The 'old American Dream died,' Realtor details salary needed to buy a home, afford a middle class life in 2024
finance.yahoo.com
TL;DR: Americans now need to make $120K a year to afford a typical middle-class life and qualify to purchase a home. Minimum.
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Maybe in the middle of nowhere America. Meanwhile my wife and I make well above that in Los Angeles and we can't afford the monthly on a two bedroom house in a sketchy neighborhood.
SF Bay Area, $125k a year, I gave up on buying a house. I'll just inherit my parents' when they die, thanks.
Most people's parents will end up selling their home to pay for cruise ships, and or palliative care.
Shhh, don't take this away from me
Which will be bought in cash above asking by capital funds exclusively for rental purposes.
So why do people live there?
All I ever heard is how absurd the cost of living is in Cali, is the weather really that good?
Being born there, living your entire life there, your whole family and all your friends are there, you went to high school and college there so it's easier to transfer to a CSU for grad school, and cheaper because you won't have to pay non-resident fees, etc etc. The same reason people don't move from other places. Besides, it takes a lot of savings to move, especially out of state, especially when you have to keep going back and forth to look at places. There's also just not wanting to move. I am really not ok with being forced out of my home and away from my family because of bullshit like this.
And yes the weather really is that good - in Southern California.
It never rains in Southern California.
Makes sense. I certainly wouldn't want to move because of greedy BS either.
I guess the trade off is higher costs for everything.
I'm sorry, you think people that can't afford a basic living situation in California are able to up and move their entire lives that easily? Do you have any idea how much that costs?
People making 120k a year can... I also live in socal area and make less than that
Well, it sounds like basic living there is way higher than anywhere else, so maybe?
If you already live in a place that is difficult for you to afford, how are you supposed to be able to afford moving to a different state? You're having trouble paying rent/mortgage, but you're still able to save a few grand to move your whole life across state lines? What about changes in your income due to the change of state?
There are so many more factors than "you make x, this place costs y, so move dipshit."
Yeah, I get it..I know it doesn't come through a simple text question, but I wasn't born yesterday 😉
I wasn't really asking from the standpoint of every single person's circumstances from the well off to the impoverished. It was more of what would you do if there was choice.
I know people who were behind on rent, scraped enough gas money to just drive ina direction and found themselves somewhere they could make under the table money to get started in another place.
That's a hard and scary thing to do. If you have a family, almost impossible unless you're on the edge.