Definitely a trend I see around me (Europe, 30 years old).
All of my friends able to buy got at least 30k - 50k from their parents.
Is it the same around you? How do you deal with this?
Also, some data from a few days back:
https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/2426785?scrollToComments=true
I’m a nepo buyer ✋
My American Boomer parents view helping my sister and I out with things like this as a legal early inheritance transfer to make up for how long we expect their lives to go on. In that way, this isn’t really different from being able to buy things because you received an actual inheritance after your parents died.
The problem isn’t the people who are able to do this. The problem is that other people for generations have been systematically robbed from also being able to do this. We should have government programs to provide this service for those people to make up for that generational theft.
Also: Jesus, Canada, build some fucking housing what the fuck. I knew it was bad, but I assumed it was on par with the US.
IDK, the student loans program in the US didn’t work out very well, and a lot of people just ended up with a ton of debt they couldn’t handle. I’m worried the same would happen with a federal housing loan.
What we need instead is better housing density. Right now, if you want to buy a property (at least in the US), you need to also buy a car and commute long distances because that’s the only way you’re going to be able to afford a place at all. If we instead built more mixed housing near transit lines (e.g. business at ground level and a purchasable apartment above it), you could own something and not need a car to get around. That would work for the first few years, and if you decide to grow your family, you could use your equity as a down payment on a larger place.
But we really don’t have much in the way of a starter home. In my area, $300k is “cheap,” and with loans now around 7%, you’re going to need a larger down payment to keep mortgage payments reasonable. Most new construction around here is either luxury apartments or high end housing.
If we instead built more mixed housing near transit lines (e.g. business at ground level and a purchasable apartment above it), you could own something and not need a car to get around.
Unfortunately, zoning laws don’t allow this in most US cities
Right, so the focus should be on fixing zoning laws, not on trying to get people into needlessly expensive homes.
It sucks for people who aren’t able to get financial assistance from their family (I’m one of them) but this isn’t nepotism. This is families doing what is necessary to get a first house in a lot of current housing markets. Nepotism would be if houses were only being sold to family members/acquaintances of the owners.
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Yup, we were the same way. And I’ll do the same for my kids.
My parents aren’t rich and neither am I, but I do want to help my kids out. I’m going to help them with school to, but I suppose that’s nepotism as well to OP.
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Ikr? I left home at 18, but my parents helped pay for school (about half), though I still had to work my way through. When I got married, I paid for all of my expenses. When we started growing our family (one kid, second planned), my parents helped me buy a house because mortgage rates were so low and waiting to save would have meant we’d miss out on those rates. We paid them back quickly.
I totally could’ve done it all myself, but we would’ve pissed so much more money away on rent and higher interest rates.
I’m now self reliant and am totally willing to help out any siblings, nephews, etc if needed. I was always taught to pay it forward, and that’s what I plan to do.
My parents couldn’t help me when I was house shopping. I got a USDA mortgage so I had no down payment, just closing costs. I recommend it for anyone living in or wanting to move to a rural area. There’s a minimum credit requirement and the house has to meet HUD specs and a couple other things which are annoying.
What’s wrong with that? Parental responsibility doesn’t just end the moment a child turns 18
I never asked my parents for money, they just ended up giving it to me for my future
What’s wrong with that?
Doesn’t it seem a little unfair if ones ability to own land is dictated by the lottery of what their parents have achieved?
This could be the beginning of a slow slide back towards feudalism and lords with no social mobility for the lower classes.
Is it unfair that having wealthy parents gives you an advantage in life?
Yeah, it is… buy that doesn’t make it unethical for parents to help their kids, it means the society has to improve the safety net.
That’s the wrong message that you are getting out of that article. The problem is that more and more people need their parents help to get in the market.
That trend means that at one point, help from parents will be obligatory to buy a first house, closing the market to anyone that doesn’t have rich parents.
I got some bad news to you re: the market being closed to poor people.
Yes, it’s bad news. That’s the point of the article, to draw attention to a bad societal trend, it’s social commentary. Identifying a problem is the first step to solving it.
Sure, it’s not unethical for a kid to accept (necessary) help to survive, though it is to vote for or otherwise institute a society where that is necessary. The point the article is attempting to make is social commentary to draw attention to the fact that increasingly the lottery of inheritance is the only means of owning a home.
The first step to resolving the issue is identifying it. Nobody likes the implication that their success is not earned, by making that uncomfortable point the author is attempting to cause people to support change to correct this trend.
This isn’t “nepotism” and trying to conflate everything with “nepotism” is really just providing cover for Capitalism. Having rich parents is a thing that will always occur. Parents that are able to provide you with more support is not the issue here. The issue is that Capitalism has made it where without more support, the average person cannot afford a home.
Would absolutely have been impossible for us without money from my mother’s trust (deceased) and my father. Even living cheaply, with a very good deal on an apartment that we luckily locked in as COVID started and rent increases were put on moratorium, the appreciation of properties was so aggressive that saving $1300 a month meant we were actually losing ground on hitting a 20% down-payment on half decent starter homes. We desperately need the housing bubble to burst, but it’s not even “”“really”“” a bubble.
Calling it nepotism for home buying is just sour. I dont know what kind of money bags is putting 20%+ on a first time buyers home but if they can do it then id rather that then sone fucking chinese pool landlord barrons that own 5000 houses accross the country to leave empty.
This has kinda been a thing since the invention of money and real estate
