- cross-posted to:
- usnews@lemy.lol
- cross-posted to:
- usnews@lemy.lol
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It’s weird how in one of the richest countries in the world, many people even couples with 2 full time incomes can’t afford a house?
It’s extra weird, since it seems to me many American homes are built with rather cheap materials compared to Denmark where I live.
What makes even weirder, is that USA is a country with a lot of room on average for building and expanding living spaces.
Seems to me this may be a case of lacking political planning.It’s weird how in one of the richest countries in the world
Not that weird when most of the riches are held by a handful of people. The rest of us are just trying to get by.
Yes that’s a problem, still Americans have higher average pay than most countries. With lots of room and cheap materials, it should be relatively easy to afford a house. And AFAIK it used to be that way. People could afford a house, car, children and health insurance on one income.
It’s a mix of outdated zoning laws, investment firms buying up all the available housing and car centric infrastructure
Items #1 and #3 are restatements of the same issue, and #2 is a red herring.
The problem really is just car-centric zoning.
No there’s other things that aren’t specifically car centric but are definitely a cause for undue expenditure.
You don’t think that the firms looking to earn passive income and controlling a significant amount of the supply is an adding additional expense by adding an unneeded middleman?
Don’t get me wrong car centric infrastructure can get fucked but I think it’s important we work on the problem from all angles.
You don’t think that the firms looking to earn passive income and controlling a significant amount of the supply is an adding additional expense by adding an unneeded middleman?
I think the ridiculous protectionist (for NIMBYs and the rich) laws restricting supply are the main reason their business model is so lucrative.
If you hate big landlords and REITs, working to abolish zoning density restrictions is the best thing you can do in order to drive them to bankruptcy.
I can guarantee you they would still find a way of profit on it and extract as much value as possible, that’s just capitalism’s end game.
The firms thing is very real. In a local small town, the majority of rented homes are owned by the same company.
With lots of room
Country size is irrelevant. People like clustering together in cities.
True, but there is still generally better possibility to expand those cities outwards. But that requires that new building plots are developed, and made available at fair prices.
If new legal building plots aren’t made available as needed, prices will increase on existing homes.
But that just means people are commuting in. There is cheaper housing spread out from the cities, but few people actually want to live there, and those who do will commute hours into the city for work. It’s often more prudent to rent in a city…
We need density, not spreading out.
Continuing to sprawl outward is the worst thing we can possibly do. It is literally omnicidal.
It’s not a lack of political planning, it’s a lack of political power for the working class.
It’s done by design to drive people into poverty and subservience.
Can you expand on the superior Danish building materials? Genuinely curious.
Basically that many houses in USA are made of wood, we can’t do that here, because the climate is too wet. So wood doesn’t last very long. That means we need to make brick houses. Brick houses are way more expensive to build than wood.
Also many places in USA don’t require the same level of isolation.
In large parts of Sweden they can make wood houses too, and their house prices are way lower than here.
I’m not saying American houses are bad, but the climate in large parts of USA allows for more and cheaper options.not op but i find it weird how you guys build houses mostly out of wood instead of brick and mortar. why is that?
The other 60% have already accepted it and aren’t worrying about it anymore.
Thanks for confirming I won’t be having any original thoughts today :D
the other 60% are just delusional about their chances
I’m about to buy a home, but it’s taking 4 employed adults combined to afford a 3 bedroom house. It’s insane.
Have you tried pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, surviving on the interest of your invested wealth, and forgoing toast with healthy yet expensive toppings? /s
Ah shit you know what? That’s a great idea. I was actually just throwing that interest money away because I wasn’t sure what to do with it.
Have you tried asking your rich dad to buy it for you?
He actually is helping (but not rich) he is taking out a personal loan to gift me some money, enough for a portion of the down payment. Even with that, (and I am very grateful and priveliged to receive it) it’s still almost unaffordable. (I’m still not actually sure we can afford it.) Which, considering most people aren’t so lucky, is fucking insane.
Just buy some money.
Heyo! It’s me!
I figure that since every single house costs the same, I might as well just jump into a new-build for the same price and move on with my life.
I’m 100% certain that once I get really going with this process, I’ll find out that it’s still out of realistic reach range, but it’s fun to dream for a bit. 🥹
You’d be surprised, it depends entirely on where you’re willing to live.
I used to live in the Denver Metro Area in Colorado and houses were going for like $400k-650k in the area.
Ended up moving to a smaller town ex-urban/rural area since my work is remote anyway. Had my home built in 2021. 1050 sq/ft 2 bed 2 bath for $210k. And even better, I snuck in before rates climbed. With $6k in points at closing, I got it at 2.25%.
Even after doing a full solar and battery installation and insuring the place for an additional $50k to accommodate that and value increase, my mortgage (including insurance and tax escrow) only comes to $1215 a month. I’ve been paying extra on principle every month to reduce interest amortization, and hope to pay it off within the next decade most likely. Retirement won’t be easy, but actually seems like a possibility now.
And bonus, I’m near a ton of nature, get to enjoy deer chilling outside the house, and the night sky out here is beautiful.
Oh it’s not a worry, it’s a reality.
How does this compare to renters in previous decades? Are there similar surveys from those eras?
I used to worry too, then I did it.
You don’t need 20% down. I did it with just 7.5% ($30,000).
This was in 2021 though with 3.25% fixed 30 year interest.
https://themortgagereports.com/61853/30-year-mortgage-rates-chart
It’s really bad and it’s getting worse.
Allegedly rates are set to go back down later this year and people with shit rates should be able to refinance. Prices are absolutely sickening all around whether you rent or are paying off a mortgage.
Rate cuts are alleged by people addicted to cheap debt, wanting to pump up asset prices. They alleged that there would be six rate cuts and have since revised that to three, but seem like they’re going to revise that down to one. Eventually they’ll understand that there will likely be zero rate cuts this year since the federal reserve that actually sets the rate hasn’t indicated that they will cut rates because inflation hasn’t settled down yet (and would likely shoot back up the second rates are cut).
Being able to put $30k into anything is not remotely achievable for a ton of people and your wording comes across as very dismissive
I bought my home with absolutely zero cash in hand. That’s what first time home buyer assistance programs and grants are for.
Sure, no problem. Zero down at 7.125% on a home that now costs $350k, but only cost $150k about 5 years ago. I’m sure that’s affordable for a family right now.
How much is the same family throwing away to rent that same home? How much will their rent be in 10 years? Locking into a mortgage ($2650/mo in your example) is the best way to go, even if the home prices are disgusting compared to 5 years ago.
The “you don’t want to own anyway” crowd in shambles.
