Post AjpSWsQJr6ca9nrh4K by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) More posts by futurebird@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #Ajp9Ajp1G0qxyo9FVg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T14:40:18Z
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The term "starter home" is so strange. Buying a home is so difficult as it is. Who is thinking about any home you manage to buy without going into horrible debt as just a "start" ? A start of what?It seems like one of those things where rather than say "homes for poor people" we have this goofy fiction that someday I'm gonna move out of the Bronx and buy a condo in Manhattan. No. Some people just aren't ever going to buy a mansion and that's... fine? Or it should be. Right?
(DIR) Post #Ajp9UgniCPoMOy3Ai8 by nirak@carhenge.club
2024-07-11T14:43:52Z
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@futurebird I was always confused by this too. I think people mostly mean it like "you'll need a bigger house once you have kids"?
(DIR) Post #Ajp9sVpCevbzJJ6iau by dx@social.ridetrans.it
2024-07-11T14:48:08Z
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@futurebird We purposefully bought a smaller house, and got so much of this “well it’s a fine starter home” BS. I don’t preclude the possibility that we move some day, but I expect it to be a lateral move. I think the expectation is that you’ll use your debt to secure ever larger homes and debt. I’m surprised “starter home” is a thing even in expensive NYC
(DIR) Post #Ajp9v2DNCndcLRcDvU by 990000@mstdn.social
2024-07-11T14:48:38Z
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@futurebird yeah and the term starter seems more appropriate for renting, not buying
(DIR) Post #Ajp9yLLGXyl6XHsvBo by TofuTheSquirrel@piaille.fr
2024-07-11T14:49:14Z
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@futurebird you're not crushed by a ridiculous amount that was forced on you to fullfill a basic human need, you are at the early stage of your successful real estate investment career 😄
(DIR) Post #AjpA02kkdCX9SjcFzU by foolishowl@social.coop
2024-07-11T14:49:34Z
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@futurebird I'm guessing it's a sort of retroactive norm. That is, I have a vague impression that in the 80s, middle class white people would live in a succession of homes, leveraging each home to buy the next, or at least expected to do that. So "starter home" is about evoking a sense of a lost norm that only privileged people ever experienced.
(DIR) Post #AjpADZof0zBDlotj4C by JustChapman@mastodon.social
2024-07-11T14:51:58Z
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@futurebird Yeah “starter homes” are supposed to be smaller and in close proximity to elementary schools. But these days they are just another “home” and be glad you get it. Real estate is such a garbage industry.
(DIR) Post #AjpAScL9ucxBwVGq7E by run_atalanta@pgh.social
2024-07-11T14:54:42Z
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@futurebird It's a perspective thing. My Mon did real estate, and my brain hears "starter home" as a small 1-2 bedroom home for a young "just starting life together" couple with zero or maybe one kiddos, that is affordable and comfortable until the family size grows. The next home would be the larger multi-generational home where grandparents and extended family might move in. Not necessarily a mansion, just sized for more people.
(DIR) Post #AjpBv3KJGsr7hYzpjs by Cyrus@zirk.us
2024-07-11T15:11:03Z
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@futurebird I think this goes back to the end of WWII. That was when suddenly a whole lot of people settled down in new families, and there was an expectation that they wouldn’t live in a multi-generational home. The whole model of getting a mortgage and “buying upward” became a norm. And the system, though racist and predatory, was not actually *broken* the way it is today.
(DIR) Post #AjpCNXAntaZuNU8B6W by theogrin@chaosfem.tw
2024-07-11T15:16:11Z
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@futurebird The only way I'd ever use the term 'starter home' is in describing the start of my Sims' lives.Like yeah, I'm eventually going to upgrade my dollhouse to a dollmansion, because it's not actually real and because the game intends that people trade up as they go along.Things don't work quite that way in reality...
(DIR) Post #AjpDhibDDw3vYofi88 by r343l@freeradical.zone
2024-07-11T15:31:02Z
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@futurebird When I moved to Seattle, my partner and I lucked into being able to buy at a relative "low"point. It's a house built in 1905. It originally was a 4 room house with a stove in the center and no plumbing or electrical though of course had both added later. It's less than 1000 sq ft. We've had to do a lot of work on it. Most would call it a starter home. I call it "never moving unless we somehow finance rebuilding the lot as a multi-family co-op apartment".
(DIR) Post #AjpE8VN8VejwM9rQIK by rlstone4dems@mastodon.social
2024-07-11T15:35:52Z
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@futurebird myrmepropagandist: I’ve heard people often refer to their first home as a “starter home.” Never really understood why though. I mean, is a starter home super cheap or free?? And it’s perfectly fine to never buy a Mansion…lol.
(DIR) Post #AjpEKUjqgvNxrlCYLo by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T15:37:49Z
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@rlstone4dems It's that "temporary embarrassed millionaire" mentality. No need to make this community better. No! I'm going places.
(DIR) Post #AjpEutjtDVUJpTZxGS by The_Tim@mastodon.social
2024-07-11T15:44:18Z
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@futurebird It's because the industry can only continue to exist as large as it has become if people sell their home and "trade up" to a brand new 30-year debt obligation every 5-7 years.I wrote about this 14 years ago and it still baffles me that American society has just fully bought into this nonsense. https://seattlebubble.com/blog/2010/06/25/does-anyone-pursue-actual-home-ownership-anymore/
(DIR) Post #AjpF2eQ03yNcd4yMXg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T15:46:04Z
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@rlstone4dems Starter home.Starter job.Starter wife.Starter life.It can't be that I'm just like all of you, this is just one stop on my journey. And if you try to show me the stats, how unlikely it is; if you try to tell me my opportunity is a scam you are a person with negative energy trying to "block" me. I had a friend with just this mentality and she's not doing so great: has a lot of lululemon clothes in a shipping container and had to sell the NOT starter house.
(DIR) Post #AjpF8mudOYfqi8EC36 by apisashla@www.librepunk.club
2024-07-11T15:47:08Z
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@futurebird It's one of those things said with the assumption that housing prices will continue to just increase forever (which is, in this fiction, a good thing somehow.) The idea is you pay down your mortgage for 10-20 years until you have enough positive equity in the sale to put a bigger down payment on another more expensive house, and so on. Unfortunately this requires that 1. house prices never decrease for any reason and 2. you remain alive long enough to pay down the second or third house. Neither of which are guaranteed, even if you're lucky enough to be able to mortgage a first house at all.
(DIR) Post #AjpFCRR3BktBG78Gx6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T15:47:27Z
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@rlstone4dems And when I ran into her on facebook she told me that I was one of the reasons she failed. Because I wouldn't help her with her pyramid scheme, that I told here was a pyramid scheme and tried to get her out of. ...anyway... I wish that nonsense were better regulated. People can have hard heads.
(DIR) Post #AjpFV6znPH9RMvHrF2 by ben@pgh.social
2024-07-11T15:51:08Z
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@futurebird ☢️ ☣️
(DIR) Post #AjpFlwpGTH3OkaOBlo by artemis@dice.camp
2024-07-11T15:53:54Z
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@futurebird I think sometimes it's a "starter home" because they assume that everyone wants to be a landlord.Now that my partner owns a house, people often give him advice on how he can use the equity in this house to finance a second mortgage and rent this one out.And like... brilliant plan for making money if a) you can actually do it and b) you are willing to become a leach and live off the labor of other people while you and others like you prevent them from owning their OWN home.
(DIR) Post #AjpG4UC19UyBRss5Fw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T15:57:18Z
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@artemis I have mixed feelings about putting off everyone with a shred of a conscious from being a landlord. It's the only path to wealth in the US that isn't a scam. There are bad landlords and worse landlords. Landlords that fight to exploit more, and those fine with the current level. IDK. The "industry" is getting worse. It probably shouldn't exist but that's not going to happen any time soon. Be a landlord. Know everything nasty they say about you is true.
(DIR) Post #AjpGxAr0ks2VOi7gno by artemis@dice.camp
2024-07-11T16:07:28Z
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@futurebird I mean... I have been grateful for the "good" landlords I have had because when you're renting, so much of your security and comfort depends on the disposition of the person you are renting from.But my God do I find it insulting when someone assumes we'd want that. I wish we had more (any) financial security, but I think I'd lose all self-respect if a very large percentage of someone else's paycheck was going straight into my bank account every month.
(DIR) Post #AjpHKjiLJOCqAuItd2 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T16:11:39Z
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@david_megginson I mean, mostly for the better take-out options. And a shorter commute. But we have a whole roof for farming, and I like my neighbors. And I can buy sushi at work and bring it home on the two days a month that I really want it.
(DIR) Post #AjpHSmRb2uJ8xTJ4Iy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T16:13:02Z
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@david_megginson The best thing about living in Manhattan is if you have the cash you can get anything delivered, and there are so many services. It's like living in a giant fancy super hotel. Though we are pretty spoiled in the Bronx too... if compared with most other cities.
(DIR) Post #AjpHc2b0MatVes7gf2 by Oggie@woof.group
2024-07-11T16:14:50Z
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@futurebird @rlstone4dems I have a friend who just bought a house a year ago who is already talking about when he sells it. It's really something. I get it if you're miserable there, and honestly maybe he is. It's just...a strange concept to me, in a lot of ways.
(DIR) Post #AjpHpqDtA71XL3tJTM by indigoparadox@mastodon.social
2024-07-11T16:16:49Z
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@futurebird @rlstone4dems Finisher HomeEDIT: Final Home
(DIR) Post #AjpIf28IdoUL2rgfQG by indigoparadox@mastodon.social
2024-07-11T16:25:51Z
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@futurebird @rlstone4dems As for starter jobs... I'm planning to touch computers until I die. I don't intend to be a manager. My middle class boomer friend indignantly asked me, ”Even if they pay you more?!” I don't have kids and they're not gonna pay me enough to retire in a year anyway. If I gotta spend decades at this sh*t then I'm not gonna aim to be miserable. 😩
(DIR) Post #AjpIoLJwfdeBA4ZcBM by clarablackink@writing.exchange
2024-07-11T16:28:15Z
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@futurebird So, this is purely shaped by my grandparent's house.I always took "starter house" to refer to a small house that a couple gets and then builds onto.They bought the house because my grandma saved money for a down payment due to experiences in the "rat house" prior to the birth of their fourth child.It was originally a two bedroom house. I'm not sure when they started building onto it but eventually it had three bedrooms and several larger rooms. Plus a workshop.
(DIR) Post #AjpJ8x4u00ym3VMeAK by Azuaron@hachyderm.io
2024-07-11T16:32:01Z
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@futurebird @rlstone4dems There are definitely people with toxic views about home ownership and ladder climbing.However, that's not necessarily the case for people getting a starter home. My wife and I bought a small 2 bedroom "starter home" a few years after we got married. When I say "small 2 bedroom", I don't mean that a 2 bedroom house is necessarily small, I mean this house was small for a 2 bedroom.1/N
(DIR) Post #AjpK8LSDz35rJzY0vI by davad@mas.to
2024-07-11T16:43:04Z
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@futurebird I think the term originally meant "you're starting a family, but you're young and can't afford much." Then the expectation was, as you were now established in your career, and maybe had more kids, you would want a larger, nicer place. With current housing prices, "starter homes" aren't really a thing.
(DIR) Post #AjpL4QHmB7O36NM156 by econads@mendeddrum.org
2024-07-11T16:53:34Z
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@futurebird I think it's a holdover from when everyone was expected to have kids. A starter home was for a couple, and you'd move out to something bigger once you got a kid or two.
(DIR) Post #AjpLSKtxqcVpLycRMG by Dataless@dice.camp
2024-07-11T16:57:54Z
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@futurebird I think it’s a mindset that allows really shoddy construction to be forgiven.
(DIR) Post #AjpLUViGceN1SnBVMu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T16:58:21Z
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@Dataless So "starter" as in they started to build it and didn't quite finish?
(DIR) Post #AjpLbeq35molnDETVA by Dataless@dice.camp
2024-07-11T16:59:36Z
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@futurebird Haha, not what I meant but I like it.
(DIR) Post #AjpOAKB66Dczl7jgWm by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2024-07-11T17:28:15Z
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@futurebird Well, the housing market was way more easy in the 50's to even the early 70's if I'm not mistaken.And no objective reason makes it impossible to go back to affordable housing; only speculation does it.So maybe instead of venting against a vocabulary that normalizes a social mobility which doesn't exist anymore, it would be more useful to normalize the idea that affordable housing is something that your country can actually afford ?
(DIR) Post #AjpOKC98obhdkHWlRg by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2024-07-11T17:29:37Z
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@futurebird It is regulated.Just not in your country.@rlstone4dems
(DIR) Post #AjpP1pUGQIrYD7DKPw by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2024-07-11T17:37:52Z
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@futurebird Well, not everybody is an ant and would rather die than leave the colony it started in just because it has the right pheromones...
(DIR) Post #AjpSWsQJr6ca9nrh4K by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-07-11T18:17:10Z
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@shelleynorman What about making a nicer place instead of moving? I mean moving is fine, and sometimes it's the only option. I might have a little sympathy for her if she has kids and the schools are bad. When people without kids get on this I'm always a little... suspicious.
(DIR) Post #AjpSubphBtxjeU3ELg by NoTwit@mas.to
2024-07-11T18:21:27Z
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@futurebird My sister-in-law and her husband got a small house right before she had their first child. All her sisters kept calling it a "starter home." She always said "we're lucky to be in this house" - 30 years later, they're still there!
(DIR) Post #Ajqmvwd9XlKAga3gf2 by Marc@fosstodon.org
2024-07-12T09:40:30Z
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@futurebird @artemis Landlords bring Karl Marx and Adam Smith together.I understand that financial survival in the United States is difficult. Half the population isn't doing it (paycheck to paycheck doesn't count as long-term survival). I left the country myself (China). If landlordism is the best financial solution imaginable, A) that's terrifting, and B) maybe leaving the country is something to consider. The social contract is broken.