twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,987
Jun 26, 2014 13:42:47 GMT
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Oct 5, 2023 18:10:56 GMT
My just-turned-30yo is sitting in the closing agent’s office getting ready to finalize the purchase of a 2 BR townhouse in the Richmond VA area. The sale price is $245,000, and her credit score was good enough to get a 7.1% mortgage, which is pretty good right now.
She graduated from a state school with no loans bc the tuition was cheap enough that we could pay it out of the money we had saved for college (which we managed to do by foregoing big family vacations, new cars, and budget-stretching mortgages while our kids were young—basically living off one salary and saving the other). She worked during college and covered a lot of her room and board costs, and she lived at home during grad school to cut expenses. She had a GA position that covered tuition and came with a $1300/month stipend. She also worked summer and holiday breaks at a local hotel doing catering, and altogether she left school with almost $10k in the bank. That, plus a lack of loans, gave her a great start. She didn’t land her “dream job” right out of college, but she waitressed at a comedy club as a second job on weekends to continue building her savings.
She has always been budget-driven, which her dad and I started training her for with her allowance at a young age, introducing the concepts of spending money vs. long- and short-term savings, with an envelope system for the three categories. As an adult, if it isn’t in her budget, she won’t buy it unless it’s an emergency. She keeps a spreadsheet with each category and updates it monthly.
She just got a new job that is her dream job, and her fixed salary went up by almost 50%! When she started looking at homes, she figured out how high she could go and still keep her payment close to what she was used to paying in rent. (She plans to save the rest for a couple of years, taking our advice of “save as much as you can early and let it work for you the rest of your life.”) She needed more of a down payment to get there, so DH and I gave her the funds we had set aside for a wedding, with the understanding that if she does eventually get married (no one in the picture at the moment), we will not be contributing. We have promised the same deal yo our other daughters as well.
She has been amazing about managing her finances, but NONE of that would matter if she were saddled with student loans. Even though it wouldn’t benefit my family, I am in favor of student loan relief for those who are locked out of the housing market with no end in sight. I don’t support full-scale forgiveness of the principle amounts, but there has got to be an end to the ridiculous interest rates. I can get behind a program that forgives the accrued interest and puts borrowers back on the right track for repayment of principle.
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scrappinmama
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,884
Jun 26, 2014 12:54:09 GMT
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Post by scrappinmama on Oct 5, 2023 18:11:11 GMT
I'm a Gen X'er parent with a Gen Z and a Gen Alpha. We're prepared for the real possibility that our children will live at home for a good long while. ETA: We'll also probably have to contribute to parents care at some point to, so yay us. I'm there already. It's rough. The fact that there ae some who don't want to acknowledge how hard things are is baffling. The American dream of home ownership is dead for an entire generation. I don't understand why this doesn't upset people. We should want the younger generations to improve their lives beyond what we could achieve. I'm so sad for the young people who will never be able to afford a house some day. Personally, I think about everyone but myself when I vote. I select candidates who I believe will help marginalized people, disabled people, people struggling to get affordable healthcare, elderly people, young people struggling to make ends meet. I will continue to prioritize those needs over my own when I vote.
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Post by Tearisci on Oct 5, 2023 18:12:27 GMT
I think expectations come into play as well. These days, the expectation of starter cars and starter homes are way different, than when I was a young adult. Many young adults today expect all the bells and whistles and upgrades, right from the start. They want it *all *, and they don't want to sacrifice their daily fancy beverages, going out socially, eating out, the latest and greatest electronics, etc... They don't want dated, lesser quality, hand me downs, to go without, etc... This is certainly not the case with my millennial DS. He and his husband lived right in DC but knew they would never be able to afford a home there so they moved an hour outside of the city and bought a starter home that they are fixing up themselves. It's added an hour onto his husband's commute each day but it was a sacrifice they wanted to make to try and get into home-ownership. I hate when 'young adults' are generalized and stereotyped because it's a broad brush that misses a lot of fine strokes.
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Post by ~summer~ on Oct 5, 2023 18:23:13 GMT
My oldest graduated from college in June, he moved back to the Bay Area with a job paying about $90k. He is choosing to live at home, save money. He has no loans, my parents gave him one of their old cars and also paid his insurance (lucky kid!)
His long time girlfriend will be attending dental school in the fall - at that point they will share an apartment in the city. But both right now are saving like crazy!
Hopefully by the time she graduates dental school, they can actually buy a house….but who knows what prices in the Bay Area will be at that point. They are already talking about moving to Seattle lol.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Oct 5, 2023 18:23:55 GMT
I’m not going to call that girl entitled. I totally get it. I’m early Gen X and DH and I went through some of that with his mom. She had the financial resources where she could have totally paid off our first house and SIL’s first house without even making a dent in her net worth. More than once, DH told her that she should be holding the mortgages on our houses instead of the bank and we could pay her instead and she said no, because she didn’t want to be in the position of having to kick her kids out of their house. 🙄 So instead we and SIL paid thousands upon thousands of dollars in interest to the banks over the years that no one would ever get back, all at a time when we could have used the most help financially. All that did was pushed us to wait until we were in our 40’s to have our kid because we knew damn well we couldn’t have afforded one before that.
And just for the spreadsheet, our first home was a tiny one bedroom fixer upper in a not awesome neighborhood a couple blocks from where DH was going to school. We paid $55K for that house at about 10.5% interest (😳!!) back in 1989. I just looked on Zillow now, and that same house has an estimated value of $255K. Granted, we did do some work to it and added a two car garage, but still. It’s gone up in value by about $100K since we sold it to my brother on a contract for deed in 2012.
Our neighbors at that house did it right. The dad bought the house next door to us and rented it to his kid and a friend while they finished medical school. After that kid got married and moved out, then his younger brother moved in. That right there is how you build generational wealth.
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Post by belgravia on Oct 5, 2023 18:28:31 GMT
Don’t ever read Reddit. Many young people feel similar. FWIW I didn’t think my parents knew what was what back in the day, and I am a mid Boomer. Reddit can be hilarious. I read someone (millennial or gen z) complaining in one breath about how they will never be able to buy a home where they want to live, and in the next breath stating that they absolutely “must live by the water (ocean)” for their mental health. I’m thinking “ok, I don’t live where I live for the view. This is where my husbands job is.” Like yeah, millions of people would love to live by the ocean and cant. You’re not special. I see a combination of entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise.
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Post by nightnurse on Oct 5, 2023 18:39:15 GMT
Don’t ever read Reddit. Many young people feel similar. FWIW I didn’t think my parents knew what was what back in the day, and I am a mid Boomer. Reddit can be hilarious. I read someone (millennial or gen z) complaining in one breath about how they will never be able to buy a home where they want to live, and in the next breath stating that they absolutely “must live by the water (ocean)” for their mental health. I’m thinking “ok, I don’t live where I live for the view. This is where my husbands job is.” Like yeah, millions of people would love to live by the ocean and cant. You’re not special. I see a combination of entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise. Sure, that one person is a clear indication the problem entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise. The problem is housing costs have outpaced salaries. That is the problem. Housing prices have gone up 393% since 1980. anytimeestimate.com/research/housing-prices-vs-inflation/#:~:text=Housing%20prices%20have%20increased%20393,That's%20only%200.5%25%20per%20year.
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Post by sideways on Oct 5, 2023 18:42:08 GMT
Don’t ever read Reddit. Many young people feel similar. FWIW I didn’t think my parents knew what was what back in the day, and I am a mid Boomer. Reddit can be hilarious. I read someone (millennial or gen z) complaining in one breath about how they will never be able to buy a home where they want to live, and in the next breath stating that they absolutely “must live by the water (ocean)” for their mental health. I’m thinking “ok, I don’t live where I live for the view. This is where my husbands job is.” Like yeah, millions of people would love to live by the ocean and cant. You’re not special. I see a combination of entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise. One comment is indicative of all Millennials and Gen Z as being entitled, having unreasonable expectations, and being unwilling to compromise?
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,539
Nov 14, 2016 23:47:03 GMT
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Post by pinklady on Oct 5, 2023 18:43:19 GMT
I think expectations come into play as well. These days, the expectation of starter cars and starter homes are way different, than when I was a young adult. Many young adults today expect all the bells and whistles and upgrades, right from the start. They want it *all *, and they don't want to sacrifice their daily fancy beverages, going out socially, eating out, the latest and greatest electronics, etc... They don't want dated, lesser quality, hand me downs, to go without, etc... I don’t think that this is fair. Not all Gen Z young adults have these expectations For the record, ScrapbookMyLife didn't say ALL, you did. She said "many" and I agree with her assessment of "many". I briefly read the OP and did not watch the video. I actually agree, just be grateful you got anything at all and move on. Millenials and whatever comes right before them are the generation of instant gratification. Denying that is just being blind.
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 18:43:22 GMT
Another thought - all the folks sitting on a home worth 3-10x what you paid for it should be concerned as well. You may think you’ve got yours, but nothing is worth anything unless you can get someone to pay the price you’re asking. That part of your estimated net worth may not end up being what you thought it was.
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 18:44:36 GMT
Don’t ever read Reddit. Many young people feel similar. FWIW I didn’t think my parents knew what was what back in the day, and I am a mid Boomer. Reddit can be hilarious. I read someone (millennial or gen z) complaining in one breath about how they will never be able to buy a home where they want to live, and in the next breath stating that they absolutely “must live by the water (ocean)” for their mental health. I’m thinking “ok, I don’t live where I live for the view. This is where my husbands job is.” Like yeah, millions of people would love to live by the ocean and cant. You’re not special. I see a combination of entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise. You had no pie in the sky dreams as a young person? Sad. Reality slaps us all in the face soon enough.
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Post by belgravia on Oct 5, 2023 18:44:53 GMT
Reddit can be hilarious. I read someone (millennial or gen z) complaining in one breath about how they will never be able to buy a home where they want to live, and in the next breath stating that they absolutely “must live by the water (ocean)” for their mental health. I’m thinking “ok, I don’t live where I live for the view. This is where my husbands job is.” Like yeah, millions of people would love to live by the ocean and cant. You’re not special. I see a combination of entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise. One comment is indicative of all Millennials and Gen Z as being entitled, having unreasonable expectations, and being unwilling to compromise? Yes, of course 🙄🙄🙄
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Post by sideways on Oct 5, 2023 18:46:36 GMT
I don’t think that this is fair. Not all Gen Z young adults have these expectations, any more than all boomers are clueless advice machines. I work with some young adults who have significant college loans. They have to also pay rent, which has gone up a lot even here in the rust belt. The price of cars is nuts too. Generalizing about groups pits them against each other, which achieves nothing.I’ll be honest; I would not want to be starting out in the job market now. In my field, expectations have gone way up, but the salary, not so much. Going back to this comment to say I’d like to agree, but the obvious boomers on this thread aren’t doing themselves any favors.
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 18:48:40 GMT
I wonder how many of the younger crowd are willing to buy a small crappy house in a not so great neighborhood, take in roommates and get a second job? Then spend weekends improving that house so they can trade up? Is that how the boomers did it? No. When they started their adult life, you could buy a decent family home on a factory worker’s salary. No roommates required.
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Post by sideways on Oct 5, 2023 18:48:48 GMT
One comment is indicative of all Millennials and Gen Z as being entitled, having unreasonable expectations, and being unwilling to compromise? Yes, of course 🙄🙄🙄 So, what was your point in posting it?
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Post by agengr2004 on Oct 5, 2023 18:50:47 GMT
I wonder how many of the younger crowd are willing to buy a small crappy house in a not so great neighborhood, take in roommates and get a second job? Then spend weekends improving that house so they can trade up? Is that how the boomers did it? No. When they started their adult life, you could buy a decent family home on a factory worker’s salary. No roommates required. The people I know with second jobs don't really have weekends or an abundance of free time.
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twinsmomfla99
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,987
Jun 26, 2014 13:42:47 GMT
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Post by twinsmomfla99 on Oct 5, 2023 18:50:55 GMT
Yup. My college graduate kid is having trouble getting a job. They had a good major, good GPA, internship, and other typical work experience that a new college grad from a middle class family would have. Yet, they don’t have enough experience for entry-level jobs. When they apply to jobs related to their field that don’t require college degrees, they’re told they’re overqualified. So, yeah…it’s a lot different than it was. I was having coffee with a former student who got a "job offer" of this: you can work here unpaid for a year, and at the end of the year, we will consider hiring you into a position. We only hire people who work first unpaid for a year." This was a student with top grades, and I won't name the employer here but it employs a lot of people, and I personally know people my age that worked there straight out of law school in regular paid positions. Things have gotten nutso.This is illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Someone needs to report them to the Department of Labor, and an investigation will probably result in a lot of fines and payment of back wages. A legit unpaid internship is tied to academic credit (like student teaching) and has a pretty limited duration. I have worked with the office that coordinates internships at my university, and we were constantly getting students who wanted to do "unpaid" internships for credit. They had to submit a proposal for specific learning goals and objectives that would be met through the internship before we would allow them to register for internship credit. My DD needed an internship on her resume, and she did a one-credit unpaid accounting internship with our local minor-league baseball team (that she worked for in the summers as a bat-girl), and she had to submit weekly reports to the instructor regarding what she was doing so she could get her grade. It also only lasted 6 weeks and was for limited hours during the week. She ended up being a remote internship because she started the position in early March just as COVID got started, so she honestly didn't do that much, so the team pretty much got what they paid for LOL.
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Post by belgravia on Oct 5, 2023 18:52:27 GMT
So, what was your point in posting it? An example, an anecdote, if you will. To possibly indicate that there are actually one or two millennials and/or gen x that don’t fit the picture you all portray. Looking at the situation from a different perspective, perhaps.
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Post by belgravia on Oct 5, 2023 18:56:25 GMT
Reddit can be hilarious. I read someone (millennial or gen z) complaining in one breath about how they will never be able to buy a home where they want to live, and in the next breath stating that they absolutely “must live by the water (ocean)” for their mental health. I’m thinking “ok, I don’t live where I live for the view. This is where my husbands job is.” Like yeah, millions of people would love to live by the ocean and cant. You’re not special. I see a combination of entitlement, unreasonable expectations and unwillingness to compromise. You had no pie in the sky dreams as a young person? Sad. Reality slaps us all in the face soon enough. Wtf are you on about? Of course I had dreams. I still do. But yes, at some point reality has to factor in.
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 18:57:47 GMT
So, what was your point in posting it? An example, an anecdote, if you will. To possibly indicate that there are actually one or two millennials and/or gen x that don’t fit the picture you all portray. Looking at the situation from a different perspective, perhaps. And do you think that anecdotes are helpful when addressing systemic problems?
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Post by sideways on Oct 5, 2023 18:58:12 GMT
So, what was your point in posting it? An example, an anecdote, if you will. To possibly indicate that there are actually one or two millennials and/or gen x that don’t fit the picture you all portray. Looking at the situation from a different perspective, perhaps. Fit what picture, exactly? Does that “different perspective” change the facts that the COL is much more expensive, housing is prohibitively expensive, wages are down, and it’s harder to get a job now for kids starting out? No, it doesn’t. But, thanks for your “different perspective.”
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 18:58:48 GMT
You had no pie in the sky dreams as a young person? Sad. Reality slaps us all in the face soon enough. Wtf are you on about? Of course I had dreams. I still do. But yes, at some point reality has to factor in. My point is that you see this as evidence of entitlement and unwillingness to compromise, and I see it as a young person voicing their dreams for their life.
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Post by belgravia on Oct 5, 2023 19:00:04 GMT
An example, an anecdote, if you will. To possibly indicate that there are actually one or two millennials and/or gen x that don’t fit the picture you all portray. Looking at the situation from a different perspective, perhaps. And do you think that anecdotes are helpful when addressing systemic problems? Good lord you’re strident. I didn’t share an anecdote in an attempt to solve a systemic problem.
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 19:03:30 GMT
And do you think that anecdotes are helpful when addressing systemic problems? Good lord you’re strident. I didn’t share an anecdote in an attempt to solve a systemic problem. But that’s what we’re discussing here. A systemic problem.
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,539
Nov 14, 2016 23:47:03 GMT
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Post by pinklady on Oct 5, 2023 19:03:52 GMT
I wonder how many of the younger crowd are willing to buy a small crappy house in a not so great neighborhood, take in roommates and get a second job? Then spend weekends improving that house so they can trade up? Not many. They expect Christina on the Coast to come in and remodel for them. No wonder these kids are entitled and ungrateful, their parents, even ones on this thread, are raising them that way.
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,539
Nov 14, 2016 23:47:03 GMT
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Post by pinklady on Oct 5, 2023 19:04:41 GMT
Wtf are you on about? Of course I had dreams. I still do. But yes, at some point reality has to factor in. My point is that you see this as evidence of entitlement and unwillingness to compromise, and I see it as a young person voicing their dreams for their life. Maybe, just maybe, teach them to live in REALITY! WTF!
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Post by Merge on Oct 5, 2023 19:05:00 GMT
I wonder how many of the younger crowd are willing to buy a small crappy house in a not so great neighborhood, take in roommates and get a second job? Then spend weekends improving that house so they can trade up? Not many. They expect Christina on the Coast to come in and remodel for them. No wonder these kids are entitled and ungrateful, their parents, even ones on this thread, are raising them that way. Ok, boomer. 🙄
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Post by Linda on Oct 5, 2023 19:05:28 GMT
I just checked Zillow for my zipcode - $200K will get you a 2 bed/1bath single wide mobile home from 1985 in poor shape and quite possibly not able to qualify for a mortgage due to the condition/age and definately hard to insure here...very few insurers insure even NEW mobile homes. It's way out in the country with a walkable score of zero - there is NO public transportation in my county and one person who drives for Uber/Lyft afaik.
per capita income here? less than $24K - our county schools are ALL eligible for free breakfast/lunch
There are almost no rentals available and those that are start around $1k/month.
fwiw - my 32 year old has been a homeowner for 2 years and can ONLY afford their starter home because they are in the military (gets housing benefits as part of their pay) and was eligible for a VA loan. My 23-year old? Doesn't have a job yet. They are living with their older sibling. I also have a 17 year old -there's a decent chance they will also end up moving in with their siblings - because there is public transportation there and hopefully more job opportunities (not to mention a better political climate being a blue-ish state). There are almost no job opportunities here beyond retail/fast food and there is no public transport (only my oldest has a license). Not to mention our governor is a very dangerous nutcase.
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smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,710
Location: Houston, TX
Jun 25, 2014 22:47:49 GMT
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Post by smartypants71 on Oct 5, 2023 19:06:15 GMT
I think expectations come into play as well. These days, the expectation of starter cars and starter homes are way different, than when I was a young adult. Many young adults today expect all the bells and whistles and upgrades, right from the start. They want it *all *, and they don't want to sacrifice their daily fancy beverages, going out socially, eating out, the latest and greatest electronics, etc... They don't want dated, lesser quality, hand me downs, to go without, etc... My young adult daughter with her first professional job is just able to afford a one-bedroom apartment in a sketchy part of town, with substandard management, and she drives our old 2015 Kia because she certainly couldn't afford a car payment of any kind right now. Because she is classified as a paid intern for now, she is paid hourly and has no health benefits of her own. Would you like to tell her her expectations are too high? Sending you a PM
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pinklady
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,539
Nov 14, 2016 23:47:03 GMT
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Post by pinklady on Oct 5, 2023 19:06:18 GMT
Not many. They expect Christina on the Coast to come in and remodel for them. No wonder these kids are entitled and ungrateful, their parents, even ones on this thread, are raising them that way. Ok, boomer. 🙄 Yeah, I'm not a boomer but if that make you feel better, OK. I'm pretty sure we're the same age so nice try.
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