They should add in the median age of the general population as well.
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I did my part to pull up the median.
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I really dislike that these figures use the mean/median home sales price as I think itās the wrong metric to use. Iād prefer the median price of homes purchased by first time home buyers. My contention being that first time home buyers arenāt the median buyer. They donāt have an existing home theyāre selling, instead, theyāre using their savings and possibly gifted money and are likely shopping for cheaper homes than the median buyer who have more accumulated capital to use towards a home purchase.
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Not to mention that the median income of first time home-buyers is likely to be very different from the median of the entire working population.
Also, I would also use āmedian mortgage valueā as the comparison metric since this is the part the will emphasize the problem, IMO.
Another metric Iād be interested in would be the comparison of monthly mortgage (P+I) + averaged maintenance costs vs. monthly rents.
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Rents are skyrocketing in a lot of places too, so the ratio of mortgage to rent might be going up slower than youād guess.
Maybe a good stat would be to look at the cost of a basic 3-bedroom, 2-bath āstarter houseā and see what percentage of non-homeowner households could afford the mortgage if they could come up with the down payment.
Would be harder to calculate, of course.
Where I live starter homes are getting hard to find. Developers buy up $350,000 starter homes and tear them down and put up $1,000,000 homes on the same lot.
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A lot of places Iāve lived . . . the $350k home is not a starter home for most folks.
That might be the starter home for the actuarial type, but even today, most starter homes Iāve seen are going to be under $200k . . . with ātrailer homesā coming in under $100k. The trailer home info was about 5 or 6 years ago; not sure if thatās changed
Yes, the number of starter homes available has reduced a lot compared to when my parents bought their first house. Which makes the first rung on the property ladder a lot higher, requiring a lambeau leap just to get on it.
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Oh, in my area thereās not a lot under $350k. Some condos. I guess in other parts of the city there are cheaper homes.
I mean where I live thereās not a lot under $600k, unless you back up to the interstate, actually. Then the homes are in the $350-500k range.
Any home under $500k that doesnāt butt up to the interstate is bought up by a developer and torn down and replaced.
Yeah, itās crazy. Iām astonished at what people are buying these days. Across the street from my church are $1.2 million DUPLEXES. As in, each half of the duplex is $1.2 million. If you want the whole thing itās $2.4 million. On a busy-ish street thatās zoned for mixed commercial and residential use. Down the street from a hospital with a helipad so you WILL get woken up at all hours of the night when they airlift someone to the hospital (helicopters are noisy).
Each duplex half is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, about 2,800 square feet. For $1,200,000. I canāt believe people are buying them but they are.
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Interest rates spiked. My sister had an 18% mortgage at one point in the 80s.
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My parents had a choice between a 22% fixed or a 19% variable. RE agent advised the 22% fixed but they opted for the 19% variable. Best move my dad said he ever made.
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My neighbor just asked me if Iād like to buy his house. And then heād rent it from me. I donāt see him moving at all, ever, and heās a garden eater. I shouldnāt lose this deal!
Then Iāll keep this house I am in and rent it out to 4-6 college peeps.
Think think think!
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Only issue is your relationship with him is likely to change.
Any maintenance or repair issueā¦he will badger you about it.
Kind of hard to avoid a neighbour that is annoyed when repairs are taking too long.
Alsoā¦if you need to raise the rent?
Probably might get a bit akward
Things weād work out beforehand. But I will broach the subjects.
Other thoughts?
If youāre happy with the neighborhood and plan to stay you should go for it. Is it the house next door, or down the street?
Next door.
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Guess it depends on your relationship with the guy how comfortable you are changing it. If you guys are good friends now that might change eventually. Having a place with dependable tenants that pays for itself is a nice backstop imo.
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