How did Boomers afford to buy a home on minimum wage back in the day? Here’s how 🏡

[mGrady]

The 40% rule is new, boomers actually needed 25% of their monthly income to qualify for a mortgage. Banks literally made sure they could save money after buying a home and now they literally want to make sure you cannot save after buying.

[vanguardangel]

My grandmother said the same things; not to belittle me but genuinely wanting to help. And she did help. She helped write my resume. She encouraged me to ask about jobs. And she realized just how hard it was these days. She was furious for me. For all of us. We don’t get out what we put in anymore. 😭 (RIP, Mamal. Love ya)

[Arkimedus]

Private companies should not be allowed to own family housing

[shelleymarion]

Boomer here. I totally understand that many things were easier for us than they are for our our kids. No university but both had good jobs, I was a SAHM for several years, our first house cost $42K (yes, you read that right), my first brand new car cost $4200. But I’m not sure that even back then, someone earning minimum wage was buying a house. It seems like the generations before ours really struggled, and the generations after us are really struggling as well. And most boomers just seem to think it was because we did everything right. Nah, we were just really fortunate.

[karlosmontoya]

Boomer here. Any boomer saying that we had it the same is f'n lying! Things started headed south in the 70s and it's gotten really chitty now.

[frigatebird]

As someone who works in the financial industry, the majority of mortgages we
processed during covid were from companies. Many of those companies were owned by foreign borrowers - mainly Canadian. Families are not buying all our homes and raising the prices, it's the corporations. They were able to make cash offers that consumer customers just couldn't compete with. It's all really depressing honestly.

[hunterf]

I worked for 5 years at a multi million dollar business. I started at 13 dollars an hour packing caps, college kid stuff. I ended up managing and troubleshooting for 2/3 shifts 7 days a week. I took phone calls off the clock, was on call for any issues over the weekend. I left at 21 dollars an hour. What I've put in has not ever been remotely rewarded.

[jhouser]

As someone from Generation X, I can confidently say that the Boomers exhibited the same laziness, immorality, irresponsibility, and self-centeredness as other generations during their youth. The key difference is that they had more opportunities to recover from their mistakes.

During the 1980s, many Boomers worked in mundane jobs, frequented house parties or bars on weekends, and often engaged in reckless behavior, including drunk drinking, weed or coke while their children were unsupervised running around the neighborhood.

Today, many of them proclaim themselves to be conservative and righteous. Please.. Gen Xers know the truth.

[Sesj]

Being a young adult today is like joining an old minecraft server in survival mode where you know that all of the loot and resources are depleted and you're left struggling to survive

[lydiacongdon]

Where I live, in 1990, the average salary was $50k and the average house was $58k... Today, the average salary is $57k and the average house is $304k.

[iHeartAmySue]

The most frustrating thing is my parents not understanding our schedule. My mom was a sahm and my dad worked a 9-4 job. Not much overtime. My mother judged how exhausted I am after working a 8-6 schedule, no husband, with a second job delivering papers. I’m honestly tired of her telling me my grass needs cut, laughing that my dishes need done, etc etc . I live in the woods. No one even uses my road. Just stop.

[MaryPainter-ri]

My husband and I got LUCKY when we bought our house. Rented it for 6 years, and the landlord decided he didn't wanna landlord anymore and offered for us to buy it for what he owed on it. We got a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, living room, kitchen, family room, deck, patio, and storage building on about 1.5 acres. Value is estimated at $195, 000. We paid $80, 000. VERY, VERY LUCKY!!!!

[the.ghost.behind.u]

As someone born in 1991 i can say that life up until 2010 was way different than now. Im only 32, it wouldve been easier for me to attempt to buy a house when i was 21 than it is currently.

[wildhogOW]

The guy on the left is contributing so much to this discussion, it's amazing.

[Direwolf]

“You get out what you put in.”
That’s absolutely not a universal truth. And it’s the kind of thing that gets people exploited by unethical employers.

[strikethree]

To add to my previous, another HUGE impact is the attaching home market value to property taxation, as a percentage. This wasn't always the standard. Now, local municipalities are incentivised to SPEND and dis-incentivised to lower taxes.

[rperez]

I actually ran the numbers with my parents as well. They couldn't afford to buy their home right now with their current salary. They had to deal with three kids on two salaries roughly 30 years ago... Today they have two salaries (same jobs) and no kids to take care, couldn't even afford the house they live in

[Dsach]

My dad’s always been a “keep your head down and work hard” kinda guy. I wouldn’t say he was quite to the level of “when I was your age I put myself through college” but definitely was always a little judgy about me not making as much as he was when he was in his mid to late 20s.
He said to me one time “when I was your age, I was already buying my second house”.
I went to visit him a few months ago and he turns to me and says “you guys are fucked. I don’t know how they expect anyone to live a normal life in this economy.”

[Mason-ismr]

Prices of living multiplies by 5
Wages earned multiply by 1.5
Older generation: jUsT gEt A jOb

[ericlane]

Grandpa and Grandmas house in 1955 was $11, 000. It overlooked the ocean in California. 20 years later, my parents bought a house in 1975 for $32, 000. 15 years later in 1990, my parents home was estimated at over $400, 000!!!