I'm on the boomer/genX cusp and much in this story resonates hard. My mom and dad were unskilled parents and I think one of the ways they avoided dealing with any family issues was to always be working on something around the house or going to auctions to by more stuff for me and my siblings to get rid of when they moved to town. They both grew up in poor families and experienced the post war economic boom in all its splendor but the dust bowl poverty mentality stuck with them. My own kids are in their 30's and are investing their time heavily into leisure activities, friendship and families. Old crusty guys might see this as lazy, but I see healthy happy people who are doing their best not to let the stupid way we live here get to them. Not sure where I'm going with this. Maybe i need to write my own story about the toxic impact of Great Depression trauma on housing decisions. Anyway great article and thanks for posting it- much to ponder here!
That story would be interesting to see. I do think that temporary poverty shifts one's perspective. Though I think we are in a similar age cohort, my parents were quite young when I was born and had no Great Depression experience, but boy did my grandparents!
I live in a big old Victorian fixer-upper with a time-consuming yard. We spend endless time painting and rewiring and replumbjng — we also built a treehouse and dug a fishpond. It’s a lot! We chose this partly because we don’t have financial resources, so a good life requires us to expend time and effort in lieu of money.
A friend chose an urban loft, very spare. His landlord handles all maintenance.
"Dodging needles and human waste every day makes me better than you" is the funhouse mirror version of this attitude. One only finds it convincing if one can claim staus points in exchange for the sacrifice. Children find it obviously absurd because these particular status games are closed to them.
The structure of our tax system makes ownership a preferable option for anyone who is likely to stay put for a while and who has the temperament to maintain a property. My wife and I, between us, have the right temperament. I am very handy and good at negotiating with contractors, but tend to tolerate a pretty high level of dilapidation. I could live in a run down shack in the woods and be fine. She notices problems more and is very good at record keeping.
Some people are just not cut out for home ownership though. After my father died, my mother neither kept up on house maintenance nor paid the property taxes. She sold her house at below market value with the buyer allowing her to be a permanent tenant for a nominal $500/year. Yes, year not month.
In the U.K. and in Germany, there are not such strong tax incentives toward ownership so many middle people rent. Denmark, on the other hand, is full of owners with renters being mostly young people and poor(ish) folks. Why? The tax structure. I wonder, if it weren't for the mortgage interest deduction, if so many Americans would choose to buy and maintain their own homes.
I'm on the boomer/genX cusp and much in this story resonates hard. My mom and dad were unskilled parents and I think one of the ways they avoided dealing with any family issues was to always be working on something around the house or going to auctions to by more stuff for me and my siblings to get rid of when they moved to town. They both grew up in poor families and experienced the post war economic boom in all its splendor but the dust bowl poverty mentality stuck with them. My own kids are in their 30's and are investing their time heavily into leisure activities, friendship and families. Old crusty guys might see this as lazy, but I see healthy happy people who are doing their best not to let the stupid way we live here get to them. Not sure where I'm going with this. Maybe i need to write my own story about the toxic impact of Great Depression trauma on housing decisions. Anyway great article and thanks for posting it- much to ponder here!
That story would be interesting to see. I do think that temporary poverty shifts one's perspective. Though I think we are in a similar age cohort, my parents were quite young when I was born and had no Great Depression experience, but boy did my grandparents!
I live in a big old Victorian fixer-upper with a time-consuming yard. We spend endless time painting and rewiring and replumbjng — we also built a treehouse and dug a fishpond. It’s a lot! We chose this partly because we don’t have financial resources, so a good life requires us to expend time and effort in lieu of money.
A friend chose an urban loft, very spare. His landlord handles all maintenance.
It’s a tradeoff.
"Dodging needles and human waste every day makes me better than you" is the funhouse mirror version of this attitude. One only finds it convincing if one can claim staus points in exchange for the sacrifice. Children find it obviously absurd because these particular status games are closed to them.
The structure of our tax system makes ownership a preferable option for anyone who is likely to stay put for a while and who has the temperament to maintain a property. My wife and I, between us, have the right temperament. I am very handy and good at negotiating with contractors, but tend to tolerate a pretty high level of dilapidation. I could live in a run down shack in the woods and be fine. She notices problems more and is very good at record keeping.
Some people are just not cut out for home ownership though. After my father died, my mother neither kept up on house maintenance nor paid the property taxes. She sold her house at below market value with the buyer allowing her to be a permanent tenant for a nominal $500/year. Yes, year not month.
In the U.K. and in Germany, there are not such strong tax incentives toward ownership so many middle people rent. Denmark, on the other hand, is full of owners with renters being mostly young people and poor(ish) folks. Why? The tax structure. I wonder, if it weren't for the mortgage interest deduction, if so many Americans would choose to buy and maintain their own homes.