[quote=sdrealtor]Ren
What some posters fail to understand is that many of todays first time buyers have great jobs with higher incomes and great upward mobility but often lack two key things – time and large down payments. They want newer turnkey houses because they can easily serivce the debt but dont have $30 to $50K lying around for remodeling. They work long hard hours during the week and want to enjoy their weekends with their young children not spend them fixing paint, drywall, roofs, plumbing and electrical issues. They havent gone through multiple home remodelling projects and dont have time or interest in learning the ins n outs of doing them. Turnkey fits their financial position and lifestyle. For buyers like that its the right way to go…[/quote]
This post sort of intimates that today’s younger Gen X/Gen Y cohort are the first generation who have “great jobs with higher incomes” and who would rather spend their eves/weekends with their families than on “remodeling projects.”
Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Their forebears, as parents, ALSO made “higher incomes” and more of them were high-income one-income families, as well. The most glaring difference between the “boomer” parents in their “house-buying” years was that they generally would not even consider doing a “complete remodel” just to move in. The vast majority just bought for lot and location and remodeled one room at a time, for instance MBR/Bath one year, kitchen the next year, etc.
Even a “professional” co-worker of mine moved their family into a large Craftsman in South Park, KNOWING a corner of the house needed jacking up. AFTER they were moved in, they had an engineering firm come out and do the work WHILE they were living there!
Back in “the day,” for downtown workers, living more than 20 miles from dtn SD was considered “the stix.” Only a very low-income family (or one that needed to be near other family members) would choose to commute more than 20 miles one way to work.
It was considered far more prestigious to live in SD’s finest close-in ‘hoods than a distant suburb, such as Lakeside, Ramona or Esco, for example.
There wasn’t the far flung tracts in lizardland to choose from back then. These massive “planned communities” didn’t begin to come online until about 1988-89. SD’s urban sprawl has gotten progressively worse almost every year since then and CALTRANS cannot keep up with it, no matter how many projects they have going at one time. I WILL admit I preferred the SD Co of 1981 when we were all aghast that its population became $1M!
The biggest difference in values that I have been noticing between young parents of 20-40 years ago and young parents of today is that for young parents of today, it seems everything must be perfect straight away. This is true for their housing, their children, their children’s “environment,” etc, etc.
I’m making a generalization here, but it seems Gen Y, in particular, has little to no patience and everything needs to happen instantly or their life is in shambles.
My experience has told me that the best things come by having patience, saving up money, seizing the right opportunity and being able to see the forest for the trees.
Most of Gen Y is turning into “debt slaves” of a magnitude unheard of by their forebears all due to impatience and needing to have everything instantly, IMHO.
