There seems to be a seismic shift happening.
I am not sure how I feel about it, but here are my observations.
The housing market has turned to cash. Even the builders want cash. We are building and selling at the same time. In the past you could reasonably get a loan for a house. You could also put building supplies on credit or, even, buy over time.
I think SO many middle income (80-150k) 30 somethings have been held up in their houses for so long that they have just stockpiled cash. And not a little cash. You hear it on Dave Ramsey. "I am 28 and am making 130K a year. We are going to get married. Together we will make 240k. We haven't been out of the apartment for a year- both working from home. What should we do with our left over cash?" OR "We just sold our family home for 1m in a Philly suburb. Where do you think we should go next? Do you think we should save to 3m to be comfortable?" Really? And the anxiety on their voices is palatable.
Never, have I ever. Those who were employed during this pandemic have built up a stash. Those boomers in the market have doubled and tripled their gains. What is enough? And what happened to credit?
And now that group is looking for a great house.They cannot travel-so a house with an office, backyard and space for a movie room is perfection! It is crazy out there. Cash is king and flying out of the market and savings accounts into real estate.
The other side is the building trades. Refrigerators are three or four months backlogged. The normal "put in your new heater and 90 days same as cash" is gone. It is not uncommon to be charged 3% to use a credit card on building supplies at this point. Cash. Crazy. We have resorted to transferring money through Venmo or other such apps, because the post office is often unreliable (five weeks to get a check across country these days).
Are you seeing your groceries rise like I am? I know gas is up, why is that? No tariffs are out there driving up the price? Supply and demand? I know our state put on a bit of a tax---but that was not like this rise. Is this a haves and have nots situation?
Less stuff, more experiences, but there is no place to go unless you score a shot. And who IS scoring shots? Will there be a pushback to those who start to travel because they are connected or old enough to get a shot? Hummmm- why do they get to live while everyone else gets locked down?
What is going on with solar panels? They used to be reasonable with cash back from taxes- now they are same priced, with no real rebate, and still flying off the shelves. Are we THAT worried that the entire nation will be in a "TexasWinter"? Will it become the haves who can afford electricity vs the have nots who cannot afford expensive solar stuff?
No, I am not a great writer. I am just putting my experiences and thoughts out there. To me there is a shift going on. I am not sure where it will go, but it is moving.
And why is our border wide open. Who, in their right mind, thinks it is good to brain drain an entire area so kids can languish in foster care....in a white nationalist state? But that is another topic for another day.
Well first, the large majority of those children are Migrant refugees. Who most likely cannot go home and often left their parents or were sent by their parents in order to save their lives. Foster care will keep them alive-which is something they might not have remained in Hondurus (just one example). A very sore subject with me is the fact that the UN seems unwilling or unable to address humanitarian issues in the Americas, the way they did in Bosnia and Syria and the Sudan, however it would be a mistake not to be aware that the crisis in parts of Central and South American is just as great. If Biden is to be faulted, it's perhaps with not understanding how great said issue is. As for the housing market, I would only observe this. That the pandemic has widened the income gap drastically. For every two earner couple who has not spent money while having the gift of working mainly at home there is another couple who have not worked or worked less than part time or who is an industry that has been forced to close because of the government. My groceries are rising, but slowly and only in certain areas.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the pandemic lockdowns have widened a gap that was beginning to narrow. Of that there is no doubt. I still don't get why there isn't middle class housing.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can get in to the convention center to help. I heard from a friend that they are taking no volunteers in San Antonio. I am hoping to do paperwork in Idaho for those who are already here. Love the farmworker bill and the (finally) DOCA bill making its way though the House. Come on AOC- get those people a legal way to become citizens! Maybe they will be less likely to be underpaid, trafficked or/ and overworked!
I agree, Biden severely underestimated the flood gates that he opened by saying kids can stay. Parents seem to be sending their kids with coyotes and staying on the other side. It is a tragedy that we are now housing children in a convention center. THAT is a humanitarian crisis. And the camps being open again- I wonder if Wayfair will refuse to ship beds again. The scary part? We have not even gotten to summer. That is when people die going over that border- big and little.
Everybody is getting free money, so they're spending it, price no object. At least that's what it looks like to me. The money should have been more targeted to those who really need it, imho.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more. My kids agree as well.
DeleteDear Janette, thought provoking post, and you write just fine.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue.
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