facing reality

[Deltaberry]

Good for them - I cant say as though I would be happy to retire at 27 - it depends on whether you get satisfaction from your work.

I am not against property investment - notwithstanding your example above, I am firmly of the view it is much more difficult now than it was for previous generations and I don't buy the straw man arguments about generation y and its penchant for gadgets being entirely to blame.

They just retire from their job that's all. Still working on projects like hedge funds, building the next realestate.com.au in other countries etc.

Gen Y definitely spend more. At the very least, they travel a lot more than what my folks did when they were in their mid 20s.

Another poster and I are planning a Europe trip next 2 months and maybe a Asia/Japan trip at end of year. The first time my mother went to either was when she was over 40. Same with my father.

 

[Deltaberry]

I'm not angry - and I'm not blaming anyone , but I do take offence to the sometimes patronising commentary they run on current generations.

No inter-generational patronising comments. Aaron and I are probably younger than you.

 

[nhg]

Hate to burst your bubble - but Gen Y here who moved countries at 17 (family have lived in the US for the last 15 + years, I moved with them at 12 and back to Australia at 17), supported myself through uni (could get centrelink for all of about 2 weeks right at the end - not worth the paperwork) as despite earning good incomes in the US my family didn't believe I needed financial help (also being in a different country meant I couldn't even raid the pantry once a fortnight like many of my friends/housemates), and have two IP's (admittedly no PPOR but took a career/location change which has delayed that).

Pinkboy is another very good example - hasn't lived at home in many years, is Gen Y and runs a very successful business with multiple IP's.

Sometimes it's just a case of harden up, make a choice, make the sacrifices, and go for your goal. If it's not property but having a whizz bang social life going out multiple nights a week of course a property is going to seem expensive.

And $20 a week on clothing is nothing to a lot of my friends - even if they only go out once or twice a month shopping they'll still blow a few hundred.

Ditto. I'm Gen Y. Few properties and money in the bank. When i turned 16 dad told me I could stay at home but had to pay my own way through life. Moved out at 20. Uni is on hecs and car bought outright

And let me tell ya. It's my mates who moved out early who were the go getters. The ones who craved their freedom. My mates who live at home save for holidays and lattes not houses. And yeah sad to say, they're waiting for mum and dad to kick it for their inheritance.

All this talk is irrelevant and bull. Who cares about the last generation. We live in the present. Deal with it.

 

[weg]

I am not yet 40 but I have an early memory that one of my first childhood properties had an outside toilet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and no garage.

Ah... but did it flush?

My family lived in a shoebox in the... opps... with my aunt and uncles family before buying their first place, a 2 bedroom with an all in one kitchen dine lounge.

I remember dad building a shower in the place we bought when I was about 4 or 5. Moved in when i was 3. Have no idea where we bathed before that??

Both places had toilets outside - one a big smelly hole in the ground the other a big metal bucket that needed emptying .

I remember both parents working hard to aquire that .

I'm 51.

My first place was a 3/1 no garage.

I've had these conversations with a few people over the years, mainly because looking back we can't believe we didn't question how we lived or think it abnormal. Why some of us laugh at what is deamed a must have now.

Families were much larger then too - 4 to 6 children plus parents living in a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom was not unusual in the 60's and 70's.

 

[wylie]

One of them sounds like your step daughter.

If you've been busy accumulating wealth for awhile then you should treat yourself to a nice overseas holiday while the AU$ is still strong. Sometimes it's important to remind yourself why you're building wealth so take some time to smell the roses and eat strawberries along the way. Life is short and can end at any time.

Someone mentioned just the other day that you know a lot about the forum and must have been here before. Your first comment makes me think that too . Come on... fess up .

I believe that Lizzie most certainly is smelling the roses and eating strawberries along the way. Overseas travel is not the holy grail. There are other roses to smell... horses for courses.

 

[lizzie]

One of them sounds like your step daughter.

Yep - and the other two pay their own way, working, live cheaply within their means out of home and paying off hecs debts, don't spend when they can't afford it and don't complain.

 

[Angel]

I remember Ting Tong's posts before he changed his name, but I cant remember his previous name. Very interesting fellow, I too would like to live OS for a while when I leave the Govt dependency job.

Do you remember laughing our heads off when water tanks were re-introduced during the drought, and the young Councillors warning us not to drink tank water because it is unsafe. As kids we only had tank water to drink and didn't know any better. I was about four or five when our family home got sewerage and we got an indoors flushing toilet. Dad whinged about the unnecessary cost to install it. Ours was built in the bathroom but I knew many people who got there's put on the back verandah right next to the kitchen. Both are illegal these days.

My first home that we purchased had 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with its own toilet but no shower, an outside laundry and no garage. When we built our current home I ensured I had a laundry on the same level as the rest of the house. We now have two laundries but still only one bathroom. I discovered washing machines bounce all over the place when you have a real wooden floor so once the kids ceased vomiting in the middle of the night, we relocated the WM to under the house in the man cave (I mean wine cellar/artist's studio).

 

[geoffw]

Every generation has done it tough in their own way.

My parents struggled to build a 2br house- with outside loo- even though it was on land my grandparents had given them. Of course it was weatherboard- brick was way beyond their means.

My grandfather was in the Great Depression with a young daughter. He would travel by horse and buggy for several days to find work- sleeping under bridges along the way. His wife and baby girl were with him. He built up a small property portfolio eventually for his retirement- but never was able to enjoy it as he still worked when he had a stroke. He was a plumber's labourer. He had a vision about his home town expanding, and bought land on the outskirts which people (including bank manager) told him was valueless. It is of course now regarded as city land, not really too far from the centre.

This is not meant to be a story about living in shoeboxes or saying that anybody had it worse than today's young people. Just that housing was still difficult for anybody to buy, and you had to work damn hard to get some. A lot of sacrifices had to be made. And sometimes to rose smelling time wasn't there.

 

[skater]

Reading this thread reminds me of a poem that I often recite to the kids who struggle with self confidence, when I teach them. It applies not only for sports, but for all things in life.

http://www.anthonybasich.com/inspiration/the-man-who-thinks-he-can/

Basically, if you think you can't afford to buy a house (or do, be, achieve anything), you are right. On the otherhand, if you think you can, you are also right. In this case you will set about what is needed to do to get what you want.

So, yes. I agree! Houses ARE too expensive. No, you won't ever buy one.

Happy?

 

[nhg]

Reading this thread reminds me of a poem that I often recite to the kids who struggle with self confidence, when I teach them. It applies not only for sports, but for all things in life.

http://www.anthonybasich.com/inspiration/the-man-who-thinks-he-can/

Basically, if you think you can't afford to buy a house (or do, be, achieve anything), you are right. On the otherhand, if you think you can, you are also right. In this case you will set about what is needed to do to get what you want.

So, yes. I agree! Houses ARE too expensive. No, you won't ever buy one.

Happy?

Love it.....

 

[sanj]

So, yes. I agree! Houses ARE too expensive. No, you won't ever buy one.

Happy?

Am i allowed to think houses are too expensive while still buying them?

 

[lizzie]

Am i allowed to think houses are too expensive while still buying them?

Nope - cause if you genuinely thought they were too expensive for what you were getting in return, then you wouldn't pay the price. So, somewhere in that mind you can justify the price you are paying as being worthwhile

 

[atti]

whats the term "new normal" ?

 

[Sidney]

Am i allowed to think houses are too expensive while still buying them?

Am I allowed to think houses are too expensive while still not selling them?

 

[nhg]

Am I allowed to think houses are too expensive while still not selling them?

You wouldn't be able to sell them if you tried. You're missing the point, nobody can afford them.

 

[The Fence]

But they are still buying them arent they...?

The market is the market, seller and buyers creating the market.



Who's they...?

 

[nhg]

You wouldn't be able to sell them if you tried. You're missing the point, nobody can afford them.

I was being sarcastic FYI.

It can only be expensive, because someone thought it was worth that much. And for a median house price to be that high, that means a lot of people thought the same thing.

 

[Sidney]

You wouldn't be able to sell them if you tried... nobody can afford them.

​

I was being sarcastic FYI.

Yep, got the pace maker working again.

 

[MTR]

But they are still buying them arent they...?

The market is the market, seller and buyers creating the market.



Who's they...?

That's it in a nutshell, market dictates what a property is worth, nothing has changed been like this ever since I started investing some years ago now

 

[TingTong]

I believe that Lizzie most certainly is smelling the roses and eating strawberries along the way. Overseas travel is not the holy grail. There are other roses to smell... horses for courses.

I'm sure she is too but my response was in reply to hers about not having been on an overseas holiday for a long time. However I don't belief there are any holy grails, it's just whatever makes you happy in life.