Market Conditions: Chicago Home Sales Jump 26.2% in July Year Over Year But Median Price Fell
Without further ado, the Illinois Association of Realtors released the July sales data yesterday:
In the city of Chicago, July 2012 home sales (single family and condominiums) totaled 2,088, up 26.2 percent from 1,655 homes sold in July 2011. The city of Chicago median home sale price for July 2012 was $205,000, down 2.4 percent compared to July 2011 when it was $210,000.
The city of Chicago saw a continued incline in the number of all units sold through July 2012 over the same period in 2011, including 23.2 percent more condos sold in Chicago.
Here’s the July data since 1997 (thanks, once again, to G for the info):
- 1997: 1,694
- 1998: 2,139
- 1999: 2,186
- 2000: 2,013
- 2001: 2,410
- 2002: 2,661
- 2003: 3,105
- 2004: 3,429
- 2005: 3,487
- 2006: 3,088
- 2007: 2,819
- 2008: 2,200
- 2009: 2,040
- 2010: 1,631
- 2011: 1,666
- 2012: 2,088
“Condos remain a cornerstone of the Chicago marketplace and an affordable option for first-time homebuyers and investors looking for both value and the experience of city living,” said REALTOR® Zeke Morris, president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and Operating Principal and Managing Broker, Keller Williams Realty, CCG. “Condo sales remain a strong indicator of a market recovery. Competitive pricing and low interest rates create investment opportunities some may have not otherwise been able to achieve.”
In the 9-county Chicago area, sales rose 29.1% but the median price fell 5.9% to $172,000 from $182,700.
Statewide, sales were up 25.5% to 12,355. That was the best July since 2007 when 14,735 homes sold. The median price also fell statewide by 1.7% to $148,000.
“Despite the unclear signals for the future pace of economic recovery, the Illinois and Chicago-area housing sales and price forecasts suggest that the housing market will maintain the positive momentum into the fall,” said Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory of the University of Illinois.
Are the July sales finally sending a signal that the worst is behind us?
July home sales in Illinois up 25.5 percent from a year ago; Statewide median price at $148,000 [Illinois Association of Realtors, Press Release, August 22, 2012]
Things are still bad and may continue to be bad for real estate sales because sentiment is still low about the economy/life (especially in the Gen Y/millennial population). They feel entitled to the same luxuries that they perceive their parents (the baby boomers) had and are unable to immediately afford the same – so they rent. They don’t realize that at their age, their parents DIDN’T have a nice house/condo w/ stainless appliances in the Gold Coast – so these spoiled brats, who want everything NOW continue to rent in these very nice areas instead of building wealth like their parents by renting/buying small or modest condos/houses in less desirable areas (as their parents did). They don’t save any money (because rent is so high and Buffy and Biff HAVE to have their 10 dollar a morning Starbucks coffee) and therefore will not have any money for a downpayment when the time comes to buy. This upsets the entire real estate balance and creates a shaky and unstable market – add the fact that the baby boomers themselves want to leave the suburbs and move to the nicest areas of the city and you have the perfect example of why rents (not condo sales) are skyrocketing and are going to continue to skyrocket in these areas.
Oh – one other thing – the reason the sales are high and the prices are low is because investors are snapping up foreclosures (duhhh). This is still not a sign of a normal market because these are not normal buyers.
Investors are “snapping up” properties in a desperate search for yield. But boy are they in for a surprise when they realize they can’t raise rents as much as they want. It’s going to be a lot of blood & sweat for low cap rates in the end.
Amazing. Volume increases and yet prices continue to fall. This is the same pattern we’ve seen since 2007.
” Volume increases and yet prices continue to fall.”
We’ve had this discussion many times. Prices are not falling right now. Median prices are meaningless. They only indicate the mix of properties being sold. If anything prices are rising right now as even the Case Shiller index indicates. Lots of multiple offers in the city and in the suburbs – even resulting in contracts above list price. In fact, we’ve recently had 2 contracts ripped out of our hands in the suburbs.
Contract activity remains really strong as well and inventories at record lows. I have the long term trends here: http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2012/08/chicago-home-sales-show-largest-gain-in-2-years/
As the post says, this was the largest gain in 2 years.
It’s a great time to be a listing agent because all you have to do is price a home reasonably well and you get a ton of activity so you look like a hero. Watch for lots of mailers from realtors bragging about how quickly they sold properties and at what prices.
The median is falling because the mix of homes selling is cheaper homes. A handful of contracts going above ask does not indicate falling prices.
Case Shiller is always a few months behind.
It’s interesting to see these numbers and then to hear from some of the builders.
Toll Brothers reported great earnings yesterday. It was their best quarter in five years. But Chicago didn’t fare so well, apparently. (Yes- this would be the suburbs- but it’s still insight into what is going on out there.)
“The company was able to raise prices at about half of its selling communities, with the biggest increases at its New York City-area high-rises, Yearley said. Sales and pricing are strengthening in Texas, California, Seattle and parts of Florida in addition to Toll’s Atlantic Coast concentration from Boston to Washington, he said.”
“Chicago was a nightmare,” Executive Chairman Bob Toll said during the conference call. “It’s dead as a doornail.”
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-22/toll-profit-beats-estimates-as-u-dot-s-dot-homebuilder-s-revenue-climbs
“We’ve had this discussion many times. Prices are not falling right now. Median prices are meaningless. They only indicate the mix of properties being sold.”
Thanks for the explanation (again) Gary. You are right. The median will fall if more of the sales were the lower priced distress properties. BUT- the fact that the median IS still falling does tell us that buyers are seeking out the cheapest properties. Less of the “normal” priced properties are selling.
Does anyone know the percentage of July’s closed sales that were distressed? Is it still close to 40%?
Not long ago, we got a realtor postcard saying something to the effect of “My client was recently outbid on one of the homes in your association. Please let me know if you or any of your neighbors is interested in selling.” We’re relatively new homeowners, so that’s something I hadn’t seen before. Prices are up about 1.5% over the last year or so, since we’ve had a fairly steady drip of same-plan closings over that time. May be meaningful, may not.
“Things are still bad and may continue to be bad for real estate sales because sentiment is still low about the economy/life (especially in the Gen Y/millennial population). They feel entitled to the same luxuries that they perceive their parents (the baby boomers) had and are unable to immediately afford the same – so they rent. They don’t realize that at their age, their parents DIDN’T have a nice house/condo w/ stainless appliances in the Gold Coast – so these spoiled brats, who want everything NOW continue to rent in these very nice areas instead of building wealth like their parents by renting/buying small or modest condos/houses in less desirable areas (as their parents did).”
Clio- this is the most insightful thing I’ve heard you say in a long time. ha!
It is RIGHT ON.
I can’t tell you the number of GenY/Millenials I’ve met who have this attitude. They don’t seem to understand that their parents started out in a smaller house in a not so great part of town (or a not-so-great suburb) and then moved up. Their first house wasn’t a 4/3 with stainless and granite with an outdoor fireplace! But that IS what they want.
You’re so right about them not beineg able to save anything for a downpayment! Too true. So where will the first time home buyers come from? It will be interesting to watch.
Median prices are pretty meaningless, but no shock that the median homes in the burbs are getting smashed since middle class incomes are down
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/22/middle-class-share-america-income-shrinking/print
a lot of middle class folks in the chicago suburbs, a lot of them are having a hard time right now. I’m sure the high cost of food and gas isn’t helping matters either for them. Once you get out of the “middle class” and enter the 118k+ a year HHI, those factors don’t hit you as hard and you can still sort of afford a nice house.
ALSO, I agree wtih clio, that was his best post in years LOL!
““Chicago was a nightmare,” Executive Chairman Bob Toll said during the conference call. “It’s dead as a doornail.” ”
Look at where Toll Bros has “Chicago” developments, and what they are:
http://www.tollbrothers.com/search?bts=y&qdh=y&city=&zip=&s_state=&state=IL&county=
THs and Condos in Moton Grove and Glenview and the rest is in some directional area of Bumble. *of course* it’s dead for them.
Clio. Slow clap.
Nailed it.
Wow yeah i wouldn’t exactly call that “Chicago” more like “south east Rockford”
I also agree with Clio (for maybe the first time). The only thing you left out was the parents who used to mortgage their homes to give their kids a down payment. With so many boomers losing so much value in their homes, they can’t just take a second mortgage to provide that down payment.
Wasn’t this inevitable though? Every generation is supposed to have it better off than the previous… except that is not an indefinitely sustainable model. Boomer’s parents grew up during the depression and grew up very poor and improved their lives. Boomers had it a little better starting out with modest houses and grew wealth until they could afford nice things. Boomer’s children grew up in moderately wealthy households and now have no way up to go.
Those boomers who started off in moderate houses in non-ideal parts of town were still living about as well off as the houses they grew up in. That’s all the millenials want.
I think that millenials are still going to make up the new buyer pool, its just that they are going to do it later in life (as I have mentioned and gotten railed for saying in other threads). Its just that right now is the slack period where the millenials are just starting to hit that age.
Well said Clio and others. On the subject of entitlement and expectations, I know a couple of people looking for homes and want a separate bedroom for each kid. Since we don’t have children yet, can someone share: is that a nice-to-have or a must have?
(assuming at least one set of same gender kids, e.g. 2 girls and a boy).
“(assuming at least one set of same gender kids, e.g. 2 girls and a boy)”
Is there any other way, if you have 3 kids?
Just depends on how you live your life, and raise your kids. I don’t see an inherent porblem with shared bedrooms (know some families who do it with younger kids, even when there is plenty of space in the house), but there becomes the problem (in the sorts of 3/2s you seem to look at Icarus) of storage space and *small* bedrooms–harder to manage the shared bedroom with a single 3×3 closet and a 10×9 bedroom. At least want to have enough space that they can get away from each other sometimes.
“Does anyone know the percentage of July’s closed sales that were distressed? Is it still close to 40%?”
34.8%. It’s one of the graphs in the post I linked to above.
So if you have 3 kids you’d need a 5 bedroom house?
LOL good luck with that one unless you wanna live in a terrible area…
speaking of which, check this place out http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3515-W-Beach-Ave-60651/home/13285426
75k for a 5 bedroom house, what a steal of a deal! Only need $2250 down even, LOL!
“So if you have 3 kids you’d need a 5 bedroom house?”
Who’s the 5th bedroom for? You assuming that mom and dad have separate bedrooms?
Guests…
Stop it Sonies, you’re scaring people– It’s gonna need bars on the basement windows, after all.
But that’s not even that awesome of a “deal” for W Humboldt these days– place down the street on Beach sold for $55k last month, and somebody bought a relatively nice 2/2 just W of the park for $65k too (3222 lemoyne).
CLIO – excellent post. The overall sentiment about my generation is deserved. As a 26 year old who is saving aggressively, I have to say that not all of us have that sense of entitlement. It really does depend on how you’re raised. I have friends who make $20-$30k more than I do a year, but the rental from their 1-2bd condo’s in River North eat up all their potential savings, while I live in a rather defunct artist loft with 4 other people where my rent is 15% of my monthly take home pay. This is a sacrifice I’ve chosen to make so that I could live a better quality of life in the near future. Visiting my parents’ loft in River North gives me a sense of motivation, not entitlement.
“Guests…”
So you make the kids share a room when you have guests.
Who (1) with a tight-ish budget, but (2) wanting each kid to have own BR, has (3) overnight guests often enough to warrant having a special room just for them? Hell, just have an inflatable bed to put up in the rumpus room–I’m sure that’s HD’s plan.
Are you suggesting that if one had two kids and a 3 br house you’d suggest room the kids together to keep a br free for guests? You’re as bad as those whiny milennials clio took down up above!
Millenials and gen x are poorer than boomers, this is obvious. We have less jobs, more debt and stagnant incomes. The fact of the matter is that these homes exist, someone is going to buy them, albeit for far lower prices than in the future.
“We have less jobs”
And poorer grammar…
“Who (1) with a tight-ish budget, but (2) wanting each kid to have own BR, has (3) overnight guests often enough to warrant having a special room just for them?”
DAMMIT ANON, I AM A MILLENIAL, I DESERVE A SEPERATE GUEST ROOM AND I SHALL HAVE IT
“Is there any other way, if you have 3 kids?”
that’s just one scenario. you could have only two children, each boys or girls. i was just trying to illustrate that my friends never considered putting two siblings in the same room and getting a slightly smaller home.
And Sonies, this is a much better deal if you’re gonna live in that part of Humboldt Park
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1003-N-Sacramento-Ave-60622/home/13289263
Thats a multi-unit, not a SFH and I can’t even imagine what kind of pest/rodent problems that property has after being vacant since 2005
I would have hated sharing a bedroom, but some kids seem to like it. My friends’ kids were upset when the parents bought a new place so each could have a bedroom. They insisted on sharing even though they no longer had to share. My dad also said sharing a bedroom made him and his brother closer. On the other hand, some kids can’t wait to get away from each other. I think it all depends on personality. If you need 5 bedrooms, move to Gurnee and get a gigantic house for very little money.
I’m not even sure that most people understand what median price means, and I’m sure it’s not meaningful to look at the median price in a single month.
I found getting them to go to sleep and stay asleep the most stressful part of having babies. Having an older kid in the same room as a baby or having a baby in the parents’ room is doable, many people in many places deal with it, but I think it makes it a LOT harder.
The size of the house and the number of bedrooms depends on the lifestyle you want to live. If you want a city lifestyle where everything is a play date and the kid can’t walk around the neighborhood alone on their late teens, then by goodness, live in the city – let your kid play video game and eat junk food all day. If you want a lifestyle where kids around run between neighbor’s yards and there are kids everywhere and they stay outside play until it gets dark, then move to a suburb. My significant other’s cousin lives in Mequon WI a suburb of Milwaukee and they have a 4 bedroom with lots of yard, no fences, lots of children around and all the kids runs between the neighbors yards and play and have fun and kids ride their bikes around teh block all the time.
“this is a much better deal if you’re gonna live in that part of Humboldt Park”
“Thats a multi-unit, not a SFH ”
So, now you can paint brick grey and call it a greystone?
Decent chance that rodent issues are confined to the garage and enclosed back porch, which can be dealt with by tearing them down (and freeing the rats on the neighbors) which would likely be necessary anyway.
Streetview is from Aug-07 and has a for sale sign on the fence.
What if you have 3 kids and none of them are the same sex?
HUH? WHAT THEN!?
CLIO said “so these spoiled brats, who want everything NOW continue to rent in these very nice areas instead of building wealth like their parents by renting/buying small or modest condos/houses in less desirable areas (as their parents did).”
Everyone bashes this generation, but you have to remember, who raised this generation? Also, this economy was created by the Boomers, not by the Millenials. Crippling student loan debts and low job availability put these kids into this situation. Couple that with being told they were special snowflakes by their parents and you have a recipe for disaster.
“If you want a city lifestyle where everything is a play date and the kid can’t walk around the neighborhood alone on their late teens,”
Helicopter parents belong in the burbs… I’d +not+ move there just to stay away from those idiots, like my inlaws.
And what if I don’t want a bunch of neighborhood kids causing trouble in my yard… “hey you kids, get off of my lawn!” Sounds extremely scary to me
Back in my day, we walked 8 miles to school, barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways!!! The greatest generation lived in fishing shacks year-round with a harvest gold space heater and were happy as larks!!! Kids these days…
Yeesh. Think about all those boomers who “moved up” to new-build in the ‘burbs, expanding the sprawl, creating an auto-dependent landscape, fleeing minorities’ “encroachment,” etc. The past isn’t all rosy and wonderful, and the younger generations aren’t all idiots.
“What if you have 3 kids and none of them are the same sex?
HUH? WHAT THEN!?”
They’re still siblings. as long as you don’t live in Alabama it should be fine.
I think that in the near to medium term, people will come to respect my small and modest, but tastefully renovated home in a nice area. There is large new construction as far as the eye can see in my area (as large as FAR and 5 ft set backs allow on 50 foot lots, not kildeer style mcmansions), but they’re selling at a large discount psf to the smaller but tastefully renovated homes. I live a 5-10 minute walk to the metra, and I will have smaller taxes and more affordable utility bills compared to some of my neighbors. That, my friends on cribchatter, is the millenial and gen X way.
I can’t believe I’m typing this, but I agree with homedelete -I think energy efficiency / utility bills are going to become more and more important in the housing market in the not too distant future. There are some huge, gorgeous homes in my suburb that I like to walk past just for eye candy, but the thought of the utility bills (and other maintenance costs) those folks must be paying gives me the shivers.
I spoke with a mortgage broker a few months back while buying my home and he told me that he went to a seminar discussing the different types of buyers. He said that trendwise, there is a huge difference between the late boomer buyers and the early gen x and millenial buyers. The boomer buyers, he said, are the ones with blemishes on their credit, the sense of entitlement of the big house in the suburbs, have little equity in their homes, not all that much savings. He also said many buyers of my age category, in the late 20’s – early 40’s, are completely different, than the entitled boomer. They saw the bubble and sat on the side lines; they’ve had to be financial responsible because they’re been paying student loans for a long time. Tehy’ve been renting for years so they have cash saved for a down payment. Clio;s comments as usually has little to with fact, and sounds more like a whining boomer who lost money selling his farm.
I agree mostly with Clio’s statement, but would like to add another spin. I think that because millenials have seen the bust and all of the accidental landlords, no one wants to buy the starter home and get stuck. They do want their parent’s house, but they think if they buy a 2/2 now, they won’t be able to move out of it when they want to. So they wait, and rent. Most of my friends have been renting in the same building for 4+ years and fully plan on buying their first house when they are 35 and ready to stay put for 20 years. So even if they have the down payment, they are waiting to buy until they are sending their kids to school.
I think this was taped pre-bust, but it SO summed up the attitudes of the younger employees in my company. Anyone in this generation with any sort of real ambition, savings, realistic outlook (take
note Elliot), could seriously take over the world, as this is your competition:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=owwM6FpWWoQ
My husband and I are raising three boys in the South Loop (Dearborn ParkII). And guess what: they *all* share one bedroom because the town home that we bought over 10 years ago is only 2 bedrooms. And, HD, they are far from over-weight kids watching video games and eating junk food all day; they each play 3 sports and can run around in the park (100 yards away) or play with other neighborhood kids in our courtyard (and yes, there are plenty of them!) We choose this lifestyle, even though we could get a much bigger house in the burbs, because we want our kids to experience the diversity and the cultural amenities of city life. And my husband and I want a short commute. Sharing a bedroom *is* not such a big deal; I don’t see why people think that it is. Let me put in another way: because our kids share a bedroom, we can afford Catholic school for all of them, have almost paid off our house and live less than 6 blocks from the lake. Seems like an obvious trade off to me.
speaking of pre-bust, this post and comments were written before then. it’s interesting how many of the comments sort of predicted things to come.
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/18/finding-your-dream-house-and-trying-to-convince-yourself-you-cant-quite-afford-it/
note: the site is basically robo written now as the author sold it and was actually about to pay off his home early from the income he earned before selling the site/brand.
endora: let me get this straight. You don’t want to spend over an hour of each work day commuting, and you want to actually make a life in the city, not just a living?
I’m confused. Are you not from the midwest? Next, I suppose you’re going to tell us that, if you’re not going to work and live in a nice part of the Chicago Green Zone, you’d just assume live in a half dozen other areas of this country.
“so these spoiled brats, who want everything NOW continue to rent in these very nice areas instead of building wealth like their parents by renting/buying small or modest condos/houses in less desirable areas (as their parents did).”
Extrapolate that further, and you have the worst-of-the-worst type lemming college grads that have a deep (Irrational?) emotional “need” to live in only NY, SF, or LA, period. I know a few grads from Duke U. and Brown U and other douche types that fit this description. So, in SF they are thinking of zoning in new allowable “micro” apts/condos with something like 300 sf. It’s like they lead their lives reading and following “ratings” books: best colleges, hip cities…..in Chicago some of these people will pay the high rents, they are emotionally attached to a paradigm which dictates the specific locations in which they will live.
““Things are still bad and may continue to be bad for real estate sales because sentiment is still low about the economy/life (especially in the Gen Y/millennial population). They feel entitled to the same luxuries that they perceive their parents (the baby boomers) had and are unable to immediately afford the same – so they rent. They don’t realize that at their age, their parents DIDN’T have a nice house/condo w/ stainless appliances in the Gold Coast – so these spoiled brats, who want everything NOW continue to rent in these very nice areas instead of building wealth like their parents by renting/buying small or modest condos/houses in less desirable areas (as their parents did).””
I can’t tell you the number of GenY/Millenials I’ve met who have this attitude. They don’t seem to understand that their parents started out in a smaller house in a not so great part of town (or a not-so-great suburb) and then moved up. Their first house wasn’t a 4/3 with stainless and granite with an outdoor fireplace! But that IS what they want.”
I disagree with these comments quite a bit. I know many people in the 25-35 year old age bracket who are stuck. Stagnant wages that will never approach their parent’s standard of living despite having the same if not better education. The new normal and new economy is getting by with less. My parent’s generation in the middle class in their late 20’s was able to afford single family homes in many of the suburbs that my generation can not unless you are well above middle class. Look at Glen Elyn, Elmhurst, Park Ridge, Wilmette. Completely unaffordable for the late 20’s middle class unless you want an extremely blighted house. I know there is still a real problem with the housing market when a single income boomer could buy their first house at age 28, but their kid couldn’t afford that same house until 45.
Many people in my ager bracket are trying to save, and I know several who lived at home for 3-4 years after college just to pay down their student loans to a more managable balance. The cost of higher education has risen so much faster than inflation that it is destroying the very upward mobility that America supposedly thrives on. Boomers really destroyed it for their kids without knowing it. Now we will be stuck fixing their mess for the next 40 years.
“Boomers really destroyed it for their kids without knowing it. Now we will be stuck fixing their mess for the next 40 years.”
I tell people I’m looking forward to Obama’s death panels. Perfect retribution for boomers…that profligate generation spent the money, and now they pay the ultimate price.
Yeah clio’s rant is no different than the rant of every older generation since the beginning of time; yet X&Y’s have plenty damn clear evidence that the boomers and to some extent, the greatest generation, really F’d things up. Globalization, deficits, debt, skyrocking education costs, outsourcing, economic calamities…I haven’t really been around long enough to mess stuff up.
“I’m looking forward to Obama’s death panels”
Obama’s death panels, or Ryan’s death by being kicked off medicaid** ; it’s a Win-Win for HD!
**”Medicaid accounts for 40 percent of total long-term care spending”
BIG pdf: http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/2186_06.pdf
Anon, it’s not just a win-win for me, it’s a win-win for the United States of America.
Think not of what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country….
“The boomer buyers, he said, are the ones with blemishes on their credit, the sense of entitlement of the big house in the suburbs, have little equity in their homes, not all that much savings. He also said many buyers of my age category, in the late 20?s – early 40?s, are completely different, than the entitled boomer. They saw the bubble and sat on the side lines; they’ve had to be financial responsible because they’re been paying student loans for a long time. Tehy’ve been renting for years so they have cash saved for a down payment.”
From CNNMoney – 8/23/12
Of the 15 million borrowers who were underwater during the quarter, a disproportionately large number are under the age of 40, said Zillow chief economist, Stan Humphries.
Nearly half, or 48%, of all mortgage borrowers under age 40 are underwater, about twice the rate of borrowers who are older. And that has created a sort of gridlock that could hinder the housing market’s recovery, he said.
Looking to buy,
I’m not talking about boomers or X&Y’s in general, I’m talking about boomer and X&Y buyers in today’s market. Huge difference.
Yes and no Dave M. While the boomers caused a lot of long term damage, their children’s generation (you) were the benefactors of much of their carnage. The whole notion that so many of you even have a college loan to worry about says that at least you had the opportunity to attend college… something that wasn’t even on previous generation’s radar, as college was for the truly smart, connected, or rich. Boomers changed that ideology. Oh, and there’s that little thing called the draft that your dad probably had to worry about – it’s kinda like P90X but harder and you can’t quit. Housing too expensive for you? Try 20% down @ 17% in the early 80’s, when the boomers hit LP. Now let’s see just how many gen-mils show
up to the poll this November to have their voice really heard in a way that doesn’t involve Facebook.
High inflation actually helped the real estate owners quite a bit from 1970 to 1990 – it allowed them to pay down their mortgages faster, and wages actually were rising in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In addition, equity investments in the 1980’s and 1990’s went up a ton, and this growth really allowed the boomers who had saved to build their wealth. Those in the 25-35 age bracket haven’t had these yet in their working lives, so it’s been difficult to build the wealth that their parents have.
Point taken on the draft, but my dad did student deferments and graduated in 1974, so he didn’t have to serve. He would have gone to college anyways. Also, he was able to work during school and the summers to pay for all of his tuition and living expenses, which now is almost impossible at the majority of schools unless you are talking about community college or living at home while in school.
“Those in the 25-35 age bracket haven’t had these yet in their working lives, ”
My working life saw 3 years of a real estate bubble and subsequent stock market crash, only to rebound and gyrate like a belly dancer. Most other investments have been flat or down. So few places left to chase yield my retired neighbor hands me a card for his subprime buy here pay here autodealership in some god forsaken suburb. “you know a lot of subprime buyers, you send them to me, and I’ll get them in a vehicle” that’s what he tells me. that’s a sign of the times, eh?
Buy and hold doesn’t make the same money these days as it used to. I’ve made my money on individual stocks usually getting in and out in 12-18 months. Made some money on real estate stocks back in 2006 to 2007, got into oil for a bit, then bought apple and rode it up. This made the rest of my portfolio’s 2-3% cumulative return since 2004 not look so bad. Then I lost money on some tech stocks this year. This economy just doesn’t seem to be getting better at the right rate in order to generate real growth.
My dearest HD I’ve been lurking for a long time and after reading your whining I have to come up to reply.
Get over yourself. I am a baby boomer with no intention of using the death panels and I am safe from Ryan’s plan; do to my age he and Mittens said this is so. I am so sorry that you have student loans, so did we. In order to get our first home we had to have 20% down and our loan rate was 8.9%. Big house? Entitled? Yeah right! Fast forward; one more home purchase (for good schools, not to show off), 30 years of working and saving (some boomers have done that), move to Chicago. We are the fools that like and bought a 2/2 in the city. Desirable schools don’t interest me. I am 1 1/2 block from the train, 15 minutes from downtown and have a space I can lock up and leave when I want to travel. No grass to cut, no gardens to weed. Do I miss the one acre, the 4 bed 2.5 bath, the hot tub in the wooded backyard?? NO!! You keep the burbs and stop blaming the boomers. The housing crash was also made possible by gen x,y and millenials thinking that an entry level job and a FICO over 500 entitled them to a a quick flip to the big time.
Funny on the rooms for kids. Grew up sharing with sis, bro had his own room, way outside of Chicago. It was the norm in the 60s.
When I had my own kid, it was kind of big to provide separate bdr as long as it had windows, in my mind and in what I could afford then. During a Brady Bunch thing I did, we did try the 4 bdr for 3 kids plus parents, in the city, not with good results all around. Great building, bad planning, open loft, all a big fail for that particular experiment. Kids had own rooms and nothing could have helped that fail.
Whining boomers and gen exers here explaining why they are *not* or *are* have made me laugh really hard, thank you!
“I am safe from Ryan’s plan; do to my age he and Mittens said this is so.”
Until you’re sick and broke. Then out of the nursing home and into the funeral home.
Just did my August update. IAR will report August sales up 23.7% over last year. Contract activity still strong and inventories plummeting. Stable distressed sales %. Details and long term trends here: http://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2012/09/chicago-home-sales-continue-the-winning-streak-in-august/