Good article. Really gives you an insight.
“I worry,” he said, “that owning a home gives me less flexibility if there’s an emergency, or a financial crisis.”
Especially that paragraph resonates with me. I don’t know what the economic future will look like, but i’m worried. If i buy a house today, i have to pay a mortgage for maybe 20 years. But who says that in 20 years, there will still be (well-paying) jobs? I can’t take that insecurity.
How much will you have paid in constantly-rising rent over those 20 years with no return on investment?
There is money invested elsewhere than the home. Usually mutual funds, I believe, with different problems: https://lemmy.world/post/25608765
You’re still throwing money in the bin. Mortgage repayments are often less than rent because the people renting are trying to cover their mortgage payments and then some. Why pay for someone else to buy a house if you have the ability to do otherwise?
You’ll have bigger problems at point if thats the case
There’s a lot of problems with housing, but…
Amie, 44, a self-employed writer from rural Maine, purchased her $260,000 home in 2020, securing a 30-year fixed mortgage at an attractive 3.5% interest rate.
Signing up for a mortgage you won’t pay off till you’re 74 is definitely a choice…
Especially when self employed as a writer.
Back in the day people were able to get a decent job and a mortgage before they were 20, a 30 year mortgage gave them time to “coast” and amass wealth that last decade before retirement.
Nowadays to get a good job, you need college.
So your early years are paying that back, not a mortgage. And by the time you can replace student loans with a mortgage, you can’t pay it off before retirement.
And retirement isn’t just a “nest egg” and the company pension like it used to. There’s almost no pensions anywhere, and to be ready for retirement you need decades of contributions into a 401k and you have to pray the market cooperates for the short stretch you plan on using it.
Just all over the board, shit is fucked for a multitude of reasons.
Even if you do everything 100% right. You could just be fucked by things outside your control and there’s zero safety nets.
Ultimately, the fate of the people depends on whether the country cares for and loves its people. If the country actually hates the people, then the people are fucked, no matter what they do. The question is: Can the nation love the people?
The question is: Can the nation love the people?
Not if we keep voting for people that only see us as cheap labor and a means to give them the power to lower their own taxes. :(
deleted by creator
The real shame is that we need another housing crash. Only this time, we bail out the homeowners so they can pay down the difference between the value and the mortgage owed. That would have kept the banks whole and let people keep their homes, and it would have brought loan rates and property values back to earth.
You mean help the people? But that would be communism. No sir. This is america.
The housing market isn’t crashing as long as there’s considerable corporate ownership of single-family residences. They strategically list and sell properties to juggle neighborhood prices while maximizing profit.
the giant corporate home owners have started liquidating their positions at 25% below market, especially in Florida and Georgia.
That’s good to hear. Prices are still insane in NY, and if you filter by “for sale by owner,” you lose most of the results.
Not really good for the people buying in those areas that will soon be uninsurable because of climate risk.
Don’t be silly. We need another housing crash to bail out the banks and fuck the homeowners again. It’s the American way!! /s
Edit: punctuation
