How is anybody able to afford to buy a new home at present costs of building materials?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

A little while back, I priced lumber because I was trying to figure out how much money my brother makes in his chosen profession, which is alumber related self-owned business, and it's around 200k per year actually.

Anyway, it turns out that a 2x4 stud's price has nearly quintupled in the past 20 years or so, while real middle-income wages have barely even gone up in that time. Do people just buy a house and literally spend 100% of their income on the mortgage and insurance and electric bill? Are they getting 50 years mortgages and just saying, "screw it, I'll never pay for it in my life anyway"?

Renting for your entire life is foolish, because you are making someone else rich at your own expense and you'll literally never own anything in your life if you rent.

[midnightmoon05]

Hubby and I talk often regarding this subject.
it can still work even to have a stay home partner.
so… at 18-21/22… school.
no school debt … pay as you go… or get a vocational degree/job…

takes 2 years to obtain a vocational degree.
lab. tech. Fast track nurse, electrical/plumbing, car repair, airplane mechanics. Etc…

come out working around $60–$80k a yr. combined - $140k at 22ish… live in a small one bedroom. For 2 -3 yrs… save up &300k. buy a jr. 4 apt. By age 25… with cash. Have a baby by 26-27 years old.
saved up more by then…

buy a larger home with cash… mom can stay home with baby. No mortgage

by 30-32 years old. 2 kids. No mortgage…

35. wife goes back to work… hire a helper for the house/kids. With now mortgage… save saved save … buy the rental property with cash… 40… another with cash… now… by 40-45… no mortgages, 3 rental income…

retire by 50.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

lol. I don't know anyone who retired at 50 in the past 40 years. Even my brother isn't going to retire at 50, because he's still spending more money than he makes.

My sister is a nurse paralegal, and she won't be able to retire at 50 years old either.

[midnightmoon05]

Those are their choices.
“They spend more than they make” 😂 the American dream? 🤦‍♀️!! Very sad.

But take a look at the break down of what I shared.
Financially… everyone in America can still live such life. It’s very very doable.

My hubby is retired at 50. I retired him 😂 he has worked and provided. I will retire soon.
My parents retired around 50-55. they came to America with nothing around the age of 40.

[midnightmoon05]

So…. No response to the break down of financial I shared?
That’s why America is failing.
Everyone can still make a good living in America!! Everyone!!
My family came here with nothing… and had debt to pay back to our relatives… we are all making it !! So stop with the excuses!!

[Anonymous]

The no1 reason you buy a house is because a 30 year mortgage works out cheaper than 30 years of rent and at the end you own the house rather than paid someone else's rent for them. I own a few homes and rent them out, the tenants pay the mortgage for me.

Some of the homes i rent are better and more expensive than the home i live in with my wife and kids. If you can own your own home it makes life so much easier, like I make good money but even if I quit my job and started working minimum wage flipping burgers id do ok because I've no rent or mortgage to pay.

[BonzoInBitburg]

It's not just building materials. 30 years ago carpenters were paid very low wages and now a journeyman carpenter can easily make 6 figures. I have a construction business I'm invested in and renovation costs have doubled in the last 7 years and are going up around 10% every year.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

That's right.3 0 years ago, skilled carpenters were severely under-paid. Even 25 years ago. My Father was a Master Carpenter in Louisiana and usually struggled to average $20 per hour making houses for big contractors. Now, in California they are paying carpenters around $60 per hour. If I was healthy I'd go work there, because I know more than the people they are paying that much to.

[BonzoInBitburg]

We have 2 brothers do all the carpentry on our projects and they have 2 employees. The brothers are pulling in $175k a year, no mortgage and are in their early 30s.

[DonaldDarko]

You don't that's for the wealthy. Unless of course you go into the wilds and just build a hidden home in the rocks, it'll take that to have anything and most people just won't be able to do that, they don't have that mindset.

[Billlewis]

For my money, the single biggest reason why young people have difficulty affording many things is because they spend so much on cars.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

They don't set the price on that either. The dealerships keep jacking prices up more and more.

[Billlewis]

Right… because there are only brand new vehicles available for purchase.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

When you buy a used vehicle, it comes with baggage. It breaks down twice as often and you're constantly paying for repairs.

[Billlewis]

Believe it or not, I’ve owned vehicles in the past.

[exitseven]

Yes, building materials almost doubled while Biden was president. I had some work done on my house and the price of the shingles was a lot more than it was a couple of years ago.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

That was actually the Democrat's stated goal. They put a tax on Concrete too, which drove up the price of concrete, because supposedly according to them it produces too much CO2.

I'm absolutely glad the Gold and Silver bubble is bursting. People are stupid to pay real money for a yellow rock with no real value.

[Anonymous]

is still a few people here building new homes , really wonder how its worth the cost and home prices here have come way down so the final build isn't going to be worth as much as they hoped for

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Where do you live, and how the hell is that even physically possible?

Where I live, not only has lumber gone up that much, but land prices of at least tripled in that time too, if not a bit more than that.

I don't have any idea how a young person is ever supposed to get ahead in life, much less have a family some day.

[Opinion Owner]

i know its crazy , like 20 years ago could buy a lot here for $20,000 now there like $200,000 or more and a lot of the lots available aren't even as nice or easy to build on as the lots from years ago.

live in Canada but like a summer cottage type area , it used to be affordable here 10 years ago but now not so much , prices coming down a bit but still higher than before , were completely crazy 2 or 3 years ago , market coming down a lot but not necessary affordable yet

some guy is trying to develop a street near where i live , he bought this mixed pine lot cheap and now trying to sell the lots for $300,000 each , some builder built 1 home a year ago and its still for sale for 1.5 million with no takers , seemed like a good idea when market hot a few years ago but looks like a blunder now

[Opinion Owner]

www.realtor.ca/.../27-crimson-lane-huntsville-stephenson-stephenson

[NathanDavis]

I buy land, and build "myself"

[jamesgoldman]

We are getting towards hereditary mortgages

[beefcakebradybatson]

Be a multi-millionaire !!!

[SeekerOfTruth007]

If you own a few sets of apartments for more than 5 years running, you'll become a multi-millionaire.

[LifeHitMeandRan]

Prostitution

[SeekerOfTruth007]

No doubt there's a lot of that going on for both men and women. No doubt. Probably about as much or more than ever before in this nation's history.