing. After showing them the price for housing and the average salary, they connected the dots. But they didn't seem to realize the Elephant in the room. I wonder when society is ready for the elephant.
I personally like how it is from the boomer generation that the 1/3 rule comes from as well. Keep in mind that is 1/3 for ALL housing expenses (water, heat, electricity,insurance, etc.), The US median is $1085 a week. This means all in a median Joe/Joette should find a place for under $1500 ALL IN in order to meet this rule.
Also if you own your house you can't tip your landlord
I know you are joking, but there is actually a YouTube series that is intended for landlords that teaches them how to milk tenants.
One of their videos literally suggests asking for tips alongside the rent, and threatening to include gratuities in all future versions of the lease, which is downright illegal but it's not like people who rent can afford lawyers
Obviously it was because we were trying to kill the housing industry.
And here I thought they wanted to live with their parents until they were 40.
GenX here. Why haven’t I bought a house?
Probably the same reason I didn't - waited too long, and missed the window of affordability.
It was a quick window that's for sure.
For years we all heard how renting is sooooooooo much better cuz u don't have to fix anything. Now those ppl are learning why home ownership can be advantageous.
I feel for gen z but half of millennials were laughing all these years now have shocked Pikachu face and own nothing except mtg cards and Funko pops.
ah, you see, the trick to getting into real-estate is to have been born earlier ... and not live in Canada, some Canadian boomers are learning about that requirement now as more of them are choosing to go homeless rather than pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.
Yeah the trick was buying a bunch of cheap homes in 2009 and sitting on them.
This is one of my favorite genres of journalism. See also: why is everyone so mad about the economy? Meanwhile, the economy: 3 chicken wings, a carrot, and a 1/2 lb of lentils is $37.
Seems the ultra rich are doing quit well in this economy by sticking it to the not-so-rich. It's not the economy, it's the money & power that controls the price of everything, including wages, but go ahead and vote for the billionaire guy who says he alone can fix things while planing to rule you with an iron fist. If systemic change is what you want start by running folks at the ground level elections - it takes about ten years to really change things..
I know you mean "planning to rule" but planing in the sense of flying by plane (their private jet) is also very fitting
Unfortunately, we are being ruled by people who insist on getting blood from a stone, and if the stone won't bleed obviously is the stone that is being too lazy to rapidly evolve having veins or any organic components at all
Seriously, we are also seeing record high inflation, used to 20 bucks could get me a bunch of drinks, a few microwavable meals to take to work, and some butter flavored Crisco to make my popcorn.
Now it might cover the butter flavored Crisco to make my popcorn and maybe one thing of drinks if it's on special offer. And that wasn't me comparing growing up to now, that's me comparing two years ago to now
Some folks are able to buy a home but choose to rent because they can also afford a landlord that'll actually do the job a landlord is hypothetically there to do and fix the place up if there's an issue
Weird to me how hypothetical a landlord's "job" is compared to, y'know, any actual job.
Yeah they're all parasites unless I'm demanding they fix something then I need them and life sucks unless they do a bunch of work.
People love to trash landlords for not working 24/7 the same way they trash teachers for having summers off, but when it rains it pours for landlords and problems always come at the worst time.There are good landlords and there are bad landlords. Just like tenants.
Wait that's what landlords have to do. Idk how it is in America. But in Europe is pretty much a law
The u.s. mostly only uses civil enforcement. If your landlord isn't upholding their end of the contract then the contract is void and you can move somewhere else. There's rarely any mechanism to make them do anything.
It's law in Canada too, but the Landlord Tenant board is so backed up with complaints that you'll have to wait ages for a response to anything but emergencies
In theory American renters are protected by the contract they sign with their landlord, with some basic protections guaranteed by law.
In practice,
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landlords have essentially no competition, since they own many properties in an area, meaning that contract terms rarely differ in any way that matters;
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landlords don't compete meaningfully with home ownership (see OP);
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alleging breach of contract requires an expensive court case against a landlord who has more money than you and can hire a better lawyer;
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those basic legal protections are rarely enforced, and when they are it's in civil court, not criminal court, meaning that they can be ordered to comply, but any penalty is financial (and only a pittance goes to the claimant), considered by many landlords to be the cost of doing business and an acceptable loss.
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Also if you don't want to be stuck in a particular city or neighborhood for long, renting is a better option.
I was happy to rent in my 20s because I'd move to a new town every year, trying to find the one I liked best.
Actually this does make sense, because remember reading articles about how Millennials and gen Z we're not buying groceries or eating out, which led to some article writers wondering if younger Generations even ate food.
The boomers are believing their own PR department about how lazy we are, they think that if we just walking to an office somewhere, shake the manager's hand, and just cut back on whatever it is that brings us joy, that this surplus of cash will just come flowing in and we can buy a house.
Like they really don't get it, I remember watching an old video where they were interviewing Generation X and Baby Boomers about why they thought Millennials were broke all the time, and the answers were just ridiculous. One guy who I just could not get out of my head, gave the answer that we were all lazy and trying too hard to get noticed on YouTube because being a pretend celebrity mattered to us more.
Even though at the time becoming a YouTuber was one of the fastest growing and well-paying careers. Like it never occurred to him that maybe YouTube actually was a job for some people. And it was around that time that Youtube Partnerships were a thing so yeah....
Yeah millennials got over a decade of news headlines like "Millennials are killing X! Millennials dont like Y! MILLENNIALS MAKING FINANCIALLY POOR DECISIONS BY BUYING EXPENSIVE LATE'S AND AVOCADO TOAST!" . I think some of it is pandering "kids these days" clickbait but a lot of it is also disconnect from how things have changed as well as people not understanding how to read data.
The funny thing is the articles didnt stop they just realized that elder millennials are in their 40s and shifted to gen z.
A weird trend I noticed that targets us now is gen Z making fun of millennials. That makes sense they changed what IT is and millennials are no longer with it and some elder millennials may even be their parents. So like yeah young people making fun of the on the way out trends and fashion is par for the course and they arent part of the same generation block so they can just target millennials all at once now. The thing that gets me is Im noticing gen X-ers coming in to join the shitting on millennials and thats just uncool.
Gen Xers have been our allies for generation!
Well they finally connected dots 1 and 2, huh.
It doesn't help that companies like Blackstone are buying up homes at auction, lightly flipping them and putting them back on the market as high-priced rental properties.
News flash, the vast majority of people want to purchase a home, not continually rent forever. Yet, many can't even afford to do so. More at 11.
swear as a culture we're not just headed toward being only renters, but we're being primed for the cultural dialogue around home ownership to be about what a pain in the ass it is and how renting is just so much better. This weird, Deleuzeian dystopia where the thought of owning land is just completely foreign to most people.
But don’t millennials like being able to pick up and move across country at the drop of a hat? It’s flexible! /s
Just listened to an interview on NPR today saying that very thing.
I’m a millennial and own a home and can fix things. I do get experts in sometimes when I am less familiar with the job. What I found was that the previous boomer owner did a lot of things wrong. I can find the code violations, but may need an expert to come up with better solutions. I shadowed my electrician and don’t need him anymore. Still have my plumber in a bit for now.
The previous owner of my place "fixed" the front door handle by gluing the mechanism into it. Now if I want to change my locks I have to replace the entire door. Cheers mate.
Acetone removes glue typically. Sometimes, when you think something is glued in hard, there is an extra screw that you missed.
My garbage disposal just broke. Turns out that the previous owner rigged the dishwasher drain in-line after the disposal, so that there is a chance that disposal water can kick-back into the clean dishes. Fixing that currently.
The kitchen hood vents into the attic, so have to fix that. The owner created a nest of electrical wires in the attic as well, so ended up creating a channel for them and organizing them so they are fastened nicely to the joists.
They created an unstable loft in the garage, so had to demo it since it was ugly as well. The list goes on and on.
In my house (just bought it, renovating) the light switches by the front door seemed kind of loose behind the cover plate. Finally got around to looking at it and found that the switches and their plate are attached to the wall only with caulk; the metal box they're supposed to be screwed to was somehow pushed a few inches into the wall. For bonus points, one of these switches produces a few seconds of loud humming when flipped followed by the main circuit breaker tripping.
Change the door and take it with you when you move😈
Is there an obvious answer to her question? Why did they think they/we aren't doing it?
too much phone, not enough struggling with PDF
Some think "younger people" shun the responsibility property brings with it. And obviously that we spend our money on traveling, Netflix and expensive gadgets instead.
Seems maybe they need to spend more time around younger people without simply dismissing them due to lack of real world experience.
That me. I shun the responsibility property brings with it. I there a chance I'm still "younger people?"
The obvious answer is that she's wrong. By the numbers Millenialls born in 1990 have a slightly higher rate of home ownership (43%) than GenXs born in 1970 (41%). Most of GenZ simply isn't old enough to purchase a home. If we define them as being born 1997 to 2012 then the very oldest of them are 27 with the youngest still being in Middle School! The vast majority of GenZ is somewhere in the middle around 18-24 years old. They either about to graduate High School or College but either way they're not at home buying age yet.
As a GenX this narrative that Millenialls aren't buying homes is weird.
Of the people born in 1970 about 41% of them owned a home by the time they were 30. Of the people born in 1990 some 43% of them owned a home by the time they were 30. Millenialls are actually slightly ahead of where GenX was at the same age!
GenZ shouldn't really be a discussion as most of them simply haven't reached "home buying" age yet.
https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/homeownership-by-generation
It's a distribution thing. In rural and lower populated areas, hone ownership by younger persons is probably higher than 1989 (i remember when, in my home area, a house could be had for ten grand but that was a unimaginable amount of money then and there, more there being the issue than then I guess), but also that large groups of young people concentrated in cities can't afford anything.
I'm 27 and classed as gen z as I was born in 96. I'd class 23 and up being house buying age.
What I really don't understand is all the people who in the next post tomorrow will mock China's oversupply of homes. "Haha, stupid dictators who oversupplied the market. Their investors are all screwed because the homes didn't go up in value."
What over supply? You mean all the unfinished Ponzi homes?
The Chinese government overbuilt housing. Housing investors didn't realize gains because there were more homes than people looking for homes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under-occupied_developments_in_China
A ponzi scheme is where you collect investments and pay out the first investors high interest with the early money collected to make it appear you are legitimate and thereby trick more into giving you money.
Buying real estate which goes down in value because the government makes more homes isn't a ponzi scheme. It's no different than losing money investing in wheat futures by betting against the US subsidizing farmers. (which creates a surplus.)
It’s true. I am boycotting all the things I can’t afford, as well as all the things I can afford but no one has given me a good reason to buy.
Because then they can't tip their landlords, of course! /s
