Starter Homes Where have they all Gone?

There used to be these things called started homes.

Back in the day many people even built them by themselves with a kit. It was sold through Sears and other catalogues.
The houses were small, around 600sq ft to 1200sq ft but it was enough for both starting families and also for those downsizing.
Where have they all gone?
I’ll tell you.

Some of them fell into disrepair and were replaced by McMansions in the early and mid 2000’s.
Then towns and cities started doing this ridiculous thing banning smaller sq footage homes from even being built.
Then the few small homes that were left were gobbled up by investors for rentals or airbnbs.
So basically no new ones being built and all the old ones being used as an investment.

In the meantime the working poor is about ready to crack, the middle and lower classes are one emergency from homelessness.
Something has to give…
I know some are saying people are now permanently living in their cars and vans and this is being celebrated. What a horrible horrible thing
To champion. Yes i’m sure financially it’s better than sky high rents, but what does that say about our society?

a reply to: JAGStorm

what does that say about our society?

It says society is broken, things are coming to a head and the 'solution' depends on which party/ideology is in control.

Sadly, I don't think we're near the bottom yet. It will get much worse before/if it gets better.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Inflation has taken its toll. Particularly in the rental housing market. Anyone that didn’t already own a home pre 2021 is fu##ed. Big corporations have consumed up a great deal of residential properties. They will not relinquish them, like they did after the 2008 crash. Unfortunately, That was a test run for the main event.

SPAM

a reply to: JAGStorm

My mother's home was built sometime in the early 1950's, 2 bed/1 bath, about 800sqft about ten miles from me. Current listings in her neighborhood are in the mid-$300K's.

My nephew and his wife, both twenty-somethings married just over a year, bought a "Honeymoon Cottage" of roughly the same vintage (maybe a bit older) in the foothills earlier this year: $400K.


You can imagine what new construction would cost for even a home of this size, when existing homes (even "fixer uppers")are going for prices like this.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Starter homes have been purchased and demolished by developers or the wealthy to build mega homes on prime lots.

Very few starter homes these days.

Yes, let's talk about starter homes. But, in a large part of our country, we should also discuss taxation while we are at it.

I pay almost as much in taxes for my home as I do my mortgage payment. We will discuss insurance at a later date, but we really can't discuss home costs without including the tax and insurance payments.

Care to speculate about how much people paid in taxes and insurance for starter homes back in the day?

Homes aren't just unaffordable for how much they cost, there's also this pesky little idea circling all of it that you never actually own your land outright. As long as they tax you for it, you never really own it.

Also, rentals have gotten outrageous, but when you consider the cost of owning a home, well, what do you expect?

reply to: JAGStorm

All these young professionals have to do is move into crime ridden dilapidated neighborhoods and then they can have a home. Jeez, they are so spoiled and racist!

The federal reserve was put in place 1913 with a 100 year plan to steal everything from everyone, and it was implemented nearly flawlessly.

Starter homes are replaced with ever higher rent

a reply to: greendust

They do that.

It's called gentrification.

My current apartment was a ganag infested crime hole when we moved here eighteen years ago.

It's cleaned up since then, we put a lot of work into civil relations with our neighbors.

Now that it's cleaned up, they've sold out and raised the rents.

We can't afford to live here anymore.

Thanks for your service, get the F out.

a reply to: JAGStorm

They've got caught up in the price boom. In Miami there's a city called Miami Springs. The place is full of 2 bedroom 1,200 sq foot homes. Most of those home sell for $400K now. It's insane.

I was reading an article on how New Zealand was dealing with their own home price boom. They are changing zoning in single home areas to duplex, triplex and townhomes. It's helped keep prices down.

They really need to bring back the $100k home starter home.

a reply to: JAGStorm

What people want is long-term security, but each person's definition of it is different. To me, ten acres out of the way seem the best in today's circumstances. You can always sell food at the local markets, you can run on solar panels for the little power you need with heating cooking, and hot water from a wood stove. A small cottage and a few outbuildings can be put up and you have only the rates on unimproved land. It was never the money you earned it was the money you saved. More of a mindset. Who wants to live in a city where you pay a premium for sitting in a traffic jam and pay out the extra you can earn there for all the pointless incidentals? You are free in the country the mass of people living in cities just invite pettiness and crime over policing and whatever else is going down.

Conversion buses/vans and tiny homes are the new starters.

Then, if you're lucky, at age 60 to 70 you'll finally own that basic 3 bed 2 bath and enjoy retirement for 2 to 5 years before you die.

Millennials that live with their parents well into adulthood may be onto something a bit more streamlined...

a reply to: JAGStorm

Being a northerner here in Michigan, Ive always loved those A frame cottages. Truck drops off the premade triangles, you pour your foundation, set it up, go from there.

Some really pretty and inexpensive ways to start out, but can be really expensive....Charlevoix, South Haven, Petosky....quite a few everywhere here.

Always wanted to go that route..

A lot of it is also due to building codes, here in Van Buren AR, (moving next week). Single-story or first floors have to be block or brick. (bricks do not even add strength) And with hurricane-grade shingles rated at 150 mph. Most roofs last around ten years before hail destroys them around here. GFI's on all outlets at $25 vs >$1 for the plugins that worked for the last sixty years. ( they do slow daisy chaining so many normal outlets after the GFI. (while allowed most electricians do not daisy chain). I could keep going.

One more problem with the housing market and a first time home buyer:

The rental agencies that openly advertise for people not to sell their homes and rent through them instead. No hassles!! Hence, fewer homes for sale on the market. This helps to drive ALL prices up.

Unfortunately you are correct and it makes my stomach turn what this country has become. My Father is rolling in his Urn ⚱️ I hear him.
😌😔😕🚧🐏🐑👇

a reply to: KKLOCO

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: JAGStorm

Being a northerner here in Michigan, Ive always loved those A frame cottages. Truck drops off the premade triangles, you pour your foundation, set it up, go from there.

Some really pretty and inexpensive ways to start out, but can be really expensive....Charlevoix, South Haven, Petosky....quite a few everywhere here.

Always wanted to go that route..

East Side of Michigan has real reasonable Starter Homes!

See here: www.propertyshark.com...

originally posted by: CloneFarm1000
Conversion buses/vans and tiny homes are the new starters.

Then, if you're lucky, at age 60 to 70 you'll finally own that basic 3 bed 2 bath and enjoy retirement for 2 to 5 years before you die.

Millennials that live with their parents well into adulthood may be onto something a bit more streamlined...

Sadly my life right now. I just do not understand that I am making what I needed 5 years ago to afford a one bedroom apartment or even a studio. Many people I know who are single such as myself have to live in government housing ( they take half your pay) or are living in someone's house dor over 1000 bucks that they transformed a bedroom where you aren't alowed to have anyone over. I have a friend who is married and they both have full time jobs. She's making thirty bucks an hour and he is making about 25 per hour and together they live with the parents and help pay bills and maintaining the house. It's insane out here. I could get a condo or a tiny home in a very conjested lot right next to the freeway and pay 70000 but the hoa fees are 2000 for the condo and the lot rent is 1000 for the tiny home. The lot rent has no law as to how much they can raise the rent on it in a year like an apartment does. It's risky.

I was looking at houses in Clarksville TN in 2019. I could afford a place. I started to save. I knew I would need a sizable chunk of cash to account for the cost of living pay cut I would take. Now a house in The same city costs almost double. I am so over it. I am just at a point right now where I am just going to live my life and when I am blessed with an Idea that works I'm there.

Those are some beautiful homes on property shark. I'm not sure there's enough bars on the window though. I think that maybe Oakland might have a one up.