[quote=yamashi1] . . . The days of the majority of Americans able to get into top tier schools, then graduate and find a middle class job, buy a decent home on one salary, retire at age 65, and collect a pension and social security and ride off into the sunset are gone. . . . [/quote]
yamashi, I agree that it was easier to be accepted into “top tier schools” the ’70’s and ’80’s and will add that many of those schools were more “affordable” in relation to prevailing wages back then because there were far less foreign student applicants to compete with and far less types of financial aid available at that time and the aid that was available maxed out at about $4K per year (not enough to help with room and board). The private sector had not yet entered the student loan racket. (Yes, SL’s ARE a “racket,” folks.)
But the rest of this post is a whole lotta misinformation. It might have been true for the Greatest Generation and WWII Gen but did you ever ask your parents if the above was the case with them? Well, I was there and can tell you that vast majority of boomers DID qualify to buy their first and subsequent home with TWO incomes, NOT ONE! I believe there were FAR MORE dual income families prior to the mid-nineties than there are today, in spite of the increase in population since then. I’m speaking of two parents BOTH working FT and each on the seniority/promotion track.
The REAL reason boomers were more successful in RE investment than the millenials ever will be is that they started their adult lives much younger (whether graduated from college … or not) and thereby invested in RE much younger (early-mid twenties) by buying whatever they could afford, condition and location be dammed. Millenials are way, way too picky in what they will accept for their first home and for the most part, REFUSE to DIY. And they reject outright properties which need two weeks to two months of cleanup/rehab in order to occupy. This group wants everything “perfect” in their first property prior to COE and are willing to go into tremendous debt for it and we boomers, as a group, weren’t willing to do this. We understood how the “system” always worked in coastal CA, wholly accepted that nothing has changed in that regard, and wanted to buy and sell and “move up the property ladder,” little by little. This concept is completely unpalatable to today’s first-time homebuyers. They would rather rent for a decade or more than do that, (unwisely) banking that CA coastal RE values are somehow going to go down in their targeted coveted (“move-up”) neighborhoods :-0
If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is ask your boomer co-workers where they live and how long ago they bought their current residence. Since you stated you work in downtown SD, you will very likely find that most of them live in SD metro and south and east county in established neighborhoods and have owned their latest residence 15-35 years. A good portion of them probably live within 10 miles of dtn SD in communities such as Serra Mesa, College Area, Birdland and Linda Vista. If you ask them, they may tell you they raised their kids in the house they currently reside in and that their houses are 1600 to 2200 sf and an average of 55 years old. And if you ask them what kind of shape their house was in when they bought it and what kind of improvements they have made to the property over the years, you might be shocked.
The vast majority of CA coastal boomers didn’t raise their kids in “mini-mansions” in outer-suburbia (like you say you are)! That’s a millenial (and Gen-X) preference. It seems many millenials feel they must have a 3000 sf (preferably brand new) house for their first home, two late model or brand new vehicles and a “top-mgmt rung” gig all before the age of 35! Really? And if they grew up in Cali, they feel they “deserve” a well-paying gig in a CA coastal county for their first FT job and are unwilling to relocate to get some experience and that every “oldster” in their way at work should just “go away” NOW so they can be considered for that position. They feel they “deserve” all this because they are “educated.” This mindset is what is causing depression in many of them, causing them to resign themselves to living with parents and quit applying for career-track positions while working a PT retail or food service job.
That’s it, in a nutshell. The “expectations” of most young adults today (esp those with college degrees) are through the roof and completely unrealistic. Especially for residents of crowded, CA coastal counties with a HUGE well-established “captive audience” of deep-pocketed, lifetime residents, many who have been in the local workforce for 40+ years. In my mind, millenials can’t possibly “compete” with all of these factors and shouldn’t be expected to. They must be satisfied with what they have currently attained, stay humble and keep “showing up,” keeping themselves as “visible” as possible at work. They need to “pay their dues” if they want to be able to compete for future promotions. As worker-bees with 0-15 years experience, they can’t have everything NOW!
