Look man I’m as upset about the price of homes as anyone, but let’s not pretend that 2009 was a peachy time to participate in the economy.
Home prices were historically low because of a housing crash that caused the worst global recession since before WWII
That's what we call a bit of a fixer-upper. Fresh coat of paint, some new blinds, should be good as new.
it's an "investment opportunity", as I've heard 🙄
I don't believe this will last. AirBnBs are crashing in non-tourist towns because people don't have money. I firmly believe the remote revolution will push people out from cities and build up small towns so that work that has to be done in a physical location can thrive too. Small towns have the opposite problem of city centers where they have too much housing.
I picked up a house in one of these areas. It was I'm the 3rd ring of a metro and thus too rural for most. I bought right when the first Starbucks got finished and now they have expensive "luxury" apartments like crazy. I'm pleading with my sister to take a house one more ring out because she has a chance to get a house before they're too expensive. I got my house for 200K, but it's worth over double that and it's only been 2 years crazy.
To say I'm within an hour's drive of a big city I rarely go's because this city was a small town first not a suburb, so it has all you need really and they build responsibility knowing that most of the population has no taste for going more than the next small town over.
I feel like movement back to these small towns is the future. The internet will let us keep jobs there.
I genuinely hope you're correct! I have considered this, and am currently wondering where I would actually like to save and invest in a property just as you described. My dream has always been rural but within driving distance of a metro area. The only struggle I have run into is actually being able to effectively save money, but I'm trying my damnedest!
I'm glad to hear that you made a great choice with your home :)
It's hard. I took out a loan against my 401K to do it when rates were rock bottom. I'm glad I did because at the time I considered just waiting until the pandemic was over, but that would have priced me put of this town if I did that.
You can't afford the 2009 house on minimum wage either.
I feel you. I'm older but just as fucked. My parents bought my childhood home in 1986(i was 6 months old) for 85k dollars. In 2014 my mother (my father died in 1999) offered to sign the mortgage and house to me.
Somehow I don't know how but impressive my no other manged to lower the value to 75k. I refused the offer.
The house was originally a 1920 hunting cabin. It was in a rural are and not well mentained. Last i checked it was selling 400k...i don't know if people are knowledgeable or optimistic... Either way the house is stupidly valued...?
If you look at it by median household income it doesn't really get any better. From 2009 to 2023 it's only gone from 50k to 56k. That being said, I understand this whole thing is a bit more complicated because median income in Boston is considerably higher than that of say Albuquerque. The same is true for median home prices, but no matter how you slice it, you're probably not buying a house unless you make Boston money and live in Albuquerque.
