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The median home sale price in the US has jumped by nearly 30% since the end of 2019, hitting $420,000 this spring.
At a time of rising property values globally, the leap has been one of the most dramatic in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund.
And that’s not factoring in the added costs from higher interest rates, which now stand at roughly 7% for the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage that is typical in the US, up from about 3% in 2020.
Homebuyers today need an annual income of more than $100,000 - well above the country’s household median of about $75,000 - to comfortably afford a home in most places in the US, research firms such as Zillow and Bankrate say, and face monthly payments that have roughly doubled in just four years.
So I was you. I wasn’t financially stable until well into my forties. I would say I wasn’t raised by anybody. Forget about no parental money. I had no parental guidance, and from that I made a TON of beyond stupid decisions.
Fast forward, and I finally got my shit together. I was able to get my daughter through college without debt and her mother sold her a car for a reasonable price.
So now she’s in her early twenties making more money than I do, and she’s always concerned with mismanaging it. But being who she is, she’s also constantly worried that she’s not doing enough good for others.
Her first house will be with her own money, but I was fortunate enough to help her get into that position.
Just on principle, I’m hell bent on leaving an estate to her even if she won’t need it. From there, I just hope it further supplies her with the tools to realize her ultimate altruistic ambitions.
This being Lemmy, I’m sure something about this is wrong or evil or selfish. I can’t accommodate every random Internet criticism, so I do the best I can.
As to the daughter, I’m just so proud of her. Aside from the line of work, she’s artistic and empathetic and caring. You know, an exponentially better person than I could ever hope to be.