I was hoping I bought at the bottom of the market. 
(that look is because it seems I did)
It is currently very common to rent in urban areas, agreed. This was not always the case over time, as well as across regions, and I am not sure it is currently more (as in >50%) common than owning most urban places. A lot of condos in the city. Not just apartments with rentier landlords.
iâm not saying there isnât. intelligent policy and regulation requires understanding and dealing with small details with large ramifications.
iâve just had too many stat classes and read too much tufte to be happy with a graph like the original.
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Really the only changes since Johnson have been in survival tactics, not in the downward trend.
Femanism created middle class families with two breadwinners instead of one, staving.off reality. The lower income classes weâre getting some boost from expanded social programs but soon started loosinsg ground nevertheless, especially in the republican '80s. The credit craze was really an avoidance tactic that got the middle class, now struggling even with two breadwinner per household, into the '90s where a modicum of relief arrived from the Clinton prosperity combined with hope and some trickle down from the dotcom bubble. Meanwhile credit morphed into bundled balloon mortgages which actually feinned assistance for the working class. The world is all too familiar with the subsequent adjustment.
It left us right about where we have been aimed at at since the first round of US job exports in the 70s. No more post WWII relative tolerance from the rich, particularly with a civil rights movement succeeding.
Winner take all,. ie, Reagans mortgage act which made bundling possible, the savings and loans rip-off of the economy, Enron, banking gimmickery and the great recession.
Even white, middle class boomers have trouble remembering that, for all the civil rights issues, middle class meant a house and car and kids and stuff, often some time, and only one working adult.
But, if you.take civil rights into account, I am not sure there was ever a majority middle class. There was always armies of voiceless working for a pittance or nothing.
What waetherman said and population composition is not pre-1930âs makeup in America. The majority of it is mainly urban after the second World War.
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The Americans hit their peak around 69% before 2008. About 8 years later and with this article suggesting maybe a few more years of downward movement until improvementâso roughly 10 years from peak.
Therefore Iâm guessing if youâre going for bottom out prices, roughly 10 years from now?
Sorry, I was rushed and I left out a lot of the assumptions that I was making. Of course the bubble had an effect. I was ignoring that bump as noise. What I was commenting on was the long-term trend referred to in the title. For that matter the difference in size between the latest generational cohort and the one that came before is also having an effect that I was ignoring since I consider it a transitory effect. The question I was answering in my head but didnât effectively articulate was why homeownership is at a historical low and why that may be a trend not an anomaly.
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Just to add: mortgage brokers were not bound by the same regulations as banks, which meant they could offer slightly better terms to customers. Banks complained that they were being regulated out of being competitive in one of their traditional roles (they also complained about being regulated out of the ability to compete in non-traditional roles such as customer investments in various non-bank markets) and got the regulations waived for them instead of enacted for the newcomers (in both cases). End result: they were ALL making unsound loans hand-over-fist.
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My grandfather was a manual laborer his entire working life. He had a (small!) house, a stay-at-home wife, and two children. It wasnât just the middle class that used to have these basics.
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During the bubble, when we were meeting with a realtor to look at rental condos, she and her financing cohorts were trying to convince (pressure!) us that we should buy instead of rent. Cheap houses were going for $600K at the time. Itâs a good thing that my spouse and I knew enough about how mortgages work, and didnât get suckered into âbuying the dreamâ. A few folks I worked with ended up buying and feeling the ARM-related pain a few years later. Yikes.
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âMiddle classâ in the neighborhood of my youth (Iâm in my late '50âs) meant an 1100 square foot Chicago bungalow, one (used) car, one landline phone, one TV set, two 10x11 foot bedrooms for four kids, and vacations, not at Disney or a national park, but at a 1930âs vintage tourist cabin in backwoods Michigan. And not to brag, but we never, ever, felt we were poor.
Anyone who is willing to raise a family today under those conditions is likely to be able to get along on somewhat less than what is considered a âmiddle classâ income nowadays.
Letâs seeâŚ
- new appliances
- new house to sewer plumbing
- new electrical in kitchen and bathrooms
- new kitchen
- new windows
- all new sinks/faucets/tub/toilets/interior plumbing
- new floors down to the studs, replaced subfloor as well
- new heating/cooling
- took down two trees
- 12 tons of landscape rocks
- 10 tons of dirt/compost
- 3 commercial sized dumpsters
- at least 25 dump runs and vegetative waste runs
Whatâs time consuming about that?
Eta
Code work was done by a single licensed dude. Noncode was by us.
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But âmiddle classâ in those days meant everyone around you had the same bungalow, the same vacations, etc., and your boss lived in a slightly more upscale neighborhood, drove a new car, and belonged to a country club.
Now, those same Chicago bungalows arenât well served by public transportation or schools, and they cost more than a similar-sized condo closer to the center of town with more transportation and school options. In addition, most of the light industry and other job opportunities that used to be within range have closed shop. The entire lifestyle that made those homes affordable is gone.
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We got a house in a little better shape and have opted to pay people for things like the new kitchen when we finally went for that. Having a day job and doing major house project work does not make for things getting done in a timely manner so I am happy to pay guys with proper tools and experience to make that happen in timely manner. Doubly so when it comes to any electrical work.
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Iâll wire 110 outlets all day long, replace sinks and faucets, change out a toilet, and sawzall anything.
Is it 220? Is it water in a wall? Not touching with a ten foot pole.
Same with outside-work. If I remove this tree does it stand a chance of causing major destruction? If yes, tree surgeon. If no, get me more gasoline for my chainsaw.
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âŚand wisdom to know the difference!
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You forgot the fire pitâŚ
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You realize that 220 is just two separate 110 lines right? Each line is 110VAC to ground or neutral.A 220 VAC circuit is not any more dangerous than 110 VAC since each line is 110VAC to ground also⌠The next real step up is 277/480 VAC, in this case each hot to ground is 277 VAC with two hots putting out 480VAC across them. Trust me that is much worse, I have felt it twice, and know more than a few people who did not survive their encounter.
Please remember that it is not the voltage but rather the amperage that kills. It is just as easy to get killed with 110, and someone else walk away from a hit of 277. Lets be careful out there. Donât let lower voltages give you a false sense of security. Lock out tag out, and a good meter may save your life.
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You are correct, and I use voltage as shorthand for up to code home circuitsâlike most homes I have 15amp and 20 amp 110 circuits. The three 220 are 30 amp and 50 amp.
So it doesnât mean I wonât run into an insane circuit (my grandfather installed a 35amp 110 circuit, was he high?), and 15 amp can be deadly. However, in modern homes that are up to code, as a general rule, I will only deal with 110 15/20 amp circuits.
Anything more exotic is above my pay grade.
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Hereâs a reasonably nice looking little house for $119K, about 3/4 mile from where I grew up. Four block walk to both bus and rail transit. There are quite a few cheaper than this.
Are you serious? When I lived there, you went to the public school closest to where you lived. Period, end of story.
âSchool optionsâ are a 21st century construct.
