OK, and what? Crowds of people today are refusing to buy such houses and are holding out for mansions? What is the point of such posts?
I’m very much opposed to unthinking Boomer bashing but such posts reek of older-person entitlement.
Also, I think it’s vulgar to lecture people who can’t afford a house if you are in excellent economic circumstances. Their reality is completely unknown to you, so maybe sit it out for a change. I love Charles Murray and deeply respect his work but he’s exhibiting Margaret Atwood levels of cluelessness here.
Clarissa's Blog 
(Inchoate screaming)
We currently live in an under-1000sf house.
I grew up in an under-1000sf house.
I am currently looking for an under-1000sf house.
There aren’t any affordable houses available. Even under 1000sf.
But sure, keep blaming it on our supposed avocado-toast lifestyles and impossibly high standards.
(vulgar swearing removed out of courtesy)
-ethyl
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“If you aren’t reusing your toilet paper, you don’t actually want a house”
“If you’re not willing to live in a surplus army tent with your three kids, you don’t actually want a house”
“If you aren’t darning the holes in your underwear, you don’t actually want a house.”
-ethyl
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I read a post online yesterday saying “if you have a microwave you don’t really want a house.” That completely threw me off. Is a microwave considered a luxury good? Like you could have covered your downpayment if you hadn’t splurged on your diamond-encrusted microwave?
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I think it was a bit of a joke about how expensive microwaves are.
The one above my stove stopped working and a new one, same model which was over a decade old would cost me $350, to have it installed would have brought the total to $430.
The fans still worked, it was just the microwave bit that was broken, so I just purchased a small cheap piece of junk microwave that still cost $60, but hey, it works, and I can still use the fans on the broken one when I cook.
Still it was completely astounding finding out how much it would cost to have it replaced in the first place. I went in thinking it would be about $60 plus labor so maybe $110 to $120, not the $350 to $430, and that was before taxes too.
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I am yet to meet a single person who’d say, “no, this 1,500 ft house is beneath me. I’m holding out for a 5,000 with a basement and attic.” WTF is wrong with the people who are endlessly debating this non-existent group of population?
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This is why I’m wondering if they are even real.
Like, if you set out to create a bot army to break up the working class alignment with the republican party that got Trump elected…
You could not do better than the online Boomer Houseproud “pull harder on your bootstraps” social media presence. They are doing a FANTASTIC job right now of alienating the wage class and everybody under 40 from anything ‘conservative’.
-ethyl
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It’s alienating me, as well, because there are few things that I detest more than this smug, entitled posturing. People believe they are somehow more moral and virtuous because they inherited an easier economy. Actual virtue, however, resides in being able to understand that it’s not all about you and dialing down your ego a bit.
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“What is the point of such posts?”
Boomer insulation…. it’s what they have to keep the reality of how badly they screwed everybody over away from the consciousness….
And does anybody even build 1000 sq houses anymore?
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Intergenerational dick measuring contests. On the internet.
Because boomers are eternal innocent starchildren who need to feel good about themselves and maintain their self-image as perpetual innocents.
-ethyl
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No, no they do not. From what I heard back in 2020 or so, the builders explained that before the supply-line disruptions they barely made any money building starter homes which would be the 1,000sqf or less houses. They mostly built McMansions and large apartment blocks as they could make real money on both.
After the supply line disruptions they make even less money building starter homes. It is just not worth it to them. As for the apartment blocks, apparently a lot of them are quite literally paid for before construction starts which means you can’t actually buy one of the apartments, you are only allowed to rent them.
Frankly as much as I hate government substities and government programs to pay for stuff, this is something I would make an exception for. One with strict 20 year min in jail guidelines.
I’d like the government to pay to build starter houses, they don’t have to be the best, just livable and affordable. They cannot be touched by REIT companies, and cannot be purchased to rent out for 20 years. After which point they are fair game to citizens only, no REITs, no foreigners.
And anyone who games the system or tries to loophole things, automatically spends a minimum of 20 years in jail, no bail or bond.
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“I’d like the government to pay to build starter houses”
Limited people who like to squawk about how ‘the market works’ or ‘the market will solve’ it need to take a loooooon look at housing the US (and healthcare and some other stuff).
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“Limited people who like to squawk about how ‘the market works’ or ‘the market will solve’ it need to take a loooooon look at housing the US (and healthcare and some other stuff).”
I work in finance, my family does rentals on both sides, and I did that as well for many years. I am quite well informed on the housing situation in my area and my state as a whole.
So let me be perfectly clear.
This area has an average income rate of $35K before taxes. The average house went from $120K to between $250K and $350K. Rent in the area went from about $600 to upwards of $1,200. Over the last 5 years.
The major cities have an average income rate of about $55K, the average house went from about $250K or so up to $450K and higher. Rent went from $1,200 a month to a staggering $2,000+ a month. Over the last 5 years.
The builders in the area do not build starter houses. They would go broke if they tried. People can barely afford homes in the area and we have REITs trying to buy up whole sectors.
There are apartment blocks being built specifically for people to rent, because those building them understand that if this continues in 5 years almost no one will be able to buy a house which means they must rent.
So I will reiterate my position since it doesn’t seem to have gotten through to you.
I do not. I do not, like for the government to use my tax dollars to pay for things. I do occasionally make an exception.
This is an exception, it will not benefit me at all, in fact it will probably cost me a bit, but it is necessary.
Do I expect them to be given out for free, no. I do expect them to be paid back, but I also expect these starter homes to be cheap and affordable.
Its like the old saying. You can have cheap, fast, or perfect. Choose two. We need cheap and fast, we don’t need the best, we just need something to fix the issue.
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OTOH, there are still tons of 1000sf and smaller houses out there, that were built in the 40s, 50s, 60s. I’ve been trying for five years to buy one.
The problem is that they are the most perfect ghetto rental properties, so we get outbid 100% of the time by REIbro types using DSCR loans to “pay cash” for these houses. And then rent them out.
-ethyl
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“we get outbid 100% of the time by REIbro types “
Market failure.
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Fraud.
They used mortgages to buy four or five other properties already, they faked the rental income on those properties to get DSCR loans (based on the expected income rather than the property value), and used the resulting cash to make no-inspection cash offer on house that might not pass an insurance inspection (ergo could not get a mortgage).
Arguably, fraud is also a type of market failure, but failure to investigate and prosecute fraud is also a government failure.
-ethyl
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“Arguably, fraud is also a type of market failure”
A market in which fraud is endemic and profitable is a market which has failed its primary mission – to improve the life of participants.
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This is a great opportunity for the government to get involved and correct the market mess. Instead of wasting time on atrocities like 50-year mortgages and inflationary handouts.
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What I’d like to know is what on God’s green earth was anyone in the whitehouse thinking with the 50 year mortgage.
I know most of the staffers are brain dead zombies at the best of time, but Trump did real-estate. Surely he at the very least should have understood what a horrible idea that was.
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Have to tell you those small houses (usually just under 1000 sq ft) built in the late 40’s-early 50’s were built by/for returning veterans and their new wives. Canadian, and I am sure the American, federal governments helped arrange mortgages. Simple and cheap wooden frame, two bedrooms, small bathroom, small kitchen and living rooms. Some did not have basements or attics, the one that my wife and I purchased did.
Over the years, we built another bedroom, another living room, a laundry room, and workshop in the basement, and planted fruit and nut trees for her gardens. But as soon as they can get rid of me, a contractor will use an excavator to smash the house down, rip all the trees out, and build four maybe five 4000 sq ft duplexes or triplexes. Progress? Hell, it was inflation then and it is inflation now ;-D
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I grew up in that house. Never added onto. Family of 6. One bathroom. Never felt like it was inadequate, because nobody ever told us we were entitled to anything more.
That house is no longer available for purchase, for families that want to live in it. It can only be rented.
ethyl
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I think one of your neggies just identified xemself as an entitled boomer 😀
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Sure, let’s remove the last remaining incentive for boomers to sell their houses. Let’s make sure they hold onto their 4 bedroom houses well into their 70s, long after their children have moved out, with rooms collecting dust, because god forbid those rooms be filled with children of families that actually need housing.
Boomer entitlement is also the single largest reason for the insane canadian immigration system. Gotta keep those property values high!
I would rank property tax at the bottom of the list of all the taxes that need to be eliminated.
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Seriously. Keep the property tax. Give a generous homestead exemption, and AUDIT that once a year to verify residence. And increase property tax *rate* for every home owned.
-ethyl
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I agree that it’s weird to remove the property tax. I’m not opposed to the property tax at all. I understand what it pays for, although I would like to be exempt from the public school share since I’m paying for private. But in any case, I agree that this fixation on getting rid of the property tax isn’t solving any real problems.
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It’d be another gift to the rich, and the investor class.
Where would they make up the shortfall from?
-ethyl
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Don’t think we have that many frauds or scams, but there seems to be no small house building. Monster multi-suite houses were all sold as fast as they were built, don’t know if the new duplex/triplexes are sold or rented. The lots are all small, some of the new people are planting dwarf fruit trees, learning how to start with cuttings, grafting, and they have learned to wave when they go by, so they are trying ;-D
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I love that Murray, totally un-self-consciously, is implying here that a 1500sf house is so small nobody would want one.
Tell me you’re rich and out of touch with reality, without saying you’re rich and out of touch with reality.
-ethyl
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