From the NY Post:
Starter homes priced under $300K have vanished in dozens of US cities
The American starter home is disappearing fast — and in dozens of cities, it’s already gone.
A new Ziffy analysis of active listings across 855 US housing markets shows that homes priced below the once-standard $300,000 entry point have all but vanished.
In 42 markets, there isn’t a single house or townhome listed under that level. In another 13, sub-$300,000 properties make up less than 1% of inventory, meaning buyers face a wall of listings priced far above what used to qualify as a first rung on the ownership ladder.
Nationwide, the imbalance is stark. Nearly two-thirds of all active listings are now priced above $300,000, leaving just over a third below that threshold.
And when local starter-tier prices climb past $300,000, affordable inventory collapses almost entirely, dropping to under 3% of available homes.
“With mortgage rates surging to their steepest rise in history beginning in early 2022, as the Fed pivoted to higher interest rates, the ‘lock-in effect’ has kept many new, starter listings off the market,” Jonathan Miller, of Miller Samuel, told The Post.
“A homebuyer enjoying a 2.75% rate isn’t anxious to become a buyer in a 6.3% housing market, so they don’t list their property.”
The crunch is most brutal in the country’s biggest and priciest metros.
New York and Los Angeles together have more than 7,700 homes for sale, yet fewer than 70 are listed under $300,000 — well under 1% in each city. In practical terms, that makes entry-level buying in those markets close to impossible.
3(2x + 4)/5 – (4x – 1)/3 = 2
“A homebuyer enjoying a 2.75% rate isn’t anxious to become a buyer in a 6.3% housing market, so they don’t list their property.”
Water is wet. If rates drop substantially, the price of the house rises even more. UNLESS, everyone runs for the exits and lists, then a flood of inventory will emerge.
If you can work remotely…
https://www.trulia.com/home/3093-woodward-ave-59-jersey-shore-pa-17740-459856440
It’s not even a question of being anxious. I paid $435k for my property a refied down to 2.7%. The houses across the street have now gone for a million. If I want to move into a similar home elsewhere, it’s going to cost me nearly half a million dollars in purchase price/interest. I know someone who is in somewhat similar boat. Doesn’t even have the low interest rate but purchased around 2010 in Westfield. Very small house. They want to move into something manageable. Well, they were going to sell their home for $400k more than they bought it for and upgrade. They got the agreement to sell but couldn’t close on a purchase because they kept getting outbid $200k over asking.
I mean, NJ does have a lot of offices. If ICE could use vacant suburban office parks, we’d really be prime then..
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1VjBM9
I go back and forth with paying off the house. Currently have a 2.25% with 9 years left.
The dilemma is simple. On one hand is peace of mind, it’s done, over, paid off house, on to worry about other things. On the other, at 2.25%, it’s a stupid financial move from every single angle you’d look at it. I could dump the money in CDs and come out ahead in 9 years. Though, it’s not really a big number (maybe if I’m lucky I could buy a used car with the interest in 9 years). Maybe it’s not even worth losing the bragging rights of holding a 2 handle loan?
They got the agreement to sell but couldn’t close on a purchase because they kept getting outbid $200k over asking.
Been there in the past. If not getting outbid, then being subject to one piece of shit after another. If I’m handed a sheet of paper listing the cautions throughout the house, drop your price by a quarter and I’ll give you a complimentary visit.
Grim,
Why You Should Keep the Mortgage:
Arbitrage Opportunity: You can earn more in interest than you pay. As of early 2026, High-Yield Savings Accounts (HYSAs) and Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are offering rates up to 5.00% APY. By keeping your money in one of these accounts instead of paying off the 2.25% loan, you net a risk-free profit of roughly 2.75% on that cash.
Liquidity: Once you pay off your mortgage, that cash is tied up in home equity and is difficult to access quickly. Keeping the cash in a liquid account ensures you can handle emergencies without taking out new, higher-interest loans.
Inflation Hedge: Fixed-rate mortgages are a natural hedge against inflation. As the value of the dollar decreases over the next 9 years, your fixed payment effectively becomes “cheaper” to pay with future, less valuable dollars.
Tax Benefits: If you itemize your deductions, you may still be able to deduct your mortgage interest, further lowering your effective interest rate.
Why You Might Pay It Off Anyway:
Psychological Peace of Mind: For many, the emotional freedom of being “debt-free” outweighs the mathematical gains of investing.
Reduced Monthly Expenses: Eliminating the payment lowers your mandatory monthly outflow, which can be beneficial if you are approaching retirement or expect a decrease in income.
Guaranteed Return: Paying off debt provides a “guaranteed” return equal to your interest rate (2.25%), whereas stock market returns, while historically higher, are never guaranteed.
Recommendation
If your goal is to maximize your net worth, do not pay it off. Instead, place the “payoff” amount into a high-yield account like Varo Bank or Pibank earning ~4.5%–5.0%. You will earn more in interest than you’ll save, and you’ll maintain access to your cash if needed.
Considering this too. Mine is 2.75%
Reddit says that it creates legal risk as Boomer is lawsuit hungry and seeks your wealth in the courts. I have umbrella policy but not sure if free title increases legal exposure
grim says:
January 31, 2026 at 8:33 am
I go back and forth with paying off the house. Currently have a 2.25% with 9 years left.
Fletch: You of all people calling someone a pill.
Fast: And yet you seem to think this will go on forever, or at least in the northeast. I don’t see it.We will get to a point, where there could be too many houses and not enough people to purchase them at the price the sellers want.
Around these parts Boomers are stuck in their houses because of capital gains tax. The $500,000 exclusion doesn’t go far. Houses bought for under $200,000 forty years ago are now selling over $10,000,000, yes really. Many are now renting their houses from trusts set up for their kids.
Homeowners-
Don’t worry. Trump has your back:
“People that own their homes — we’re gonna keep them wealthy. We’re gonna keep those prices up. We’re not gonna destroy the value of their homes so that somebody who didn’t work very hard can buy a home.”
https://x.com/atrupar/status/2016929408645271655
The most entitled, coddled and subsidized group in America is not the boomers- it’s the American homeowner.
Most homeowners care about 1 thing- property values. They fight anything that might increase the housing supply in their towns.
Then, while profiting from the artificial scarcity they have created, they have the gaul to complain about property taxes!
“I got mine- screw everybody else”
Melania Movie Review: All the Money In the World Can’t Make Good Propaganda.
Director Brett Ratner is no Leni Riefenstahl.
BY JOY PRESS
The stuff that’s redacted or not released must be just catastrophic.
$28B – that’s how much Oracle spent to buy Cerner a few years ago. And spent billions more on it.
and now it needs to sell Cerner AND lay off 30,000 people – just to feed it’s unproven AI ambition.
https://hitconsultant.net/2026/01/30/tech-business-oracle-layoffs-cerner-sale-openai-financing-crisis/
There is only one thing more empty than office space in the US:
Melania is so fundamentally empty that it makes those other properties look like Ken Burns documentaries. – from a movie critic
Didn’t see any movies in memory involving political figures and doubt I’ll see the Melania film but let’s be honest, the outrage review was written the moment a documentary was in the works. You think any film critic leans conservative? Besides, liberals in all forms thrive on theatrical performance so they’d never be outdone. lol?
This is a Polish website. You are being a “kielbasa”, or alternatively “kretyn”.
3b says:
January 30, 2026 at 9:14 pm
Someone: No, not at all. I am just being an extreme dick to prove a point. I will stop eventually.
Oc1: I agree with you. And ironically I have seem over the years in my area, that the biggest cheer leaders for referendum spending on various projects in the town are the first to leave when they retire. Why? Because the property taxes are too high.
Chgo: Kielbasa works.
The most entitled, coddled and subsidized group in America is not the boomers- it’s the American homeowner.
i built in on the shore.
almost in the ocean.
please government, use socialism to pump sand around it every year, i like the beaches you make for me with other’s money.
and if it sinks into the ocean, i want you to give me other’s money so i can go and build a new one, cause although i have enough cash, why not take the tax money of my fellow americans to buy me a new one?
secretly i love socialism, but outwardly i hate those f’n liberal commie bas turds.
i love saying liberal, it makes we wet, so i say it at least ten times a day. after that i need new panties.
Kabanosy?
Art says:
January 31, 2026 at 9:56 am
The stuff that’s redacted or not released must be just catastrophic.
damn straight
wealty people are into the weirdist, kinky shit. you learn a lot on my job.
id bet even more as the popo in a wealthy town.
the money they have allows them to buy people to do their freak shit, they have all day to do it since they don’t have real jobs, plus the money they have gives them young victims who are needy for money, drugs, attention, or whatever else is missing in their heads.
not stuck,
cheap.
and they wouldn’t need to pay capital gains taxes if there wasn’t a deficit that they themselves created.
NJCoast says:
January 31, 2026 at 9:41 am
Around these parts Boomers are stuck in their houses because of capital gains tax. The $500,000 exclusion doesn’t go far. Houses bought for under $200,000 forty years ago are now selling over $10,000,000, yes really. Many are now renting their houses from trusts set up for their kids.
In other news…
The European Handball Federation (EHF) has their European men’s championship game tomorrow at 18:00 CET. The game will feature Germany against the ruling champs Denmark. Should be an exciting game.
Monday there will be a public transportation warning strike throughout Germany. There will be reduced bus, train, subway and streetcar service. One of the large worker‘s unions is demanding a reduction in working hours among other things. Except traffic chaos as people try to get to work, appointments, etc.
10:29 – but you take the time read and respond to reviews of reviews of political figures.
At this point, not only can we be confident that there is a conspiracy but, worse, we can also be confident that those who claim that there is no conspiracy are part of the conspiracy.
In the E pstein Files
1. Trump
2. Musk
Not in the Epstein Files
1. Obama
2. Biden
3b-I think it’s good that high property taxes drive out retirees- it opens up houses for people with families who really need a big house.
young victims have cheap Republican parents who don’t help them. young victims become easy prey
Dark Phoenix says:
January 31, 2026 at 10:49 am
the money they have allows them to buy people to do their freak shit, they have all day to do it since they don’t have real jobs, plus the money they have gives them young victims who are needy for money, drugs, attention, or whatever else is missing in their heads.
10:59 – Can you repeat that in English?
Art
Morals and laws are for poor, non connected people.
For the wealthy, the world is their playground, if they wanna fucc toddlers, bomb a city, or shoot a camel in the face.
Money rules.
BREAKING: Newly released image captures the ‘Melania’ movie director Brett Ratner and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein cuddling with two girls.
Liberals don’t debate, they diagnose.
OC1: It’s not driving them all out, and NJ seniors get big help with their property taxes from the government. When they do sell it’s the young families paying the full freight property taxes. They can’t win.
As for room for bigger families, I don’t think that’s an issue , people if they are having kids today it’s 2, maybe 3 and I think that is rare. 1 and done is also becoming common. Of course if people were moving from an apartment to a house then I see your point on more room.
Maggots have their panties in a bunch because someone comes from Mexico during the harvest season to pick crops, but they don’t seem to care about their leader fucking kids.
Where are the protests at Columbia?
It was the first time the Ayatollah had been seen in public since the protests erupted in late December over the country’s collapsing economy, which sparked a brutal crackdown by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps where as many as 35,000 protestors may have been killed.
Dark: I hate to agree that you’re right about the cheap thing. Older people seem to have this phobia about paying taxes. Not paying too much tax, but literally the idea of paying tax at all is like some lethal virus. And in many instances, it is completely counterproductive and not optimal. People fixate on the wrong things and not on overall economic value or financial value. Whoever provided this training, I can tell you it’s been drilled so hard into their head. It’s literally impossible to even start a discussion. It’s like telling them to drink cholera.
Dark Phoenix says:
January 31, 2026 at 10:51 am
not stuck,
cheap.
and they wouldn’t need to pay capital gains taxes if there wasn’t a deficit that they themselves created.
NJCoast says:
January 31, 2026 at 9:41 am
Around these parts Boomers are stuck in their houses because of capital gains tax. The $500,000 exclusion doesn’t go far. Houses bought for under $200,000 forty years ago are now selling over $10,000,000, yes really. Many are now renting their houses from trusts set up for their kids.
Chgo: Anecdotal of course, but I have seen post/ reels whatever they call them declaring people 65 and over should not pay any taxes, at all, property, fed and statue, sales tax etc The so called rationale is that as seniors they have paid enough taxes over the years. The comments are all overwhelmingly in favor of this. The send of entitlement is shocking.
Chgo: The number of Iranians killed could be as high as 50k. But, as you say no protests. And don’t question no protests either.
11:22 the difference between having a functioning brain I suppose.
Looking for root causes rather than scapegoats. The whole critical thinking thing that goes with education & an avoidance of fetal alcohol syndrome. Find the angry rascist Gary. Look into the mirror. Cocksuckerrr
12:09 once they’re priced out of New Jersey I understand Kentucky has verrrry low taxes.
Anyone familiar with sound bars. I am considering buying one, but don’t really know much about them.
Polk Audio make good stuff
Liberal logic: Marching for “reproductive rights” while cheering the chemical castration of children or looking the other way while migrant girls are trafficked across open borders they refused to close. Sure, let’s mutilate kids and call it “gender-affirming care.” so we can wish away our guilt. You’re a bunch of sanctimonious d0uche bags, champions of the most corrosive, society-rotting force walking the earth today. You’re boring, painfully so and a distraction so irritating that one is tempted to dull the senses to escape you’re fucking diseased existence.
Okkkaaaay Gary. Let’s get your meds fucktard, and that red hat you like so much.
Reckoning doesn’t ask for permission, it just arrives.
A trillion rounds will see to it.
Thanks for the sound bar recommendation.
Let’s see how this plays out in the mid terms – if we have them
https://www.familiesusa.org/press-releases/new-poll-crushing-health-care-costs-top-priority-for-voters/
Ex: my nephew was adopted from Siberia; he has fetal alcohol syndrome. He is 27 and a ward of the state of CA. STFU ok. He is a great dude, but fucked beyond all comprehension.
Facts says:
January 31, 2026 at 12:40 pm
11:22 the difference between having a functioning brain I suppose.
Looking for root causes rather than scapegoats. The whole critical thinking thing that goes with education & an avoidance of fetal alcohol syndrome. Find the angry rascist Gary. Look into the mirror. Cocksuckerrr
*Family values party one day, protect pedos the next
*2nd amendment fundamentalist, turns to not carry
*Must release Epstein files first, don’t care next
*Free trade capitalism, turns communist protectionism
*Big govt bad, now govt kidnapper and murderer
*Against masks, in favor of masks
Test drove the new Tesla Model Y today. Full self driving is unbelievably awesome. Parked itself perfectly and navigated the highways and local roads with extreme precision, very smooth breaking and acceleration, kept its distance between cars perfectly and stopped really well at lights and stop signs. It did make one mistake it could not find a parking space when it drove itself back to the dealership, so it then exited the parking lot back onto the highway to go around the block and look for parking in the front of the dealership lot again. It could have simply went around the building instead or waited until parking freed up.
Really impressed with everything in that model Y. I drove the previous version this one has much better fit and finish as well as a much better suspension, super quiet ride and reminded me of a high end BMW when it comes to road bumps and noise. I have a call later today to see what I can do with my trade in.
Tesla Plaid. 1000 bhp … not to be f’ed with.
ChiFi, that’s a shame. Sorry to hear. A real shame.
“Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency,” Biery wrote in his order, referring to the boy’s detention. “And the rule of law be damned.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/liam-conejo-ramos-five-year-old-boy-immigration-rcna256870
What commerce did Lutnick seek at sex island?
He’s been a big proponent of the services industry.