In other news (apolitical thread)...

[Cincydawg]

I moved to Cincy in 1980,  I had a few hundred in the bank and no debt fortunately, and suddenly had a massive (to me) income.  The company fronted me a loan at zero interest, which I needed to get a start.  I got a pretty nice apartment in a pretty decent area near work.  I had some furniture, enough to get going, and the apartment required two months rent to start as usual.  

Over the next 11 months, we looked around, talked with folks at work about where was a good place to reside, etc.  In a new city, that isn't something one can do quickly, I think.  Then we bought a condo and stayed there 6 years (anecdote obviously, but I'm making a point about saving and learning about a new city).

Had I been single I probably would have stayed in the apartment another few years.  It wasn't a thriving part of town exactly, but it was in the city.  I recall thinking it would be near impossible to "meet girls" in this new life, other than a few at work who were mostly not very interesting.

Where I live now is much more convenient for "meeting girls", at least were I 50 years younger and single .....

[847badgerfan]

Here's an example of a land "lease"/HOA for a property in Clearwater, FL.

Includes everything except electricity.

[bayareabadger]

Admittedly you have to be careful with those, Badge...

Those look like mostly manufactured homes on leased land. I did the same search and randomly clicked on three of them and the land leases ranged from $1600/mo to over $2100/mo. So the "effective cost" of those houses is several hundred thousand dollars higher, so even with higher starting salaries in the Anaheim area, they might not be attainable. And IMHO these are a much worse deal than buying a house/condo several hundred thousand dollars higher, as I don't know what the terms of the leased land are (is it fixed or can it go up?), and the money spent on the lease won't accrue you any equity.

It's possible that some of the much lower cost ones I found in Phoenix are similar; I didn't look.

So this kind of dovetails with a thought I had. Those house numbers are not super high given the size of the metros. The bottom end of the housing spectrum is also going to be rife with issues. I can def buy a former meth lab house in the hood for not much, but if the answer is, kids today don’t want to live in trailer parks, it’s just not a super valuable figure.

Which is more an issue with not wanting to paint a piece of data up too much. 

(this actually leads me to another data question that would be interesting. Do we think the single person home ownership rate has seen a lot of the same factors?)

[847badgerfan]

So this kind of dovetails with a thought I had. Those house numbers are not super high given the size of the metros. The bottom end of the housing spectrum is also going to be rife with issues. I can def buy a former meth lab house in the hood for not much, but if the answer is, kids today don’t want to live in trailer parks, it’s just not a super valuable figure.

Which is more an issue with not wanting to paint a piece of data up too much.

(this actually leads me to another data question that would be interesting. Do we think the single person home ownership rate has seen a lot of the same factors?)

Just don't tell us that the market is not open to younger people, because there are actually plenty of options.

Maybe it's the kids who are the problem. Unwilling to stick their dicks out and make the move.

I took out the manufactured home criteria and found 71 properties for sale in Charlotte, NC for <$200K.

153 in Columbia, SC.

[FearlessF]

what is a manufactured home these days?

my home was manufactured in a factory, loaded on two trucks, and set on the poured foundation/basement by a crane - back in 1982

[Cincydawg]

Would it be more appealing to live in a 2 bedroom apartment in a pretty decent part of town for a few years, or try and buy into the market in a part of town that is sketchy now and assume a large mortgage payment?  I can see the first option as being more appealing, at least for a while.  Maybe your rent is $2,000 and subject to increases, but you have no worries about new roofs and plumbing issues and cracked concrete etc.

It obviously depends on one's personal situation and criteria for lifestyles.  And if the housing market tanks, soonish, the first option will have been the better one.

[betarhoalphadelta]

I looked into them. The stated "leases" for the manufactured homes are yearly and not much different than an HOA.

If that's annual, then I retract my statement. 

[FearlessF]

Would it be more appealing to live in a 2 bedroom apartment in a pretty decent part of town for a few years, or try and buy into the market in a part of town that is sketchy now and assume a large mortgage payment?  I can see the first option as being more appealing, at least for a while.  Maybe your rent is $2,000 and subject to increases, but you have no worries about new roofs and plumbing issues and cracked concrete etc.

It obviously depends on one's personal situation and criteria for lifestyles.  And if the housing market tanks, soonish, the first option will have been the better one.

sure it's more appealing in most aspects
it's definitely not appealing financially, especially long term 

[jgvol]

https://twitter.com/thechiefnerd/status/1951980008932606251?s=46

[Cincydawg]

On the one hand, waiting works out fine if the market collapses, but a person can wait years and years for that to happen, and then decide to make the jump ... just before ....

[847badgerfan]

If that's annual, then I retract my statement.

They vary. But yeah, $200K/year isn't terrible. Some include everything, while others (like the $2K ones) do not.

That one in Clearwater for $750/month includes tennis, pickleball, the pool, shuffleboard (I know...), etc., plus all utilities except electric.

[FearlessF]

smart investors will tell you not to wait

[847badgerfan]

smart investors will tell you not to wait

This applies to the stock market too.

Some people are waiting for the market to not be volatile.

They shouldn't hold their breath, because it's always volatile - and that is not a newsflash.

[Cincydawg]

smart investors will tell you not to wait

I advise people to wait, and buy at the lowest point in price, and sell at the highest.