Millennials don't want to buy baby boomers' sprawling, multi-bedroom homes

Skoolies revisited...
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https://www.seniorforums.com/showthread.php/40066-Skoolies
.We’ve all heard of motor homes and travel trailers. I’ve even seen converted school buses before. But, never anything like this.[FONT=&quot]Skoolie life is built on the idea that happiness and desk jobs are like oil and water. A fast-growing branch of the van life community, many of them millennial parents, is trading its homes and jobs to live in school buses in rebuff of the so-called American dream. Skoolies believe in a life free of picket fences, 401Ks, and 30-year mortgages—all the securities their baby boomer parents coveted. “We knew early on we wanted a different life than our parents,” says Amanda Smith, who lives on the Giant White Bussalo with her family of five. “Our parents just worked nonstop every day. We didn’t want to do the ‘you get married, buy a house, have babies, and pay off your debt the rest of your life.’”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I just wonder where they get the money to live on.[/FONT]
 

Ken N Tx said:
Skoolies revisited...
.
https://www.seniorforums.com/showthread.php/40066-Skoolies
.We’ve all heard of motor homes and travel trailers. I’ve even seen converted school buses before. But, never anything like this.Skoolie life is built on the idea that happiness and desk jobs are like oil and water. A fast-growing branch of the van life community, many of them millennial parents, is trading its homes and jobs to live in school buses in rebuff of the so-called American dream. Skoolies believe in a life free of picket fences, 401Ks, and 30-year mortgages—all the securities their baby boomer parents coveted. “We knew early on we wanted a different life than our parents,” says Amanda Smith, who lives on the Giant White Bussalo with her family of five. “Our parents just worked nonstop every day. We didn’t want to do the ‘you get married, buy a house, have babies, and pay off your debt the rest of your life.’”
I just wonder where they get the money to live on.
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Many of them work from home using their computer.
 
Ken N Tx said:
Skoolies revisited...
.
https://www.seniorforums.com/showthread.php/40066-Skoolies
.We’ve all heard of motor homes and travel trailers. I’ve even seen converted school buses before. But, never anything like this.Skoolie life is built on the idea that happiness and desk jobs are like oil and water. A fast-growing branch of the van life community, many of them millennial parents, is trading its homes and jobs to live in school buses in rebuff of the so-called American dream. Skoolies believe in a life free of picket fences, 401Ks, and 30-year mortgages—all the securities their baby boomer parents coveted. “We knew early on we wanted a different life than our parents,” says Amanda Smith, who lives on the Giant White Bussalo with her family of five. “Our parents just worked nonstop every day. We didn’t want to do the ‘you get married, buy a house, have babies, and pay off your debt the rest of your life.’”
I just wonder where they get the money to live on.
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Probably from their hard-working parents. :eek:nthego:
 

All my kids are Milennials except for my oldest, who falls under the Gen X category.

They are not stereotypical Milennials. My daughter and her husband (also a Millennial) own their own large, 4 bedroom home. Sons #3 and 4 are working hard at well paying jobs, saving for a home purchase....#4 should be able to start looking next year, having built up a hefty down payment. Son # 2 is the addict in recovery, and he's slowly rebuilding his life and also saving like crazy in order to purchase a home a little further out with some land.

~~~~~~~~~

There is a trend here in Nashville which is really pissing off the natives! Because Nashville is such a swiftly growing area, with homes doubling in price in the last few years, builders are swarming in and buying up single family homes on large lots, paying a premium for them, BUT are then demolishing the home and building two, three or 4 homes on the lot, and really raking in the cash! row-of-houses.jpg1-builderswindowco_Nashville_TN_castleridgehomebuilders_Aug2016-15.jpg
 
Denser housing appears to be the wave of the future. With an ever-increasing population due to planetary birth rates, global migration and longer life spans, the style of post WWII suburbia is on its way out, just as the housing landscape from 70 years earlier (1880) looked a lot different than 1950.

In 70 year snapshots - US population in 1880 was 50 million, in 1950 it was 150 million, in 2018 it's 330 million.

I hope the young Skoolies, full-time RVers, and other alternatively housed are saving some serious dollars and plugging retirement accounts as they go along, particularly if they work partly as a barter, or as 1099 contractors in the gig economy, or for cash (so no corporate 401Ks and minimal contributions to SS). Retirement will arrive faster than they think.

On the other hand, the WWII generation wrung their hands over Baby Boomers who "dropped out" to live in communes. Most eventually dropped back in. I have every confidence that Millennials will find their way, just as we did. Future housing is theirs to define.
 
A lot of variables. I'm starting to see more reports of millennials getting into the housing game later in life some with much more saved up for a down payment. Also several generations now starting with the yuppies of the 90s lead not selfish but self centered life styles which means delayed family and quite frankly not growing up. It became all about 'lifestyle'.

The thing is in the privacy on one's own home one could do what ever they wanted with things like extra rooms and basement. You can even see the apartment renter life creep into apartment rentals with many advertising storage and closet space. If one looked at apartment 40 years ago it was closer to a small house with a coat and bedroom closet now there are like 3-4 closets for a one or two bedroom. Also walk-in multiple closets take up what used to be space because many are trying to lead lives one can do in an house which requires stuff and clothing.
 
My ex bought, years ago, a home in one of those developments, which were started in the 1980s-90s. They have a owners association. The kids have all moved away and now, most of the owners want to turn the community into a retirement village. Sounds good, until it comes to selling one of the homes. What newly retired couple wants to buy a two story, 3-4 bedroom, 3 bath, with a finished rec room in the cellar type home? The association has a no kids rule. Nobody can unload their homes- no one wants them. DUH!!!!!!!
Today, generation after generation does not live in the same house. There's no longer a "family" home. When grandparents leave , the home gets sold. So we no longer are rooted to one area, thousands of miles away.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
My ex bought a home in a "community" with a Home Owner's Assoc. The place was built and was sold roughly all at the same time. Everybody had kids about the same time, and the kids moved away about the same time. Most of the owners are seniors. They want the HOA to restrict the sale off the homes to retirees. But that creates a problem. How many retirees want a 2 story 2-3 bath, 3-4 bedroom home??????
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HOA rules and covenants are voted on by the stakeholders, i.e., the owners. Current owners - or their heirs - may reconsider the wisdom of age restriction when it becomes difficult to sell their homes.
 
My sons are millenials, they work a trade and have their own homes and families. They fix what breaks themselves and help me out with repairs too.
 
Everyone hustles to buy houses, here in Austin. It doesn't matter their size or style. The market has been, is, and will be, booming! I just sold three houses in less than a week. Exactly why this town thrives, its hustle, its energy, its terrible traffic, air and horrendous weather, is why I'm preparing to leave. Selling my rental properties is the first step.
 
The OP was from the Wall St. Journal. I don't think it said that millennials aren't buying houses.

It said, Millennials aren't buying the large, elaborate houses built by boomers in Sunbelt states like Arizona, Florida, and the Carolinas, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It was more about the styles of homes.

I feel sorry for those millennials who are so strapped with student loans it takes so long for them to buy homes.
 
Neighborhood is already changing. It is single family homes, but it is becoming a boarding house type housing area--as much as it is illegal. But what can you do when it's a small island with already too many people and cars and too many would-be homeless. I would say be happy too visit here but don't try to live here unless you bought about three decades ago, and even then it was already expensive for most people. And now the elderly couple from next door are gone--renting in the meantime, and the widow from the other next door is in a nursing home--relatives fixing it up but not decided on whether to rent or sell. Costing $5,000 a month for her. The back neighbor fixing up or selling--can't tell. So after decades--all new people. Have to say here, even though this house can be sold for definitely close to a million but still can't sell and still live here. So, going to stay here in this house. If need be, maybe get a reverse mortgage for elderly living ( not elderly now! ). So we all no matter where and how we live--have our challenges, if not now, then in the future.
 
Interesting thread.
Remembering when I was young, with a simple job in retail, life was easy. Paid the rent and utilities, had fun with friends, no parents to tell you when to go to bed. We left our jobs at the job. This was a life of joy.

Now, house is paid off, kids are raised and although there isn't a ton of money, life is easy again.

Maybe the younger generation saw how horrible life could be during the last economic crash and decided they weren't playing the game. Maybe they saw what their parents gave up to have the big house and the new cars. Why the fancy furniture to impress the neighbors while dinner was hamburger helper? Why scraping by to have all the toys? Why the stress only to retire and be unable to afford to travel, or be too ill to enjoy life? Where is the joy in working 60 hr weeks and spending the weekends cleaning the 4000 sq ft house?
 
treeguy64 said:
Everyone hustles to buy houses, here in Austin. It doesn't matter their size or style. The market has been, is, and will be, booming! I just sold three houses in less than a week. Exactly why this town thrives, its hustle, its energy, its terrible traffic, air and horrendous weather, is why I'm preparing to leave. Selling my rental properties is the first step.
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Do you know where you want to move to?
 
I think affordability and dreams defines most folks housing wants. Housing needs is an entirely different issue. I remember in the 60s we actually believed four of us could live indefinitely in a VW van working craftsman odd jobs that none of us had the experience or skill for. That dream died on the way to California. The poor little overworked VW engine crapped out in Pennsylvania. One of the girls’ mothers sent money for us to bus back to NYC where we all returned to sponging off our parents. The good old days 😀
 
Not having bothered trying to impress others I can really understand how the Millennials or Geny are seeing something that is not worth it to them. How many of you know people that cannot retire because of the big houses and flashy cars or whatever you wanted that was better than the neighbor. I for 1 am glad they are avoiding those traps! I have a mortgage, one that is less than what you could get a room for.
I for one am proud that they are strong enough to step on their own path.
k, nuff of the soap box
 
I think one of the biggest fuelers of the excessive home size is the buyer with relatively deep pockets from selling his much smaller home in the north. Those late boomers are still arriving in Florida, amazed by what their house sale cash can buy them here. After living 13 years in a house where you had to turn sideways to get through the bedroom door, we moved to Florida and bought a “huge” 1100 sf house with 1 1/2 baths.
 
We have a large house on acreage...hub built it (he's an engineer) and we love it. Its very open and easy to clean. Metal roof, special built construction for the climate we live in. When winter comes, we don't feel trapped inside a small "box". When we went to Florida for years (for the month of January) we felt cramped and bored when the weather was bad and we were "condo bound". It all depends on how hard the upkeep is and your preferences and financial situation is of course. Sure wouldn't want to be "house poor". We've lived here for many years and hope to upgrade to that home in the sky from it...lol.
 
Liberty said:
We have a large house on acreage
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We have a smaller home..
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full
 
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