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New Home Pricing
- Thread starter tonepoet
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jp
Senior Member
Exactly!! We meet "kids" (to us) who are 24-30 years old and ask, where do you live? "With my parents over by Pecos and Warm Springs." I mean, I was out of the house at 18!! But no, not so much any more. The world is changing a lot. Wonder if any of our European friends could chime in on this. We're getting mostly the USA story. Anyone??
Since my two boys moved overseas, my wife and I have been monitoring real estate in Sweden with hopes of moving back. Their residential market has been been devastated in the last six months with home prices dropping by 15% as a result of inflation and high interest rates. Meanwhile on the commercial side, real estate investors have hugely increasing debt and are in danger of defaulting on debt with higher interest, which might trigger a financial meltdown. It's kind of a mess there right now, which is surprising, since their real estate markets have traditionally been very stable.
davismanLV
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Oh that's awful.... I thought it was a US thing.... but.... oh dear.....
Midnight Toker
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Difference in Europe though (Sweden is likely much different as it's much less populated than most other countries in Europe, so when there are problems, they are felt by all, not just in heavily populated areas) is their youth isn't going into it already in massive debt from college or credit cards. All my cousins in Germany (lots of them) are doing just fine and all own their own places. Their schooling cost them next to nothing, healthcare next to nothing, and you are guarenteed suitable wages, benefits, pension, etc. Typically Europeans don't use credit cards (more debit), don't live beyond their means, and don't spend what they don't have. Plus money there doesn't trickle up...it trickles down and out, as it should. Business owners consider the business itself their wealth, take care of their employees, and don't live lavish lives. In the US, a master electrician lives in a $750,000 house, has a driveway full of expensive cars and a $150,000 speed boat...and wonders why they can't find any good help. Over there, a master electrician might live next door to his own employee. His wealth is the business itself. Completely different mindset. (IMO, the way it used to be here...then greed took over) Another thing that is different there...education. Here we tell kids they can be whatever they want to be as long as they work hard at it. That all sounds nice, but fact is, only people really great at science from 1st grade until graduation should ever become a doctor. In Germany, kids get split up into different schools that specialize in different things depending on what you excell at as you grow up. Even if book smarts aren't your thing, they'll make sure you finish in a vocational school that will also gear you toward a very well paid job. Last I remember, practically everything there requires some sort of "official" training. If you want to be a Nanny, you have to go to Nanny training. If you want to work at Mc Donalds, you'll have to be trained (and not the "go in the mgr's office and watch the 1 hr training video before getting a uniform and starting your shift" training like here. I'm talking weeks and weeks of training. You just don't find employees that don't know their job over there. If you're going to flip burgers, they only want the best damn burger flipper there is! And when some fall through the cracks, the system is there to catch them and help get them back on their feet. (and no, their taxes aren't any higher there than they are here when it's all said and done, but they sure do get a hell of a lot more out of them than we do.)
edit: and if you work at a McDonalds there, you start w/ 5-6 weeks paid vacation and a pension plan. Different world indeed. (I often wish we had stayed! If you only saw the house I grew up in there compared to what I grew up in here...both based on a University Professor's wages (and we moved here because he became a Dean!!)
(just sing the Jefferson's theme song backwards!! )
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jp
Senior Member
This way of life is really predominant in many of the social democracies in Europe, such as Spain, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and many others. Another major thing is that the disparity between income levels is much lower. Quality of life for the majority of people in Europe is very high.
FNG
Enlightened Member
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What Are Some Examples of a Value-Added Tax (VAT)?
Understand how a value-added tax (VAT) works, how it differs from a sales tax, and the arguments for and against it.
I hear ya @davismanLV , I was out of the house at 18. Couldn't wait to be independent and free.
But, I discovered a curious thing right away and that was opening a refrigerator and thinking: "Hey, wait a minute... aren't these things supposed to be full? It was always full at Mom and Dad's house." A real head-scratcher for an 18 year-old.
I bounced back a few times before actually making independence start to work at 22.
bobouz
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I moved into a studio apartment shortly after graduating from high school. Didn’t find out until the first night that the apartment was full of cockroaches & stayed up all night smacking ’em with a shoe. There were only six units in this place. I talked to all the neighbors & got everyone to spray their kitchen pipes at the same time, and we actually got rid of them!
JohnW63
Enlightened Member
Bobouz,
No, I don't live that far out in the middle of nowhere. I think the three neighboring cities are about 200,000 people. I live on this Google Map:
No, I don't live that far out in the middle of nowhere. I think the three neighboring cities are about 200,000 people. I live on this Google Map:
davismanLV
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John.... the Apple Valley and high desert is so beautiful. Not for everyone, but such an amazing place....Bobouz,
No, I don't live that far out in the middle of nowhere. I think the three neighboring cities are about 200,000 people. I live on this Google Map:
Bobouz,
No, I don't live that far out in the middle of nowhere. I think the three neighboring cities are about 200,000 people. I live on this Google Map:
Looks like a beautiful spot!
My parents used to live on that map too. There wasn't a heck of a lot to do there for entertainment.Bobouz,
No, I don't live that far out in the middle of nowhere. I think the three neighboring cities are about 200,000 people. I live on this Google Map:
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JohnW63
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I don’t know if I’d call it beautiful, but it is a lot more interesting than the middle of a city. I spent 7th -12th grade in Big Bear , a nearby mountain resort area, so my perspective is different.
Big Bear is a wonderful place, although the last time I was there, it was starting to suffer from Lake Arrowhead creep. I still have some of the giant pine cones from the area in my guest room, suitably baked to stabilize the sap.