I'll never forget when I sat down with my parents and we talked housing prices. They said "why aren't you building something new if the old buildings are so expensive?"
I had to break it to them that a plot of land is not $10k, it's $200-300k. Then add the actual cost of housing construction and you're easily looking at a MINIMUM of $500k for any new construction
They told me they thought it'd be closer to $100k even after they adjusted for inflation
My parents purchased the house I grew up in for $20,000 in 1978.
The house was located in a rural area, and it was so poorly constructed that if my parents weren't such hillbillies they would have immediately torn it down and completely rebuilt it from the ground up, but still. One house, $20,000. On 2 acres of land, no less. My dad's monthly mortgage payment was like $200.
Dad bought a house in 1972 for $17k. Lived in it, paid it off, then let it deteriorate around him. He considered himself a handy man but wouldn't seek help if he couldn't do it himself. Roof leaked, never repaired it. Maple tree roots got under the attached garage and destroyed it. He bought a new house and paid to have that one demolished. That house would have been a perfect starter home for me or my siblings. It could have been worth a little under 200k in 2010. Now, it's an empty lot he sold for 39k. Oh, he's also a hoarder and doing the same thing to his current house. Letting it fall apart around him. I understand it's his to do what he wants with it and I'm not owed anything from inheritance, but its like watching him burn money in front of me for fun before he dies.
My dad was pretty handy too, and to his credit he rebuilt his house over the years and made other significant improvements to the property, to the point where between that and general price inflation it would probably appraise today for something like $300,000.
Which would have been a nice little family asset, except that about a year ago he decided to sell it for about $100,000. When I learned that he had been discussing this sale (these discussions having gone on for at least a couple of years), I worried that dad was about to be taken advantage of and reached out through professional connections to try to have an independent lawyer assist with it, but he thought that was too much of a hassle and preferred to handle everything himself.
This all happened about 10 years after he and mom moved out of that house and into a different one that he bought when he was in his mid-70s and chose to finance via a 30-year mortgage. Which means that -- unless dad stays alive and competent well past 100 -- I will need to take over paying my elderly mother's mortgage at some point in the next 20ish years, and most likely within the next 5-10 years or so.
But the real punchline to this story is that the person who received such a massively discounted house is the family member who serially molested me throughout a significant chunk of my childhood.
Jesus, that's just awful. I'm sorry. We grow up thinking our parents are smart and know everything and then realize they are just as imperfect as anybody else. They still view us as just kids and refuse to listen.
I found a deed in my Mother's possessions in her grandfather's name dated 1898. It was written on parchment paper in flowery script, $1820 for 3 acres of land and "whatever structures may be upon it" in eastern PA. In the same envelope was a receipt that it was paid off in less than two years.
As mortgage rates have lowered and financial times have dictated, I've refinanced my 30 year mortgage so many times, I still have 15 years left 30 years into it. I can pay it off, but with that sub 3% interest rate (now), my money has better things to do.
My parents purchased the house I mostly grew up in for $65K in 1983.
Its most recent assessed value (which is well below the actual market value) is $1,380,000. The house itself is valued at $115,000. The land is the other $1,265,000.
My parents bought my childhood home for $180k in 1993. That was pretty pricey back then. They sold it for $420k in 2020 and its worth $700k now.
My dad told me when my sister and I were growing up, my mom didnt work. They lived only off my dad's salary while she raised my me and my sister. Once we turned about 10 or so, she got back into the workforce.
Here's the kicker. My dads salary at the time was equivalent to $70k per year today. $70k. To pay a mortgage, property taxes and insurance on a 4 bed, 2.5 bath house with a pool in south Florida in a desirable area while also paying for not one but two children. And my sister got cancer when she was 3 so they were paying for constant medical bills, co pays, surgeries etc. Yes, they had insurance through my dads job and it was really good but they still had plenty of out of pocket expenses from it.
So a full sized house with an in ground pool, 2 kids, 2 cars and cancer bills off a single $70k salary. My wife and I both make $60k per year and can still only afford to rent, can only afford one modern car with a payment, cant even humor the expense of a child and still have to budget for groceries. Every generation was supposed to have more opportunity than their parents. I want a fucking refund.
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u/Ok-Primary2176 18h ago
I'll never forget when I sat down with my parents and we talked housing prices. They said "why aren't you building something new if the old buildings are so expensive?"
I had to break it to them that a plot of land is not $10k, it's $200-300k. Then add the actual cost of housing construction and you're easily looking at a MINIMUM of $500k for any new construction
They told me they thought it'd be closer to $100k even after they adjusted for inflation