This is such an important topic. Housing now is a full-on commodity. Older people who own multiple homes have cheap mortgages, have been collecting rent that's gone up, up, up, while wages of younger people have not pace.
Many Boomers and Silent Gen in our community own multiple homes. When you have capital (i.e. assets) you can make more capital, right? Rich get richer. They hop from one home to next, which makes it hard for community connections to be built. Sometimes they just collect homes to rent out--no incentive to build. That's the case for our landlord, who is very nice by the way, but owns many dwellings in the valley, which has helped drive prices up.
Younger gens struggle mightily. Can't imagine having enough money to own home, put down roots, have kids.
In my own little enclave of 7 modest dwellings, 3 are unoccupied for large portions of year--one empty except for Christmas. All semi- or barely-occupied dwellings are owned by Boomers. It's hard to see them constantly dark for 2 reasons: 1) they are sitting empty while so many lack housing 2) because they lack people, they aren't contributing to a strong community. The other 3 ARE occupied, all by younger people who actually LIVE here. All bought just before housing melt-up. Now...no way.
It seems like we need to realize the cost to society and well-being of (mainly older folks with money) owning (multiple) homes--not living in one full-time?
I agree with you so much, Liz. Thank you so much for listing the reasons owned-but-barely-occupied units have a negative impact on our communities. Too often folks only think in terms of property tax dollars and don't consider the larger implications.
As for realizing/understanding/doing something about hidden costs to society when rich folks have multiple homes, well, I suppose we've been dealing with this since we broke from England, yes? :/
Thanks for chiming in! I appreciate hearing from you.
As your brothers friend with the truck I have the same concern about rents. We bought our house in 2002. It is now worth (according to Zillow) almost 4 times what we paid. Rents in the neighborhood are more that 2x to 3x our mortgage payment. But there are very few vacant lots to build on so very few new houses being built.
I don't knoiw if zoning affects that. Our lot is big enough for another house but zoning doesn't allow us to build one.
Hi Wayne!!! maybe you remember those stories about my roommate... lol Thanks again for helping me in 1984! :)
It's great your home has appreciated so much. And, sad that the apartments nearby are so expensive. Yes, good zoning keeps some open space and adds density only in places that make the most sense. But I'm sure LOTS has changed in your area over the years so... maybe local zoning laws could use an update.
I could write a lot about the cost of housing and how my family got profoundly lucky after years of renting, but I don't want to overlook the parts about your wild roommate stories!! :) Yikes! I would read more posts about some of those adventures. My wildest story was when the two brothers I was living with had a fight in our front yard one night. A physical, punching, one-gave-the-other-a-black-eye sort of thing. And yet I would have trusted both of them to take care of me if I ever needed it. Living with people (especially people you don't know all that well) can be wild!
oh, wow! There's a wild example of raging testosterone!
Thanks for catching the parts about my roommates. I thought it was kinda funny that no one had picked up on that yet! Roommates in general, and then roommates in San Francisco... probably most of us who've had housemates have a few good stories!
And, I'm happy you have a good finding home story, bringing you to owning a home after renting for so many years!
I feel so fortunate to own. Will soon be selling my condo...even with owning a condo the assessment fees are on the rise. How high can things go? I guess we will find out...
This is such an important topic. Housing now is a full-on commodity. Older people who own multiple homes have cheap mortgages, have been collecting rent that's gone up, up, up, while wages of younger people have not pace.
Many Boomers and Silent Gen in our community own multiple homes. When you have capital (i.e. assets) you can make more capital, right? Rich get richer. They hop from one home to next, which makes it hard for community connections to be built. Sometimes they just collect homes to rent out--no incentive to build. That's the case for our landlord, who is very nice by the way, but owns many dwellings in the valley, which has helped drive prices up.
Younger gens struggle mightily. Can't imagine having enough money to own home, put down roots, have kids.
In my own little enclave of 7 modest dwellings, 3 are unoccupied for large portions of year--one empty except for Christmas. All semi- or barely-occupied dwellings are owned by Boomers. It's hard to see them constantly dark for 2 reasons: 1) they are sitting empty while so many lack housing 2) because they lack people, they aren't contributing to a strong community. The other 3 ARE occupied, all by younger people who actually LIVE here. All bought just before housing melt-up. Now...no way.
It seems like we need to realize the cost to society and well-being of (mainly older folks with money) owning (multiple) homes--not living in one full-time?
I agree with you so much, Liz. Thank you so much for listing the reasons owned-but-barely-occupied units have a negative impact on our communities. Too often folks only think in terms of property tax dollars and don't consider the larger implications.
As for realizing/understanding/doing something about hidden costs to society when rich folks have multiple homes, well, I suppose we've been dealing with this since we broke from England, yes? :/
Thanks for chiming in! I appreciate hearing from you.
As your brothers friend with the truck I have the same concern about rents. We bought our house in 2002. It is now worth (according to Zillow) almost 4 times what we paid. Rents in the neighborhood are more that 2x to 3x our mortgage payment. But there are very few vacant lots to build on so very few new houses being built.
I don't knoiw if zoning affects that. Our lot is big enough for another house but zoning doesn't allow us to build one.
Hi Wayne!!! maybe you remember those stories about my roommate... lol Thanks again for helping me in 1984! :)
It's great your home has appreciated so much. And, sad that the apartments nearby are so expensive. Yes, good zoning keeps some open space and adds density only in places that make the most sense. But I'm sure LOTS has changed in your area over the years so... maybe local zoning laws could use an update.
I could write a lot about the cost of housing and how my family got profoundly lucky after years of renting, but I don't want to overlook the parts about your wild roommate stories!! :) Yikes! I would read more posts about some of those adventures. My wildest story was when the two brothers I was living with had a fight in our front yard one night. A physical, punching, one-gave-the-other-a-black-eye sort of thing. And yet I would have trusted both of them to take care of me if I ever needed it. Living with people (especially people you don't know all that well) can be wild!
oh, wow! There's a wild example of raging testosterone!
Thanks for catching the parts about my roommates. I thought it was kinda funny that no one had picked up on that yet! Roommates in general, and then roommates in San Francisco... probably most of us who've had housemates have a few good stories!
And, I'm happy you have a good finding home story, bringing you to owning a home after renting for so many years!
I feel so fortunate to own. Will soon be selling my condo...even with owning a condo the assessment fees are on the rise. How high can things go? I guess we will find out...