"At the start of 2022, 64% of the U.S. population was living paycheck to paycheck"

[Dahobbs 17447]

1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

I've said this before but in terms of "middle class," strip away the money and dollar amounts and look at the trappings and how they've changed over the years.  America is built on a "middle class ethos" to the point where 80% of us or something think we're "middle class" even though that's statistically impossible.

When I was younger, middle class meant you likely owned your house in a reasonably good school district, your spouse might have worked, two cars, had some savings, and took a vacation in the summer.  Now, what I've described is upper class.  Statistically, middle class now means you're a renter in a bad or average school district, both people work and sometimes multiple jobs, no savings and significant debt relative to the household income.

We're promised as Americans that if we work hard and do the right things, we'll achieve the "middle class dream" but millions of people did that only to realize being middle class now isn't what they thought.  When you understand that, you start to understand the angst in America right now.

Is that true though? According to the Census Bureau, 65% of households live in owner owned homes 

 

https://www.census.gov/topics/housing/guidance/homeownership-fact-sheet.html

 

[Surly Bevo 24696]

14 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Is that true though? According to the Census Bureau, 65% of households live in owner owned homes 

 

https://www.census.gov/topics/housing/guidance/homeownership-fact-sheet.html

 

As someone who has spent a career in mortgage banking and specifically single family the one thing about the overall homeownership rates to remember is that a much more significant portion of homes than we want to acknowledge (I don't want to wildly quote a number but I ran REO for a very large bank for several years so I've seen it in person) are complete fucking dogshit (not to mention "owning" and having much of any equity in it are two different things).  

Put it this way, plenty of people own their homes in Back o The Yards on the south side of Chicago and there probably isn't a single poster on this whole board who doesn't own a home that would want to trade places with them.  You can put that notion on rinse/repeat.

[Dahobbs 17447]

4 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

As someone who has spent a career in mortgage banking and specifically single family the one thing about the overall homeownership rates to remember is that a much more significant portion of homes than we want to acknowledge (I don't want to wildly quote a number but I ran REO for a very large bank for several years so I've seen it in person) are complete fucking dogshit (not to mention "owning" and having much of any equity in it are two different things).  

Put it this way, plenty of people own their homes in Back o The Yards on the south side of Chicago and there probably isn't a single poster on this whole board who doesn't own a home that would want to trade places with them.  You can put that notion on rinse/repeat.

I have no doubt of that. And while I think its gotten more difficult to reach the middle class ideal due to stagnant wage growth and inflation, I'd also like to avoid exaggerating or misstating the problem. Homeownership, in and of itself, doesn't seem to be our of reach for most Americans. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Dahobbs

[Immaculate Vibes 114]

Some of these charts are sketchy, but a lot are quite clear. 
 

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

 

[Guest]

Good Lord that's a  ton of graphs...  Good info though.