Albatross

From CNBC:

Boomers worry they can’t sell those big suburban homes when the time comes

Jeff Swaney is worried about selling his 5,600-square-foot home one day.

In his neighborhood south of Atlanta, demand and prices for large ranch houses like his ave declined over the last decade, as more young professionals move to smaller abodes in hipper areas. He doesn’t expect that to change anytime soon.

The 51-year-old real estate investor and owner of Swaney Consulting Group has personal reasons to hold on, at least for now. He may eventually move to a condo at the beach, but wants his future grandchildren to enjoy his pool, yard and basement. For these amenities, he spends about $18,000 annually in lawn maintenance, taxes, insurance and utilities alone.

The housing market, on the rebound since the Great Recession, is increasingly being driven by millennials and first-time homebuyers who “are hungry for starter homes and efficient layouts,” said Javier Vivas, manager of economic research for realtor.com.

The trend may leave some older homeowners in a lurch if they want to retire, downsize and cash in their nest egg.

Large single family homes — defined as the largest 25 percent of all listings on realtor.com and about 2,900 square feet to 4,000 square feet — receive 12 percent to 45 percent less views on realtor.com than the typical home in each market.

This year so far, large, single family homes are selling up to 73 percent (or 50 days) slower on average than the typical home in each market.

“The McMansions that soon-to-retire people purchased in the 80s and 90s are a very difficult sell right now,” said Melissa Rubenstein, a former real estate attorney who now sells luxury properties with Re/Max HomeTowne Realty in Bergen County, New Jersey. Many are outdated and may not include a first floor bedroom and bath suite for aging in place or in-laws.

Listings of large homes are also up two percent from last year, suggesting owners are dumping them faster, while listings of all homes are down 10 percent from last year, according to the realtor.com data.

“We’re finding these homes are an albatross for clients,” said Michael E. Chadwick, a financial planner and owner of Chadwick Financial Advisors in Unionville, Connecticut.

“We’ve got several right now who have been trying to sell them and move south, and they’ve cut the asking price by over 30 percent each and they’re still not going anywhere fast,” he said.

“People look at purchase price and sales price and think they’ve made a lot, but once you factor in repairs, maintenance, taxes, insurance, upgrades, renovations, they lose money most of the time,” Chadwick said.

“The taxes and insurance are outlandish. The younger generation doesn’t want to own or take care of these homes. It’s all about free time not being tied down to a property.”

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39 Responses to Albatross

  1. grim says:

    Overhead the albatross
    hangs motionless upon the air
    And deep beneath the rolling waves
    in labyrinths of coral caves
    The echo of a distant tide
    Comes willowing across the sand
    And everything is green and submarine

  2. leftwing says:

    Grim going all crazy these days. Original screeds, Pink Floyd lyrics, what’s next?

  3. JJ fanboy says:

    I wonder if the digitalization of photos, books, music, and movies is also driving millennials towards smaller houses. You don’t need huge cabinets and shelf systems to hold your entertainment collection. The cloud can do that for you.

  4. Xolepa says:

    You also don’t have the quality that the older units provide. Play MP3 encoded music? Half of the audio details disappear. My thirty year old MD son and his wife don’t even have modest speakers in their house. Just play off the miniature units. Ugh. The Jensen coaxials that I installed in my 68 Chevy sounded better that most crap sold today.

  5. 3b says:

    Well would you look at that! Outdated Mc mansions high taxes albatross etc. And now people don’t want them.

  6. grim says:

    Millennials Love Vinyl

  7. 2b or not 3b says:

    Which goes to an observation I have made in past.

    What’s going on nationally is not left/right – conservative/liberal. It’s boomers vs every other generation. The boomers are trying to redefine the rules of the game and the game itself to their benefits.

    -From Trump – trying to wiggle outside of the rules of what constraints past presidents.
    -From Boomers – Social welfare for them (Medicare/Social Security/save their public pensions) and screw everyone else.
    Warfare – Give peace a chance and Hell no we won’t go when it was their time for a draft vs Turn on the slaughter machine for every generation that followed.
    Housing – Make sure you keep the values up until we get out. Screw affordability to the younger generations. Screw you. Pay me.

    The overwhelming issue is the boomers sociopathic tendencies and damage to the country and future generations.

  8. 3b says:

    2b or not etc I agree and I am a tail end boomer I take exception with the trump thing not because I support him I didn’t vote for him or Hillary. Boomers whether they be so called left or right are all the same.

  9. Phoenix says:

    2b, 3b
    I’ve been saying this for years. It does not go over well..

  10. nwnj says:

    I think this is a legit trend.

    If you are sitting on a one level ranch right now and looking to trade up, my suggestion is to wait 5 years and tell one of these boomers you’ll trade them straight up for their albatross.

    Though a 51 year old isn’t a boomer according to most so I don’t think you’ll wait him out.

  11. nwnj says:

    Watch that top step gramps, it’s a doozy.

  12. The Great Pumpkin says:

    True story. I have the LG 65 inch oled….worth every penny. 400 dollar tv’s from Walmart are a waste of money.

    “Also, OLED panels are, oh I don’t know about 3-5mm’s thick. They’ve already begun to separate the panel from the processing unit on the Bravia’s I believe, thus allowing the 3mm screen to be hung like a painting. Completely flexible screens are next.

    I read the new iPhone X – which also uses OLED technology – is able to go edge to edge because the screen actually curves under itself, thus tucking the controller neatly under the screen and not under the non-existent bezel.

    Drove home through the ghettos of 1-9 this evening. Saw one giant 70″ screen after another. Amateurs buy decontented 70″ at WalMart and watch them from six feet out.

    It is a premium over the big box special, but well worth it.”

  13. The Great Pumpkin says:

    It’s the biggest demographic group in the country. Give it 10 years and they too will want the 5900 sq ft home. Do you really expect people in their 20’s/30’s to be able to purchase 5900 sq ft homes that need to be updated. How do people not understand this? When they get to peak spending years, flush with cash, they too will do the same.

    “The housing market, on the rebound since the Great Recession, is increasingly being driven by millennials and first-time homebuyers who “are hungry for starter homes and efficient layouts,” said Javier Vivas, manager of economic research for realtor.com.”

  14. The Great Pumpkin says:

    It’s a market. That’s why demographic spending patterns matter. Whatever group is the largest demographic group will dictate what goes up in value in that current market because that’s where the biggest amount of consumers are competing over the same product. They make economics to be rocket science when it’s really quite simple.

  15. Fast Eddie says:

    Millennials Love Vinyl

    They lack creativity and they’re realizing boomers will always be way cooler than they will ever be.

  16. Fast Eddie says:

    Housing – Make sure you keep the values up until we get out. Screw affordability to the younger generations. Screw you. Pay me.

    Let me break out the violin as the tears fall. Not. I’ve been told time and time again that it’s very competitive here. I waited way longer than I though to get what I wanted – which means I had to work, save, give up the over-priced vacation to an over-hyped island . Everyone will need to do the same. Find me a millennial that wouldn’t take the same path the boomers did if they can turn back the clock.

  17. 3b says:

    Nwnj 50 51 52 etc 50 is 50. Millennial s have their issues but I don’t think they need 5000 square feet mc mansions to feel good about themselves.

  18. Fast Eddie says:

    It’s all about free time not being tied down to a property.”

    What a stupid statement.

  19. 3b says:

    Fast there is some truth to that statement. More to clean landscape assuming they do it themselves. And you are tied down to a property with a 18 to 20 k or more tax bill. Not easy to unload as the article says.

  20. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Yea, okay. What truth? That they are too lazy to have a nice home? God forbid you have to take care of your landscape and come home to a nice house after a long days work. Go get your little overpriced apartment and tell me how much better it is because you don’t have to clean landscape…what losers.

    3b says:
    October 15, 2017 at 1:35 pm
    Fast there is some truth to that statement. More to clean landscape assuming they do it themselves. And you are tied down to a property with a 18 to 20 k or more tax bill. Not easy to unload as the article says.

  21. 3b says:

    Like I have been asking you please ignore my posts. And I in turn will ignore yours. And by the response is stupid. As always.

  22. Grab them by the puzzy says:

    yep, it shows that MDs aren’t smarter than everybody else

    Xolepa says:
    October 15, 2017 at 9:50 am

    My thirty year old MD son and his wife don’t even have modest speakers in their house.

  23. JJ fanboy says:

    Y’all are crying about losing a few frivolous deductions that most countries do not have while boasting about the merits of oled Tvs that cost more than a typical american household’s monthly gross?

  24. leftwing says:

    “Y’all are crying about losing a few frivolous deductions that most countries do not have while boasting about the merits of oled Tvs that cost more than a typical american household’s monthly gross?”

    I know, unbelievable. Kills me how everyone comes on here bragging about all the services they receive in this area – as opposed to other parts of the country that they call Cletusville or Pennsyltucky – but then want a subsidy to pay for these exclusive services here.

    And I love the “my State is getting screwed” argument. Incomprehensible.

    States don’t pay taxes, individuals do. States don’t receive the vast majority of Federal spending, individuals do.

    So…if for some reason it is important to you that the residents of the State of NJ receive more money in the aggregate from the Federal government than they send in, the answer is very simple. Juice the population of elderly and welfare recipients.

    Federal money has always come from wealthy individuals (you) and flowed to poorer populations (the elderly and indigent).

    I’ll go one better, for our Wayne friends. Take all that property by and around Ice Vault rink and that farmland on 680 on the way to the rink and make it high density low income housing.

    Poof! Wayne will now become a Township receiving MUCH more in Federal moneys than its residents send out. Woo-hoo! Happy now?

  25. 3b says:

    I was just asking about flat screen Tvs . Sorry to have caused a stir. For what it’s worth I had a 40 inch Toshiba 10 years old and the screen was starting to black out which happens as flat screens get older. Anyhow I bought a 55 inch Samsung in pc Richards for 549 .00 bucks. That’s all I need.

  26. The Great Pumpkin says:

    No, I’m crying about having to pay more so some 1%er can get 75,000 back from the fed govt in tax cuts.

    JJ fanboy says:
    October 15, 2017 at 4:35 pm
    Y’all are crying about losing a few frivolous deductions that most countries do not have while boasting about the merits of oled Tvs that cost more than a typical american household’s monthly gross?

  27. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Coming from the guy that cried about taxing the wealthy to help pay the budget shortfall in the state.

    “I know, unbelievable. Kills me how everyone comes on here bragging about all the services they receive in this area – as opposed to other parts of the country that they call Cletusville or Pennsyltucky – but then want a subsidy to pay for these exclusive services here.”

  28. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Yes, and does this show you why I find it comical when 3b states north jersey is dropping off. Telling me that Bergen isn’t what it used to be. Since he has lived here for so long, he doesn’t even realize what rich is for most of the country. Telling me about all these other great places where you can find the same paying jobs. Sure.

    JJ fanboy says:
    October 15, 2017 at 4:35 pm
    Y’all are crying about losing a few frivolous deductions that most countries do not have while boasting about the merits of oled Tvs that cost more than a typical american household’s monthly gross?

  29. 3b says:

    Pumps please STFU and leave me out of your incoherent ramblings.

  30. leftwing says:

    8:04/8:07/8:15

    Pumps, you realize how logically incoherent you are? In other words, you’re a blathering idiot?

    Yes, I do believe in a less progressive tax system. You consistently support a more progressive one.

    You do understand that giving $800k and $80k earners the same standard deduction, rather than allowing the $800k earner massively more deduction, is progressive. Right?

    Can’t figure out if you’re a dunce or hypocritically self interested. Don’t really care.

  31. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lefty, nice try.

  32. ex-Jersey says:

    I think it is a legitimate concern. I was happily to unload my NJ starter home ($300k’ish) but having to double down on a $750k place out west was not the ideal scenario. Yeah, it’s gorgeous out here, but the same concerns exist. Who will we sell this beast to….and then you realize, that you cannot predict exactly what will happen in the future. Things like buying a nice home are usually done with a certain optimism.

  33. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Yup, this past period was just the warmup. Getting ready to really rip it by 2020 the latest. I would think late 2018/early 2019. Capitalize, but just remember to cash out before it all crashes.

    Yellen Leads World in Betting Inflation Will Soon Accelerate – Bloomberg
    https://apple.news/APhYAbA4ZS1qX-0JDn_oisg

  34. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. among those predicting inflation will soon emerge. They forecast global headline inflation will reach almost 3 percent in the fourth quarter, the fastest in over six years.”

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  37. Gobsmacked says:

    The majority of millenials are saddled with outrageous student loans, thanks to the fact that they and their parents have been sold a false bill of goods re: “follow your passion, sweetie, it will all work out in the end”. It will be a long time before they start plunking down serious money on a big house in the burbs. Hence why they will treat themselves to double shot expresso latte moccachino with a splash of soy and trips anywhere every six weeks. Anything to numb themselves to the fact that the only thing they can afford is a walk in closet.

  38. exjersey says:

    Grim just saved Bezos a bundle:

    https://foursquare.com/v/toysrus-corporate-hq/4b75aee0f964a520b81c2ee3

    Amazon meet Wayne…..

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