Rosemarysealavender - Sea Lavender

in my lifetime (i am not yet 30) the price of my childhood home has increased approx. 900%.

my parents bought their "starter" home (emotionally, my forever home), in the mid90s for maybe $110k, put a lot of work into it sure yeah (the ceilings the pipes the floors: all new), and it sold for $405k after a bidding war; they'd listed it for $200k.

when we moved, the possibility of making like a quarter mil in profit upon sale was normal for the neighborhood (near a major metro area).

although we'd sold the house to a young couple, they sold it about a year after buying it.

the house was then "flipped," i.e., dude was all about the profit, sold the house for $750k.

the housing market crashed in '08.

the next buyer sold it for $500k or so bc Recession, but last it was on the market (2015ish) it went for $925k.

this is the SAME house: 2bedrooms, 1 full bath, 2 half bath. a yard, but only if you squint. the basement still unfinished. and they cut down all the dogwoods and rhododendrons! it looks WORSE! it sells for MORE!

you can say 'oh but the location!' which brings me to part 2: my fam moved from suburbs to the cut, and there's fuckall to do there but succumb to the general malaise of a dead-end town. i will never not be bitter about moving there....

we had seven churches and five liquor stores for a population of 2k. and when my folks bought their new-build house (4 bedroom, two full bath) for $300k, it was apparently "a good investment" because now the going prices for the neighborhood (which is hours from any metro area, major or otherwise) is $850k.

a half-million increase over 20 years for No New Amenities, No Upgraded Infrastructure, Lousy Schools, and literally. there is LITERALLY nothing there but opioids, guns, racism and xenophobia, and sadness. and the houses go for three-quarters of a million (usa) dollars.

why. WHY.

final story—

in the 1950s my grandparents bought their house (new build, suburbs of NYC, train into Manhattan) for under $10k, TOTAL. including closing costs and taxes and fees and whathaveyou.

yes, my grandfather did have assistance from the GI Bill, but the total cost of the house, vet or no, was under $10k. the vets just got like, a coupon for a discount (so to speak).

but even adjusting for inflation, in today's dollar, that same house (3 bedrooms, 2 full baths) would be like. $90k, sticker-price, if we only raised prices as inflation mandated, and not purely for profit.

these houses an hour from midtown coulda been going for under-$100k!!

whereas the most recent going-price for the place was 7.5x that. no additions, no upgrades, probably just new lightbulbs by this point.

ask us AGAIN why we say there's a housing crisis.

See also, "We're in a drought; conserve water!" Meanwhile, bottled water companies and golf courses for rich folk empty the aquifers.

It must suck being the second generation of a post apocalyptic world cause like half the population is gonna be named Hope or some shit