Agreed. But then people being pushed to buy houses with credit is what flooded real estate market with cheap liquidity over decades and caused over pricing. Yes, I worked my ass of to get to decent pay, didn't spend frivolously, saved and invested and bought in cash a small house surrounded by empty houses as they were all dominantly second homes. Then just started saving again till could move on. Cars always used, never new. Always took saved funds as budget limit and spent 80% on the vehicle, leaving 20% for the repairs I new were going to happen. Seemed logical. I have lived debt free my entire life.
Maybe my perspective is wrong but if you don't earn enough, find a way to make more. Everyone being pulled into this whole credit based system seems to just flood economy in cheap credit, reduces value of money and drives up prices. Much of the time, it's also really obviously stupid. I met a chap at a friends birthday and he said he was always stressed. Really successful high earning program manager but had 1.5m mortgage. He was just miserable because trying to live way beyond means. We all make our choices
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Not really, most people donβt have a choice. Either they pay exorbitant rent or get a mortgage. Not many people can afford to pay high rent and still save for a house, while the price of homes continues to rise further and further out of reach. If they get a low enough mortgage, maybe theyβll end up with a nice nest egg in the end.
I think that's the current catch-22. Maybe am not seeing things correctly but this definitely depends on generation. We have been living for decades in this financialized world where the creation of money through debt has created the dynamic where everything is poured into housing which has driven up the cost to nose bleed levels. I certainly feel for younger people trying to get onto the market now and we need to change the damned system so that, as Jeff Booth says, housing goes back to utility value and is more available to all. The insanity of the mortgage availability driven housing boom is causing problems for many.
I remember being a student in London and trying to persuade my father to buy a 5 bedroom house in Camden for 95,000 pounds because i thought the market would go nuts. I didn't really understand the dynamics at that age but just had a feeling. He never bought it but it was worth over 1.5m just 5 years later. As far as I can tell, that's just stupid based on easy credit being sloshed around the system.
I can't say I know what the fix is but I do think easy credit simply makes everything harder for all in the long run
