I’m in a F500, in HR/recruiting Lefty - there’s absolutely no way your number is anywhere near remotely accurate.

Found an article reflecting on 2023 hiring trends among F500, self reported diversity (so this is selection bias; the companies most likely to be focused on this reported):

https://finance.yahoo.com/news...eased-120221575.html

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
reloader1. I bought my first house for $32k. I was making $8 an hour at that time. I wonder how that equates to buying a $450k house making $48 and hour today? Hmmmm.

Drove an old car (1). No boats, Rv, atv's, jet ski's, etc. Little debt. Virtually everything I owned was paid for then.

A huge reason that many cannot afford a home in any generation is that they are already strapped in debt.
Buying a home is a huge commitment. Always has been. Thinking you can do by getting a job to pay for it while it is already funding a lifestyle you cannot afford is not going to work. Blaming employers for that is in vogue.

Perhaps this chart will put this home/mortgage pricing in 'some' perspective. The delta in the cost(s) of living is significantly greater than that in previous generations. Unless the market changes drastically, we currently have an entire generation (Gen Z) that has little (no?) hope of being able to purchase a home.



https://x.com/unusual_whales/s.../1999468528966205504

Right, essentials like $1500 cell phones and computers. Multiple new cars and all the toys and their associated costs like insurance, interest and monthly fees. Having it all and then a house on top is not doable.
The priorities got way out of wack about 25-30 years ago.
It would shock you how many Gen Z'ers are spending their parents money to fund their life style. And complain about not being able to pay rent or buy a house.

I guarantee many here dole out money to their adult children every month but are not going to admit it here.

Houses are attainable but only to those who have their financial house in order and their priorities straight.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Thanks I missed the minorities. But saying "all" FF500 companies only hired 5% of white males cannot be true either. I am sure some did. But all, no way.

Fortune 100 companies, my mistake, per Bloomberg:

https://www.bloomberg.com/grap...corporate-diversity/

"Corporate America Promised to Hire a Lot More People of Color. It Actually Did.
The year after Black Lives Matter protests, the S&P 100 added more than 300,000 jobs — 94% went to people of color."

I see it in my company, hiring classes of new engineers for a development rotation program are half women and 80% non-white. Of course this does not reflect the population of new engineering grads from ABET accredited engineering programs.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
reloader1. I bought my first house for $32k. I was making $8 an hour at that time. I wonder how that equates to buying a $450k house making $48 and hour today? Hmmmm.

At $8 an hour, you made $16k a year. Your house was 2x your income.

That was your first house, how old were you? The average 40 year old in the US makes $70k, with the median house at $415+k

I’m sorry; your world is not the world that the current generation lives in. Just for reference, that’s 6x the income, not 2x. I’m ignoring the political aspects, it’s important to just focus on the pure numbers first; we can then dive into the factors making it better/worse for the people involved.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Right, essentials like $1500 cell phones and computers. Multiple new cars and all the toys and their associated costs like insurance, interest and monthly fees. Having it all and then a house on top is not doable.
The priorities got way out of wack about 25-30 years ago.
It would shock you how many Gen Z'ers are spending their parents money to fund their life style. And complain about not being able to pay rent or buy a house.

I guarantee many here dole out money to their adult children every month but are not going to admit it here.

Houses are attainable but only to those who have their financial house in order and their priorities straight.

My 22 YO son is a GenZ'er! ZERO Debt, practical, and responsible! Rents are just as high as mortgage costs around here. Housing costs have increased 40%, everything else 30%, and wages are pretty damn flat. When/how is coming up with a down payment even possible?

You are simply disconnected from the reality of how overwhelming the skyrocketing cost(s) of living are for this generation!

He is going to have to save. Maybe take a second job and save that money for a down payment. Nobody buys their first house at 22 years old. Look in a more affordable area. There are lots of solutions. Not just obstacles. He needs to focus there.
Is he as interested in buying a house as you are for him?

^^ You seemed to be inditing the entire current generation as fiscally irresponsible. I used my son as 'an' example, NOT 'the' example. No, he's not looking to buy his first house at 22 YO. The cost of housing is not just an issue in my area, it's a nationwide problem, so relocating isn't the answer. This issue is so significant that the industry was floating the concept of 50 year mortgages recently. In that scenario, one would never satisfy their mortgage until after they retire, if ever! That said, this is NOT a pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get serious/responsible situation either. It does make the concept of 'you will own nothing' seem more like a potential reality.

Like I said previously, nobody that doesn't already own a house can afford to buy one currently. Assuming they live within their means, all of the other generations, they already got theirs. Guess who can't afford to buy a house...Gen Z. And they might not get the chance to either!

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Blaming employers for that is in vogue.

I make this comment not to be argumentative, but to offer a small view into why that statement is not just "in vogue," but reasonable.
Recent discussions with friends have brought out that "the longevity penalty" exists. I'll start a new thread on it, but the essence of it is that employers hold down wages/salaries for those who stay a long time. So, yes, it's fair to blame employers to some extent.

Nhracecraft, you are fighting a losing battle.

There’s an incredible disconnect with reality, particularly among the older generation. It’s such a different world, that it is almost alien.

The US of today is not the US of 1970, or 2000. Once we can understand that, we can start to figure out what is wrong and how to fix it.

I'm 53. I bought my first house at 24, and my current house at 29. I've had three houses and price to income has ranged from 2x to 3x when purchased. When it was 3x, it felt overwhelming at first. I can't imagine 5x.

My son is responsible too. He worked during breaks and summers in high school, during college, interned all 4 summers and is working part time for the company he interned with the past two summers. He saves his money and doesn't spend a lot. He did buy a used car for $12K this year. It belonged to his former boss and was well cared for. My ex and I are paying his college and living expenses until he graduates. He is welcome to live with me after graduation so he can save more money, but he wants to get an apartment.

And he is looking at the difficulty of buying a house...

I feel like many parents look at the situation as dire for their kids. There are lots of reasons for that.

Just a few more thoughts about housing. If you say the median price is $420k nationwide. That means there are lots of house's that cost way more than that. Along with lots than cost significantly less. Your specific are could be different as I am sure many of you live in upscale area's. That is not a dig.

The median price when I bought that $32k home was more like $70k. My purchase was an older somewhat run down home in an older neighborhood. That needed quite a bit of work. But it was what I thought I could afford.

That last sentence is lost on many potential buyers and their parents.

My parents were not involved in my business when I turned 18. And they were great parents.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old rugged cross,

ORC, let me be more precise. What year, what age, and what city were you in when you made that purchase?

I’ll create a 2025 ORC, and walk you through what is different.

I’ll start a new thread once you do so.

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but this is the Trump thread...

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
I remember asking my father about it, and he explained that the reason you could get 10% on a savings account was because people were paying 18% for a mortgage.

I bought my first house around that timeframe. (Thanks a lot Jimmy C)
That friggin HURT!

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Right, essentials like $1500 cell phones and computers. Multiple new cars and all the toys and their associated costs like insurance, interest and monthly fees. Having it all and then a house on top is not doable.
The priorities got way out of wack about 25-30 years ago.
It would shock you how many Gen Z'ers are spending their parents money to fund their life style. And complain about not being able to pay rent or buy a house.

I guarantee many here dole out money to their adult children every month but are not going to admit it here.

Houses are attainable but only to those who have their financial house in order and their priorities straight.

I’m with ORC on this one. As a recently retired builder and developer the first time buyer market has changed drastically in the 40 years I’ve been in business. Back in the day, like me, people were driving a used car, weren’t afraid to work 50-60 hours and didn’t have to live in the best zip code in the area. They also, like me, were ecstatic to be able to get into their own home even if it was only 12-1400 SF.

Now, even though they are making more, they are generally spending all of it and not scrimping like their parents did. Maybe they just didn’t remember it.

As another example, my youngest sister is a college graduate in programming and has worked for the likes of Lockheed Martin, IBM etc. A couple of decades ago she was let go by IBM in one of their corporate downsizing adventures. She and her family lived just outside of Portland OR at the time and she was complaining that she was going to have to sell her house and god knows what else… I told her I would fly out there and sit down with she and her (no good) husband and see where she stood..

Well for starters she was making $120k/ yr and living in a relatively modest house. Her must have expenses amounted to about 5K/ mo so I asked her where did all the other salary go? Well her kids were big into travel Lacrosse and she was convinced that they were both going to get full ride scholarships at Duke or some other D1 school which of course didn’t happen.
I explained that we all have gone through hard times and she needed to focus on saving a nest egg and if that meant that the kids would just have to play local lacrosse instead of travel where they were spending their weekend at hotels and eating out 5 times a week so be it.

Then the truth came out… she had a 12 month severance package with full benefits so she had a friggin year to find another job which she got in 3 weeks…


She has finally come around and has bought an old farmhouse duplex in NH and they live in one side and rent the other side out which covers her mortgage…The kids are mostly out of the house. One is a developer in Boston and the other is a double major in electrical and computer engineering and will be graduating this spring and already has two solid job offers starting about the mid 70’s…

Social media has ruined the younger generation because they see people faking it and believe they should also be able to fly around in private jets etc…

^^^^

Thanks reloader1, I think I have a pretty good handle on it

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
I don't want to sound like a jerk, but this is the Trump thread...

^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
^^^^

Thanks reloader1, I think I have a pretty good handle on it

I can assure you; you don't.

I don't need you to assure me anything fbender.