Quote:
Originally Posted by Obadno
Im in the process of buying right now because renting in the areas I like vs buying in the areas I like are practically the same.
Age wise im guessing most people on this forum are probably under 40 so mostly "Millennials" And I would like to point out that most of the lack of home buying from the young is that housing prices vs average incomes aren't as favorable as they were from 1950-2000.
There is an element of people wanting to live in the city but I would bet the majority of it is economic.
ALSO and I point this out a lot to "kids these days!" complaints. the entire concept of a young person or couple being able to go out and buy a house in their 20's is an aberration to the norm.
My grandparents lived with their parents until they were in their mid 30's, this was incredibly common among middle class people except for a few decades under a special set of financial and cultural circumstances that made home buying the norm and fell apart 10 years ago.
Millenniasl living at home longer and waiting to buy a house isn't an exception its a return to the norm.
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I didn't buy until I was 32, and two decades later (I guess I'm older than most in this forum), I still think that was the right decision for me. I think that at some point in the late 20th Century a culture of premature home ownership took hold and people became convinced they were losers if they rented for more than a few years after college. That led to a lot of drive-til-you-qualify behavior, contributing to sprawl and the housing bubble that burst a decade ago. Equity and a tax deduction are good, but housing should be shelter first and an investment second.