#housing #HousingCosts #YoungAdults #BuyingAHouse #SellingAHouse
It’s not easy being a young adult today, trying to build a life.
As Bill Torpy, columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, points out, the median price for a house in Atlanta today is $405,000. He discussed the perils of young adults and housing in his May 12, 2024, column.
If you are 20-something, married or single, can you afford $405,000 for a house?
With rents on apartments also skyrocketing, it’s no wonder many young people are still leaning on “the bank of mom and dad” for help.
There are a number of issues driving up housing costs.
In decades past, a young person could get an affordable apartment to live in until he or she was able to buy a house. After all, The American Dream included home ownership.
They would buy their first house and live there until they outgrew it. Then, they would sell it to buy a bigger house. They would keep trading up in housing size as needed, until they reached retirement age.
Then, they might sell their bigger house and trade down to a smaller one, perhaps in a retirement locale with the various amenities for older folks.
That pattern is more or less out the window today. Buying and selling real estate has become something of a cut-threat endeavor.
In those old days, a person starting out might offer a price for a house that was a bit less than the seller had asked. The seller, looking for a firm sale, would usually accept. Today, it’s more likely that a buyer will have to bid up from the asking price, and might still lose out.
The demand for housing today is way over what the supply is. Because people can’t make any more land, most property available for building has been spoken for. That caps the supply at a certain level, but the population has grown considerably from decades ago, and keeps growing.
Also in the housing mix are entities such as property management companies, hedge funds and real estate investment trusts that tempt sellers with cash offers, leaving many young buyers out of luck.
Meanwhile, apartments and condos are going up like crazy in some areas.
Often, new apartments mean high rent, and new condos can be overpriced and have high owner fees to maintain common areas etc.
Tiny houses, and housing made from shipping containers also have been trending. These are not an option if one plans to have a family, or even a spouse.
Something else is happening today. Many young adults want everything now. They won’t settle for a fixer-upper, or rooms they view as too small. Many want what they are used to – what their parents have. And, they want it now. They are unwilling to accept something less, and work up to what they ultimately want.
If you are young, and do not want to live with mom and dad for the rest of your life, flexibility is the key. Chances are, even if you buy or rent someplace that’s not exactly what you want, figure on making do until you can save enough to afford more. As you trade up, you may not get everything you want at each stage. But, with each stage, you may get something more.
It’s not always possible in some areas to find adequate, affordable housing. But, if you keep looking, you may run into something you can work with. By the way, try not to get too comfortable living with mom and dad.
Remember, too, that a house is a house. A home is what you make with the house you have.
Peter
Tag Archives: housing costs
HOUSING COSTS UP, SALARIES DOWN
#HousingCosts #AtlantaHousing #HousingInAtlanta #AffordableHousing
One thing the economy has bolstered is housing.
Purchase prices and rents are going up.
Unfortunately, for many, salaries are not going up. In some cases, they are coming down.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has unveiled a 43-page One Atlanta Affordable Housing Plan, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters J. Scott Trubey and Stephen Deere in the June 25, 2019, edition.
The mayor will have to marshal the forces of the city, state and federal agencies, as well as local businesses, developers and non-profits to make the plan work, the reporters write.
“Rents are going up in and around our city, but the increase in wages is not keeping pace,” the article quotes the mayor.
The 13 initiatives and 45 other items in the mayor’s housing plan will require dozens of pieces of legislation, which would be drafter as necessary, the article quotes Bottoms.
The plan will use $1 billion in public and private funds to create or preserve 20,000 affordable units by 2026, the article says.
The problem of affordable housing is not unique to Atlanta. Many areas, particularly those attracting new residents and businesses, are seeing housing costs go way up.
Older, lower-income neighborhoods are being redone – gentrified, if you will – making it difficult for longtime residents to continue to afford them.
It’s certainly progress to see investments to upgrade housing. Unfortunately, some residents who may have lived in a neighborhood their whole lives are getting priced out. Where do they go? It’s hard to know, but the Atlanta newspaper also reported more recently that there are many people with full-time jobs living in extended-stay motels.
It’s not an easy problem to solve and Mayor Bottoms is trying to at least make a dent in the problem in her city.
Another unfortunate thing is that the jobs that residents may qualify for are not located near where they live. That brings forth the issue of affordable transportation.
With some people living paycheck to paycheck with nothing put away for emergencies, an unexpected car breakdown can really set them back. Not only can’t they get their cars fixed promptly, they have no independent way, perhaps, to get to their jobs. It’s tough to keep a job if you can’t get to it.
Have you ever wanted to live someplace, but not be able to afford to? What if something came your way that would allow you to spend a few part-time hours a week in a venture that could augment your income, perhaps beyond your wildest dreams? If you are open to checking one of the best of the many such vehicles, message me.
Keeping a supply of affordable housing is not an easy problem to solve. Builders are constructing new housing for the higher incomes, because it’s better for their bottom line.
On top of that, because the demand is there, some of the older housing is getting remodeled, making landlords raise rents etc. It’s tough to have to make choices between food, necessary medication and housing with a limited income.
Hopefully, Mayor Bottoms will be able to pull off her vision in Atlanta. Officials in other areas have to find innovative ways to keep the cost of housing from ballooning out of the reach of many residents.
Peter
HOUSING PRICES GOING UP, BUT …
#HousingPrices #AffordableHousing #HousingCosts
About a decade ago, we were hearing about people being forced out of their homes through foreclosure.
Today, we’re hearing about housing shortages, sky-high prices and high rents.
Rick Hampson tackled this issue in Los Angeles in an article for USA Today. It was also published May 20, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Hampson’s article calls this time the second Gilded Age. The first was in the late 1800s, when industrialization of the U.S. brought many immigrants, mostly from Europe, attracted by higher wages here than in their home countries.
“In this Gilded Age, like the one at the end of the 19th century, the gap between rich and poor is widening: monopolies have more power over business; business has more power over politics; and politics are close-fought and hyper-partisan,” Hampson writes.
In Los Angeles, where the cost of housing is out of sight, you have the mega-rich and the homeless huddled together.
Hampson writes about affluent areas like Bel Air, where a wildfire revealed a homeless encampment among pricey homes.
We all would like to live where we want. We all can’t afford, perhaps, to live where we might want, so we settle for living where we are.
We all can’t afford homes worth, say, $500 million, like the hilltop mansion in Bel Air that Hampson says is bigger than the White House.
Some of those homeless folks might be mentally ill. Some might just be urban outdoorsmen, to coin a phrase from retired radio talk show host Neal Boortz.
Some might have been victims of the recession 10 years ago. They’ve lost their homes to foreclosure, and can no longer afford another one – or even an apartment in California – at current prices.
One may not aspire to live in a $500 million hilltop home, but there are many ways people of modest means can better their lives, with a few hours a week part time. To check out one of the best such methods, message me.
The gap between rich and poor may be widening. Builders are not concentrating their efforts on building “affordable” housing. They are concentrating on building large homes for those who can, or want to, afford them.
Hampson goes on to say what Realtors in L.A. are doing to entice buyers. One even includes furniture, decorations and champagne with a home she is listing, he says.
Certainly, one could read this and think that it’s over the top. Perhaps you live in a small town in the middle of the country and cannot envision this happening where you are.
But the point is that housing prices are going up just about everywhere – especially in and around big cities.
Amazon is scouting places for its second headquarters that promises to bring 50,000 jobs. But amid all this prosperity are those who have very little.
We have to hope that as some prosper, others will be able to use what they leave behind to build a life of their own. The answer to homelessness is building more housing. It won’t get every homeless person off the street, but it may help the ones who’ve gotten there because of bad luck, and who want to work to create a better life.
Peter