I’m not upset at parents helping their kids, I’m upset that we have a system that relies on you being born in fortunate circumstances to have a decent life.
I can see, however, that people buying homes with the financial help of their parents could make it almost impossible for people without that help to purchase. It’s one of the reasons why I bought my first place in my 30s - I was competing with people who had huge down-payments courtesy of their wealthy parents.
It’s the same reason why people resent homebuyers moving from a VHCOL location to a lower cost of living place, bringing with them the relatively large amounts of money they made from the sale of their old home or larger WFH salaries, driving up the housing costs and pricing out the locals. Also the same reason people dislike expats purchasing homes in relatively LCOL countries.
But honestly, this is all besides the point. The issue is that people need that assistance to even have a chance at buying a home. Not that there’s parents with the means and empathy to help provide for their children. Trying to imply the blame is on the parents instead of the system thats been created is misinformation at its finest.
Problem is that this is antithetical to much of the grandstanding that we do about the beauty and efficiency and yadda yadda of free markets. The narrative is, of course, that anyone can succeed wholly on their own merit in a free market economy if they just try hard enough, and if you’re not succeeding, then you’re obviously just not trying. Yet, here we’ve got data that throws an asterisk into the mix and says that if you want to buy a house, you’re probably going to need to have all three of:
parents
who have money
and are willing to share it with you.
None of which any individual is in any kind of control of. You can’t tryhard your way into having wealthy parents that are happy to buy things for you, so now we’re forced to re-examine the system and whether you really can succeed just by trying hard. The answer is more nuanced, but it boils down to luck. Yes, it is possible, given the right circumstances, that hard work can lead to success. In the overwhelming majority of cases, however, hard work means squat compared to luck. Other things are much more critical to success in our economic system, including owning assets, having powerful connections, and having the right skillset combined with the right opportunities, and most of those things boil down to luck.
I’m mortgaging a house, but I’m not delusional enough to believe that luck didn’t play a role. We got very, very lucky to have the right opportunities at the right time, as well as to have one parent with the money and willingness to share it to help us get into our starter home. Failing one of those, which would have been simple enough to have failed, we’d still be renting and living in a much worse financial situation, both in terms of monthly bills and net worth. We worked for it, yes, but pulling on your bootstraps isn’t enough, and it’s time to stop pretending that it is. It hasn’t been enough for a long time, and I can’t fathom that it ever was the case.
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Yeah the market sucks, but being salty about parents financially supporting their kids ain’t it
I’m not upset at parents helping their kids, I’m upset that we have a system that relies on you being born in fortunate circumstances to have a decent life.
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I can see, however, that people buying homes with the financial help of their parents could make it almost impossible for people without that help to purchase. It’s one of the reasons why I bought my first place in my 30s - I was competing with people who had huge down-payments courtesy of their wealthy parents.
It’s the same reason why people resent homebuyers moving from a VHCOL location to a lower cost of living place, bringing with them the relatively large amounts of money they made from the sale of their old home or larger WFH salaries, driving up the housing costs and pricing out the locals. Also the same reason people dislike expats purchasing homes in relatively LCOL countries.
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I for one support the revival of neo-feudalism and the divine right of kings, seeing as that is how the housing market is trending towards.
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So the kids aren’t responsible for themselves?
But honestly, this is all besides the point. The issue is that people need that assistance to even have a chance at buying a home. Not that there’s parents with the means and empathy to help provide for their children. Trying to imply the blame is on the parents instead of the system thats been created is misinformation at its finest.
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*bank accounts
I dont know why you’re conflating throwing money at your children with intelligence. If anything, it’d be empathy over brainpower.
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Again… empathy, not brain power.
Nah you’re right, the parents who simply can’t afford it are just dumb
Fucking idiot
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Problem is that this is antithetical to much of the grandstanding that we do about the beauty and efficiency and yadda yadda of free markets. The narrative is, of course, that anyone can succeed wholly on their own merit in a free market economy if they just try hard enough, and if you’re not succeeding, then you’re obviously just not trying. Yet, here we’ve got data that throws an asterisk into the mix and says that if you want to buy a house, you’re probably going to need to have all three of:
parents
who have money
and are willing to share it with you.
None of which any individual is in any kind of control of. You can’t tryhard your way into having wealthy parents that are happy to buy things for you, so now we’re forced to re-examine the system and whether you really can succeed just by trying hard. The answer is more nuanced, but it boils down to luck. Yes, it is possible, given the right circumstances, that hard work can lead to success. In the overwhelming majority of cases, however, hard work means squat compared to luck. Other things are much more critical to success in our economic system, including owning assets, having powerful connections, and having the right skillset combined with the right opportunities, and most of those things boil down to luck.
I’m mortgaging a house, but I’m not delusional enough to believe that luck didn’t play a role. We got very, very lucky to have the right opportunities at the right time, as well as to have one parent with the money and willingness to share it to help us get into our starter home. Failing one of those, which would have been simple enough to have failed, we’d still be renting and living in a much worse financial situation, both in terms of monthly bills and net worth. We worked for it, yes, but pulling on your bootstraps isn’t enough, and it’s time to stop pretending that it is. It hasn’t been enough for a long time, and I can’t fathom that it ever was the case.
More often than not the only rewards for hard work is more work and ruined health.
More like the problem is only people with rich parents can now afford owning a house. It’s disgusting.