• @[email protected]
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    195 months ago

    I’d say for the individual this is the core issue people face today. That they after needed fixed/utility costs have very little left over and that amount is actually decreasing and has been decreasing for decades now. “The economy” matters not to John Hancock and Jane Doe, all that matters is how much is left in the bank account once the bills they can’t remove or reduce are paid. And this is true also for the people that own, of course. Because while equity is great down the line it does little to alleviate the day-to-day / month-to-month finances.

    Far to little economic policy in the US aims to actually make meaningfull progress on this problem, it’s all lofty high level goals but no decisive plans with a clear stated goal of improving the situation for all that truly struggle with making ends meet.

    I’d actually rank this higher than healthcare, certainly higher than legalization and much more important than any identity politics or even international politics like the war on Gaza. To the voters that will win the election for either candidate this autumn it’s this question that will decide it, I’m certain. But if they’ll vote on “feeling” (i.e. which candidate they feel address their problem regardless of what they actually propose) or on proposed policy is entirely up to the candidates and so far none of them have done anything to address this in a clear and direct manner.

  • @[email protected]
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    95 months ago

    What does it mean that they ‘paid unaffordable rates’? Are they paying with borrowed money?

    • @[email protected]
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      5 months ago

      It means they had rents that were more than 30% of their income, by this study’s definition.

      • @[email protected]
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        -45 months ago

        I’m not saying that rent isn’t high but I don’t like this definition. 30% is not crazy high. I would say 20% is low, 30% is medium, 50% would be high.

        • @[email protected]
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          5 months ago

          It’s a fairly typical “rule” in personal finance not to spend more than 30% of your income on housing or rent, which is probably why that’s what the study is using. You’re right it is a little conservative, and especially in cities most people have been going over that for quite a while. Some landlords will not even consider your application though if your income isn’t 3x the rent. It’s still a good idea to spend 30% or less on housing or rent, if you have the option. Not everyone does.

    • @[email protected]
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      25 months ago

      Wtf? The answer is literally in the first couple of paragraphs. All you had to do was open the article and read for less than 5 seconds.

        • @[email protected]
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          45 months ago

          Hey genius, if everyone moved to your shitty little town the rents would be unaffordable there, too

          • @[email protected]
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            -15 months ago

            Everyone isn’t moving to my town, but if they did it would also be more attractive and create another place that people like you would like to live.

            The key is to spread out. Create more supply to satisfy demand.

            But you don’t want to do that because you feel entitled to live where you can’t afford.

            • @[email protected]
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              05 months ago

              Yeah, we want to live where its desirable to live, not at even intervals across all the available land so you have to travel 90 miles to get groceries. Room temp IQ

    • Flying Squid
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      105 months ago

      If, by “this generation,” you mean the past couple of thousand years.

      People rented apartments in ancient Rome. And they had a high rent problem too.

      • @[email protected]
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        -65 months ago

        Woah, it’s almost like magnitude matters and the amount of people doing something is important.

        More people are renting than owning.

        • Flying Squid
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          45 months ago

          Very few people in Rome owned their home. It was mostly owned by the upper class.

          • @[email protected]
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            -55 months ago

            Yeah, there are two generations.

            The rome generation and this one.

            Nothing in between, and certainly not a generation that valued ownership more than the current one.

            • Flying Squid
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              15 months ago

              No, there are also the many generations in between where the wealthy minority owned almost all of the land and charged for the “privilege” of living there.

              Seriously, I have no idea why you think it’s the norm in history for most people to own their own property.

              • @[email protected]
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                -15 months ago

                I have no idea why you think it’s the norm in history for most people to own their own property.

                Because you have a bad habit of making up stances for other people.

                I never said, nor implied, it was the ‘norm in history.’

                My exact words were: “Renting is the biggest scam this generation has convinced itself to fall for” which is true.

                • Flying Squid
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                  05 months ago

                  Because you have a bad habit of making up stances for other people.

                  I was going to respond to the rest of what you said, but first you made this claim. I’m sure you can provide evidence for this. Unless it was a lie, of course. Was it a lie?

  • @[email protected]
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    5 months ago

    My buddy just ended up mortgaging an “Unaffordable house” and rented out the rooms.

    Stop renting. You’re just putting yourself in a hole you’ll never dig yourself out of.

      • @[email protected]
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        5 months ago

        Hint: Stop living in places like that.

        I.E. Stop living in the red:

        image

        Having a $300k/yr job means nothing if Rent is 250k/yr…there are PLENTY of jobs out there. Most places are minimum $15 any more. And with a median home price in the 250k-400k in the green areas, you can make it work. First time home buyers programs exist which will cough up the down payment for you in some instances.

        • Chozo
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          265 months ago

          I think you may be overestimating the average person’s financial capacity to uproot their lives and relocate themselves to somewhere more affordable. People who are already living paycheck to paycheck tend to struggle to save up enough money to cover the costs of moving down the street, let alone across the country.

          • squiblet
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            135 months ago

            What about living in hickledickle fuck Oklahoma for 1/3 the salary though? Maybe you ain’t thoughta that.

            • @[email protected]
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              195 months ago

              Salaries aren’t matching the cost of living ANYWHERE.

              And remote workers moving to cheaper areas prices out the locals. I wish ppl would stop acting like navigating the housing market is as simple as finding a parking spot. Chuckleheads

          • Bone
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            65 months ago

            I wonder if it’s always been like this. That the economy traps many people in the place they were born essentially.

        • Ghostalmedia
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          255 months ago

          That chart is stupid. It’s comparing housing prices to the average income for the entire US. Income is higher in the red areas and lower in the green areas. It’s not the same in every county or state.

          If you compare local housing prices to local pay you get a different map. A lot of those colors flip.

        • @[email protected]
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          175 months ago

          Another brilliant suggestion no one else thought of! Just leave my family, friends, significant other, home town, and employer to live cheaper in a Red State hellhole… It’s so easy!

        • @[email protected]
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          105 months ago

          It’s a bit more to than just that.

          I’m in one of those dark red areas and I’ve never seen anything costing 20k a month unless its a huge swanky house on giant piece of land. One like this, in the rich part of Palo Alto. Most I’ve seen are around 5-10k for a 5-bed, even in Atherton. Rent for a single-bed apartment is between 2-5k depending on the lavishness.

          Pay range generally has followed housing cost within the region. Meaning an engineer may be able to make >200k in one of the higher cost areas, but then make 80k in one of the lower cost, all while doing the same work. The problem is more that house prices almost everywhere cost beyond what most people can afford. Moving to a completely different region also may work for some people that have more universal jobs or are WFH, but a lot of people in those expensive regions have specialized experience/education that are hard to find jobs for outside. So, an electronics engineer with a specialty in EVs and battery cell physics wouldn’t be of much use in Nebraska.

          • Bonehead
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            35 months ago

            Let’s do some hypothetical scenarios. If you’re making $80k a year, your take home pay is roughly $5k a month. Spending $2k a month on rent leaves you with $3k for everything else. If you make $200k+, your take home pay is closer to $10k a month or more. If your rent is $4k a month, that leaves you with $6k for everything else that pretty much costs the same as the area where you’re only making $80k. Even at $6k/month for rent, you still have more money. Automatically, it’s better to take the higher paying job with the higher rent.

        • @[email protected]
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          25 months ago

          First time home buyers programs exist which will cough up the down payment for you in some instances.

          We used to have incentives like this here in Flanders but they were axed completely over half a decade ago, with the promise that “it would make house prices fall”.

          Which of course never happened…

        • @[email protected]
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          -295 months ago

          You’re correct, but these entitled children will downvote you and throw their mental gymnastics at you anyways.

          Getting older is really showing me how stupid this generation is. Oh well, at least it’s easier for me to compete.

          • @[email protected]
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            185 months ago

            TIL wanting to afford living near family/friends means I’m entitled.

            Take your pills, Grandpa.

          • @[email protected]
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            155 months ago

            Fucking read the comments, are you dense? Why the fuck would I want to live in a place where my wife might be forced to carry a terminal pregnancy? Or somewhere lacking employment opportunities other than fucking Walmart? Jfc.

            • @[email protected]
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              -75 months ago

              It’s not about wants, it’s about needs.

              If you can’t afford to live somewhere, you have to move somewhere else. Thinking otherwise is textbook entitlement.

              If these places aren’t good enough for you, then you need to make more money to live somewhere else or do your part to make them better.

              Thinking otherwise is textbook entitlement.

              • sapient [they/them]
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                05 months ago

                What’s actually entitled is thinking that people should just shut up and accept shit choices to preserve your property value (and commodified housing in general <.<) instead of building more goddamned dense housing and infrastructure.

                “Suck it up” is one of the worst phrases invented. I’ve only ever seen it used to justify hierarchy, subjugation, abuses of power, and not changing things for the better. Its existence primarily serves the interests of those with power.

                • @[email protected]
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                  05 months ago

                  No, what’s entitled is thinking you deserve more before others who have less without being able to afford it yourself.

                  That’s textbook entitlement, lol.

          • Flying Squid
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            95 months ago

            “I could move to Bumfuck Montana where the rent is cheaper, or I could stay here and take care of my elderly mother with dementia. Yep. Montana it is because I’m not an entitled child.”

            • @[email protected]
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              -75 months ago

              I don’t get it. If Bumfuck Montana isn’t good enough for you, then what about the people who are forced to live their because they can’t afford more?

              Why should you get more before them? You already have more! Lol.

    • Ghostalmedia
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      215 months ago

      Paying the mortgage usually isn’t the big problem people have. It’s getting hundreds of thousands for a down.

      • @[email protected]
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        -385 months ago

        It’s getting hundreds of thousands for a down.

        Lol, what?

        My house was only $60k and it’s 1,200 sqft.

        The problem is that people want to live outside of their means. They think they’re entitled to things they can’t afford.

                • @[email protected]
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                  25 months ago

                  I don’t want to engage with a fucktard. You don’t know a fucking thing about me, or about people in general.

                  FYI, I live in a 1.25M house that I could pay off tomorrow if I wanted to.

        • Ghostalmedia
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          195 months ago

          I live in a different part of the country, with a very different cost of living, and salaries that are adjusted for this region. I live here because this is where all the work is for what I do professionally.

        • BananaPeal
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          155 months ago

          That’s not the issue where I live. Houses easily go for $300k+ here and the only rentals I can find are $3000/mo, and/or winter months only. You may say to just move, but I grew up in this area, I have the best job I’ve ever had and my kids’ school is helping them immensely. Shouldn’t I be able to find a modest 3 bedroom that’s affordable? We’ll I can’t.

            • BananaPeal
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              55 months ago

              That’s the answer? Uproot my family, change the school that works well for my kids, and likely change jobs because land owners are greedy. Makes sense to me.

              • @[email protected]
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                -35 months ago

                Yeah. You can no longer afford to live somewhere, so you have to move somewhere cheaper.

                Other people are willing and able to pay more than you, so they get access to places before you do.

                It’s called “supply and demand,” and unfortunately people like you have convinced themselves they are immune to it.

                • BananaPeal
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                  15 months ago

                  Supply and demand shouldn’t apply to basic necessities like housing, food, water, and healthcare.

        • @[email protected]
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          105 months ago

          Very happy for you my man, but not everyone has that possibility. My house was 200K when I bought it over a decade ago, it’s probably ~350K now. Putting it simply, I couldn’t possibly afford my own house today if I were a first time home buyer, and it’s a very basic house from 1958.

          And I’m definitely one of the lucky ones. Many others can’t possibly get on the property ladder at all, and just because I did doesn’t mean I can’t recognize how much harder it is for them.

          • @[email protected]
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            -85 months ago

            You would have to move to a cheaper area because you could not afford the one you live in.

            It’s what happens when you can’t afford things; you don’t get them.

          • @[email protected]
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            05 months ago

            No, it’s a pretty modest house but has all the amenities that modern people expect.

            1,200 sqft for 1 person is pretty damn good :)

    • squiblet
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      175 months ago

      Oh! That’s was easy. I just found my $200,000 down payment and credit in a jacket I forgot about.