Rates are crashing and fuel to the moon!

The United Nations is here to help

Replacement migration :

 

Yes, sir. Last year Boise was voted "least affordable city in the US".

We are sooo proud.

 

If only it stayed close to Boise.

By the way, we have another phase up the Yankee Fork this year if you need anything done on our way up there.

 

10-4. Waiting on getting the go ahead from the property owner. Keep you posted.

 

...but it's just "a conspiracy theory...put your tin foil hat on!"

 

I checked out the map at an annual salary of $125,000 and I can’t afford where I live now so that checks. Also can’t afford most of Idaho or western Montana, Seattle, or anything on I-5 in Washington. Can afford the county I grew up in back home in California but nothing pays $125k a year there. That’s encouraging

 

I love the West, it’s why I came to this country and stayed. 30 years ago, I bought house for $65K one year out of college, fixed it up and traded into a nicer one where we raised the kids.

My kids can’t. My daughter moved to first Wisconsin nd now Indiana, where she can actually afford to have a decent life style. My son is outside Seattle, and will be renting for at least another four years while he saves and builds his business. He’ll be mid thirties by the time he can buy.

There is no economic reason for housing to be this expensive, we’ve got land out the wazoo. The reasons are political. And this is not the political forum.

 

The economic reasons are that people are willing to pay it. Plain and simple.

 

Lay out a plan that benefits both the "long term employee" and the heirs -particularly when there are multiple kids. Even if the farm is profitable while "Dad" is running it, there are almost no circumstances where it is better for the heirs to sell to the "long term employee". If the farmer has to make a choice between his kids and his trusted employee - who is he going to chose?

There are a ton of economic reasons for housing to be this expensive. First among them is that the 'Boomers' are still living in their houses. Gen X was smaller than the "Greatest/Silent Generation" and was able to 'drive til you qualify', which kept things in check until the later GenX and early Millennials started buying houses. That created the housing boom of the early 2000s, with the resulting crash which basically stopped home building for 4 years, creating a supply deficit as demand grew. Now we have retired Boomers who are living in their homes because it's cheaper than downsizing. It was literally cheaper for me to pay my sister to live in my mom's home and take care of her than move my mom into assisted living. Gen X is approaching retirement age, but very few are able/ready to retire. Thus they are staying in their homes, further impacting both the job and housing markets.

Then there is increasing percentage of single family homes being owned by 'corporations'. These vary from small investors all the way up to the Warren Buffets. A surprising number of these properties are vacant because the tax loss harvesting is greater than the income from renting.

Seasonally adjusted, time on market has been dropping since 2012. It's basic free market economics - demand is out pacing supply by a far margin. The last time this happened (1945-1950) the government stepped in with both the GI Bill and subsidies/sweetheart deals for developers.