re: Stats don't indicate a good trend for America and your children

My 27 year old just bought her first home. Very proud of her decision and financial habits that led to having plenty of cash. Bought a nice, neat older home in a really cool neighborhood. Didnt know she was that big of an outlier.

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Three of my four children owned their own homes by the time they were 28.

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Were they single or double incomes?

Did they get help on the down payment from family?

Did they have a degree, and were they carrying debt from the degree?

I got my first house at 33, I got married at 31, I finished paying off student loans at 32.

Single income, zero family help of any kind.

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Well, when you have $100k in college debt and a degree in Philosophy then your options are not there.

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But they can quote, line-for-line, page 247 of The Feminine Mystique!

That totally makes them entitled to free shite paid for by everyone else.

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I was married and we bought a home at 31.

I’m 34 now

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You live in Mississippi.

Civil rights act of 1964 has entered the chat

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The bad thing is that there are no more 60k homes to buy.

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Incomes are higher now than they were when those 60k homes were bought.

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Currently in Missouri it's hard to find a new home with 1200-1500 square feet and a basement for under $250K. They're hard to find because most builders aren't building new houses in the 1200-1500 sq/ft size.

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Transaction costs like permits, insurance, zoning, and building restrictions got more expensive. This makes margins too small for home buildersto build traditional starter homes.

Moreover, with all of the loose money federal programs like 3% or less down, builders would be fools to focus on building smaller houses.


Get uncle sam out of the way and smaller starter homes would be more popular.

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Those houses in the 60s and 70s were 1,200 sqft.

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The population percentage was very different then versus now.
1960 had a large portion of working parents and young kids.


By 1990, the majority of the population was working class adults, but with more elderly and less kids than 1960.


By 2010, the population has flattened and the elderly percentage continues to rise.


Now, the elderly group continues to grow and the children group is shrinking. When 0-19 is 23.6% and over 60 is 24.6%, that is a bit of a problem.
For the US, this is the first time the elderly has had a larger percentage.


This trend currently has significant implications throughout the age demographics.
More individuals drawing on government programs (SS).
More homes remaining occupied instead of having a surplus.
Reduction in jobs for younger workers.
Fewer able-bodied worders to pay into the system in coming years.

However, I am hopeful that the US will return to normal demographics.
As the large 25-45 year old group from 1990 has progressed through the years, they are now the 60-75 group now. This essentially explains the almost upside down chart from 2025, which has a much larger 60+ population than you would expect.

We do still have to address the birthrate decline, but some of this can be explained by urbanization versus rural family sizes.
The abundance in the next 20 years with both resources demand declining and the improvements due to ai efficiencies.... I'm hopeful that this will encourage more families to have more kids and larger families.

You don't have to have as drastic of a pyramid as we did in the 1960's or even from earlier eras due to the advancement in medicine reducing childhood mortality. However, we do need to make it easier and more affordable for American families to choose to have 3+ kids.
Cheaper housing, better low-cost schools, higher standard of living to wage ratios.

Another Twitter/X rando with no source for those figures.

Y'all really love to post these.

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Correct. My advice to young couples is to scale back their dream of buying the new 2000 sq/ft home for $400-500k and instead look for a home that was built 25-30 years ago that is in the 1350-1700 sq/ft size in the $200-300k price range. Live in that house for 5-10 years and then go get that bigger home.
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*sigh*

This has been addressed time and time again.

Those homes generally do not exist anymore.

There is no glut of 25-30 year old 1350-1700 sqft homes out there.

That doesn’t even address the fact that $250-300k for a 1350-1700 sqft starter home is absolutely insane.

It is a starter home. You shouldn’t have to pay $250-300k for a starter home in a non-crime ridden area.

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Quick Zillow search KC shows quite a few homes 20-30-40-50 years old in KC under $300k. The reason I originally brought my niece and her husband into the discussion on buying a home is exactly this reason. They don't want a used home that's 30-40 years old under $300k, they want that brand new 2000 sq/ft home that's $400-500k and most of their friends are the same way. They don't want to live modestly for a little while and then buy the nicer home in the their mid to late 30's. The homes under $300k are out there if you're willing to forgo the brand new $500k home in the suburban subdivision.


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