There's some good stuff in here, but also a lot to pick apart. Namely cause I'm 40 and 99.9% of this applies to me too...the 33's ain't that special. Heck, now that I'm a few years removed....I...
There's some good stuff in here, but also a lot to pick apart. Namely cause I'm 40 and 99.9% of this applies to me too...the 33's ain't that special. Heck, now that I'm a few years removed....I was a Neilson household for several years. They took it back at one point and then started trying to recruit us again 6 months later. Doesn't get more 'we want to target you' than that.
[Mid 20's] That’s on the young side for homeownership.
Maybe a little, especially now. But in the 80's the average age was 29, which would have put a fair number buying in their mid 20s. My parents built a custom brand new home at the ripe old age of 23 coming out of military service. Now the average is like 33. I didn't buy my first home till I was 34.
Millenials are the poorest, but Gen X didn't really benefit despite being a small cohort. When compared at same age, Boomers were at 20% of national wealth, X were at 6%, and Millenials at 3%. Less than a million extra in a population of 350,000,000+ is more or less a rounding error. If that million extra sustained for 10 years it'd be a more significant thing.
And then there's the whole wealth growing that they cite, and it's not really due to merit...it's because those boomers with giant quantities of money are dying off and leaving it to their children in the X and Millenials. That's it...hence why the biggest spike upwards is in the retirees whose 85+ parents are dying. You'll notice the big spike initiated during the pandemic. I predict it'll level off a bit in a few years.
This map shows the change in house price to income ratios, and it's pretty apparent that there was a universal shift after about 2020 where the predominant ratio changed from 3x-4x median income to (per the article) 5.6x. There is still regional variation, which is why I appreciate this map, but regional variation exists because people aren't in regions where home prices are cheap (hence lower demand) and are in regions where home prices are high, so telling people they can buy houses in a cheaper region ignores the various problems inherent in relocation - including that those low-price regions probably don't have the same range of job opportunities.
Having just gone through the homebuying process recently, I had several times where I was tallying up all the things that went improbably right for us and thinking - how the hell does anyone do this normally, without being this lucky?
I think the answer will be increasingly - they don't.
Hence why that average age mostly keeps going up. The long and short of it though is that renting is still more expensive even than owning, so it's all a matter of getting over that down-payment...
Hence why that average age mostly keeps going up.
The long and short of it though is that renting is still more expensive even than owning, so it's all a matter of getting over that down-payment lump.
Get FHA loans people, as low as a 3.5% down payment. PMI is annoying, but still not as bad as renting. Since you'll be building equity as you pay monthly, you'll be able to refinance to a traditional mortgage within a handful of years and have a lower monthly payment.
Man I really wish this was true in my area, but feels like it's really just the realities of living in a high cost of living area. My monthly payment for a mortgage on basically any livable house...
PMI is annoying, but still not as bad as renting
Man I really wish this was true in my area, but feels like it's really just the realities of living in a high cost of living area. My monthly payment for a mortgage on basically any livable house in this area would be 2-3x what I'm paying in rent. I've basically accepted that I'm never owning a home here and I'll need to move to a lower cost of living area if I want to own something eventually. Hell, the house I'm currently renting for $2,500/mo would have a mortgage of over $5,500/mo if I were to try buying it today.
See, those numbers are reverse where I live (and used to live). My mortgage + taxes/sewer (also billed by city) is about $2,300 for a 3BR single-family home on 0.25 acre. The cheapest rent I can...
See, those numbers are reverse where I live (and used to live).
My mortgage + taxes/sewer (also billed by city) is about $2,300 for a 3BR single-family home on 0.25 acre. The cheapest rent I can find in town is $3,500 for a 2BR condo with no land.
That’s around how much the down payment on my house was back in 2021. As you said PMI isn’t great, but it was easily offset by buying in a market cheaper than I was renting in. Also, unlike rent,...
That’s around how much the down payment on my house was back in 2021.
As you said PMI isn’t great, but it was easily offset by buying in a market cheaper than I was renting in. Also, unlike rent, my mortgage payment doesn’t change. It’s so nice to not have the potential rent hikes that come with lease renewals always looming on the horizon and potentially forcing a move.
There’s house maintenance costs of course but if you’re careful during house shopping you can mitigate that to a great degree and buy a place that doesn’t need significant attention in the short term, which gives you time to stash some cash away and renovate as needed.
Save $50 a month, spend another $50 finding the small things to do. The biggest problems stem from not keeping on top of maintainence or small issues being undiscovered. Oh and hunt for energy...
Save $50 a month, spend another $50 finding the small things to do. The biggest problems stem from not keeping on top of maintainence or small issues being undiscovered.
Oh and hunt for energy efficiency improvement financing and grants. Got my electric baseboards replaced with minisplit heat pump for a 0% APR.
This was kind of a weird surreal article to me, it kind of made me feeling like just being the slightest outlier in a bell curve. I just turned 30 back in February so I'm not a "peak" millennial,...
This was kind of a weird surreal article to me, it kind of made me feeling like just being the slightest outlier in a bell curve.
I just turned 30 back in February so I'm not a "peak" millennial, but close enough. I live in the Midwest and in a LCOL area. Although that is even rapidly changing. I went to my local public university around 2012 and now work in IT.
My then girlfriend now wife and I bought our home in 2019 (so right before the rush according to this article) but a lot, I would say most of my friends bought houses and then also got married in 2022 - so mid "peak". So it seems, so far, like not being a "peak" millennial has worked out for myself and allowed us to hit some of the outlined milestones early even if only by a few years.
Then again, how much of my experience and ability to do so is based of both controlled and uncontrolled circumstances? Like my parents, where I grew up vs my major in college and job decisions? I really can't say. However it does make me wonder what my next milestone will be, kids? Moving to our "forever" home? And how might those milestones have greater impacts on the economy and society large. Not sure really.
I do think that's these booms and busts being caused by millennials really has a lot more to do with chance and circumstances than anything we are specifically doing. I think a lot of social and economic decisions made by groups before us (Boomers) is having an larger-than-intended impact and kind of forcing millennials to do things at specific times, but I don't have any evidence to support it.
I also bought in 2019. I thought the market was overinflated crap even then, but I also recognized that the forces that led to that (federal reserve blowing asset bubbles) were not likely to stop...
I also bought in 2019. I thought the market was overinflated crap even then, but I also recognized that the forces that led to that (federal reserve blowing asset bubbles) were not likely to stop anytime soon. That and I was tired of moving and wanted to not have to worry about stupid landlord nonsense (now I get to worry about stupid homeowner nonsense! yay!), and there is inherent utility to owning a place if you're living there.
And then the whole world went insane and rent inflation spiked at nearly 30%. As my friends were forced to move away because of out-of-control rent inflation I realized just how lucky I really was. I turn 29 this year and all I can think about is how screwed genz is when they start entering the housing market in earnest. My little brother's 19 and he's going to have a hell of a time.
I am a "peak millenial" and growing up especially, it felt like a generation within a generation. But I feel like this author suffers from "main character" syndrome, and might be cherry picking...
I am a "peak millenial" and growing up especially, it felt like a generation within a generation. But I feel like this author suffers from "main character" syndrome, and might be cherry picking statistics to tell a cohesive narrative. I did not fall within the mean for buying a house or getting married either. Even if the stats are valid, this feels like a nothing-burger.
I listened to the first half of the accompanying podcast and this actually seems to explain a lot of what I have observed. I am an older GenZ, so right in the dip to the right of the graph in the...
I listened to the first half of the accompanying podcast and this actually seems to explain a lot of what I have observed.
I am an older GenZ, so right in the dip to the right of the graph in the article. I've heard my whole life that everything is horrible. First it was college admissions would be very competitive, then it was that I would end up working in the service industry with a bachelor's degree, and now it's that homeownership will be unobtainable. Things are obviously not as simple as they were for Boomers or GenX, but I have not encountered any insurmountable challenges that these peak Millennials have.
I think I hear a lot about the struggles of people a few years ahead of me and I brace for a disaster that never really arrives. It also sounds like the economy ramping up to meet the increased demand from peak Millennials actually catches up once I arrive, so I have the pick of the litter.
I'm pretty grateful that peak Millennials are encountering all these issues first, bringing awareness, and driving change. It seems like it is paying off for me and should continue to pay off for younger generations when they get here.
There's some good stuff in here, but also a lot to pick apart. Namely cause I'm 40 and 99.9% of this applies to me too...the 33's ain't that special. Heck, now that I'm a few years removed....I was a Neilson household for several years. They took it back at one point and then started trying to recruit us again 6 months later. Doesn't get more 'we want to target you' than that.
Maybe a little, especially now. But in the 80's the average age was 29, which would have put a fair number buying in their mid 20s. My parents built a custom brand new home at the ripe old age of 23 coming out of military service. Now the average is like 33. I didn't buy my first home till I was 34.
Millenials are the poorest, but Gen X didn't really benefit despite being a small cohort. When compared at same age, Boomers were at 20% of national wealth, X were at 6%, and Millenials at 3%. Less than a million extra in a population of 350,000,000+ is more or less a rounding error. If that million extra sustained for 10 years it'd be a more significant thing.
And then there's the whole wealth growing that they cite, and it's not really due to merit...it's because those boomers with giant quantities of money are dying off and leaving it to their children in the X and Millenials. That's it...hence why the biggest spike upwards is in the retirees whose 85+ parents are dying. You'll notice the big spike initiated during the pandemic. I predict it'll level off a bit in a few years.
Ah, you're right, I was looking at 2021 data.
It's 36 as of 2022. One year later, three years higher average....that tells tales.
Looking at two stats, I'm really struggling to see how most people in the nation could jump into homeownership right now.
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-price-income-ratio-reaches-record-high-0
This map shows the change in house price to income ratios, and it's pretty apparent that there was a universal shift after about 2020 where the predominant ratio changed from 3x-4x median income to (per the article) 5.6x. There is still regional variation, which is why I appreciate this map, but regional variation exists because people aren't in regions where home prices are cheap (hence lower demand) and are in regions where home prices are high, so telling people they can buy houses in a cheaper region ignores the various problems inherent in relocation - including that those low-price regions probably don't have the same range of job opportunities.
Having just gone through the homebuying process recently, I had several times where I was tallying up all the things that went improbably right for us and thinking - how the hell does anyone do this normally, without being this lucky?
I think the answer will be increasingly - they don't.
Hence why that average age mostly keeps going up.
The long and short of it though is that renting is still more expensive even than owning, so it's all a matter of getting over that down-payment lump.
Get FHA loans people, as low as a 3.5% down payment. PMI is annoying, but still not as bad as renting. Since you'll be building equity as you pay monthly, you'll be able to refinance to a traditional mortgage within a handful of years and have a lower monthly payment.
Man I really wish this was true in my area, but feels like it's really just the realities of living in a high cost of living area. My monthly payment for a mortgage on basically any livable house in this area would be 2-3x what I'm paying in rent. I've basically accepted that I'm never owning a home here and I'll need to move to a lower cost of living area if I want to own something eventually. Hell, the house I'm currently renting for $2,500/mo would have a mortgage of over $5,500/mo if I were to try buying it today.
See, those numbers are reverse where I live (and used to live).
My mortgage + taxes/sewer (also billed by city) is about $2,300 for a 3BR single-family home on 0.25 acre. The cheapest rent I can find in town is $3,500 for a 2BR condo with no land.
That’s around how much the down payment on my house was back in 2021.
As you said PMI isn’t great, but it was easily offset by buying in a market cheaper than I was renting in. Also, unlike rent, my mortgage payment doesn’t change. It’s so nice to not have the potential rent hikes that come with lease renewals always looming on the horizon and potentially forcing a move.
There’s house maintenance costs of course but if you’re careful during house shopping you can mitigate that to a great degree and buy a place that doesn’t need significant attention in the short term, which gives you time to stash some cash away and renovate as needed.
Save $50 a month, spend another $50 finding the small things to do. The biggest problems stem from not keeping on top of maintainence or small issues being undiscovered.
Oh and hunt for energy efficiency improvement financing and grants. Got my electric baseboards replaced with minisplit heat pump for a 0% APR.
This was kind of a weird surreal article to me, it kind of made me feeling like just being the slightest outlier in a bell curve.
I just turned 30 back in February so I'm not a "peak" millennial, but close enough. I live in the Midwest and in a LCOL area. Although that is even rapidly changing. I went to my local public university around 2012 and now work in IT.
My then girlfriend now wife and I bought our home in 2019 (so right before the rush according to this article) but a lot, I would say most of my friends bought houses and then also got married in 2022 - so mid "peak". So it seems, so far, like not being a "peak" millennial has worked out for myself and allowed us to hit some of the outlined milestones early even if only by a few years.
Then again, how much of my experience and ability to do so is based of both controlled and uncontrolled circumstances? Like my parents, where I grew up vs my major in college and job decisions? I really can't say. However it does make me wonder what my next milestone will be, kids? Moving to our "forever" home? And how might those milestones have greater impacts on the economy and society large. Not sure really.
I do think that's these booms and busts being caused by millennials really has a lot more to do with chance and circumstances than anything we are specifically doing. I think a lot of social and economic decisions made by groups before us (Boomers) is having an larger-than-intended impact and kind of forcing millennials to do things at specific times, but I don't have any evidence to support it.
I also bought in 2019. I thought the market was overinflated crap even then, but I also recognized that the forces that led to that (federal reserve blowing asset bubbles) were not likely to stop anytime soon. That and I was tired of moving and wanted to not have to worry about stupid landlord nonsense (now I get to worry about stupid homeowner nonsense! yay!), and there is inherent utility to owning a place if you're living there.
And then the whole world went insane and rent inflation spiked at nearly 30%. As my friends were forced to move away because of out-of-control rent inflation I realized just how lucky I really was. I turn 29 this year and all I can think about is how screwed genz is when they start entering the housing market in earnest. My little brother's 19 and he's going to have a hell of a time.
I am a "peak millenial" and growing up especially, it felt like a generation within a generation. But I feel like this author suffers from "main character" syndrome, and might be cherry picking statistics to tell a cohesive narrative. I did not fall within the mean for buying a house or getting married either. Even if the stats are valid, this feels like a nothing-burger.
https://archive.is/dYOOk if anyone is having issues loading the article.
I listened to the first half of the accompanying podcast and this actually seems to explain a lot of what I have observed.
I am an older GenZ, so right in the dip to the right of the graph in the article. I've heard my whole life that everything is horrible. First it was college admissions would be very competitive, then it was that I would end up working in the service industry with a bachelor's degree, and now it's that homeownership will be unobtainable. Things are obviously not as simple as they were for Boomers or GenX, but I have not encountered any insurmountable challenges that these peak Millennials have.
I think I hear a lot about the struggles of people a few years ahead of me and I brace for a disaster that never really arrives. It also sounds like the economy ramping up to meet the increased demand from peak Millennials actually catches up once I arrive, so I have the pick of the litter.
I'm pretty grateful that peak Millennials are encountering all these issues first, bringing awareness, and driving change. It seems like it is paying off for me and should continue to pay off for younger generations when they get here.