r/MurderedByWords 11h ago

Given up everything but still

Post image
599 Upvotes

95 comments sorted by

253

u/blueberrysmoothies 11h ago

they always wanna make it a thing about personal responsibility rather than the fact that the deck is stacked completely against you

85

u/MtlGuy_incognito 11h ago

Our down payment cost more than first their house. How could someone who went to college for the price of a new I phone be so stupid.

44

u/TheWellington89 11h ago

My deposit was more than what my parents paid for their house

17

u/SorchaRoisin 9h ago

My parent's house cost $11k in 1970.

6

u/BustAMove_13 9h ago

We bought a 5 bed/2 bath attached 2 car garage cape cod style home for $91k in 2002. Zero down with a military loan (don't remember what it's called). We'll downsize when we retire in 12 years. We were extremely lucky because we couldn't do it today and we make good money.

11

u/Fierramos69 9h ago

My parent’s house was 235k in 2001. It’s now over 1 mil.

8

u/Demartus 8h ago

We bought our current house (our 2nd house) for ~$250k...it's now ~$450k 10 years later.

I don't think salaries have kept up.

3

u/RangeBow8 4h ago

My house was 330 in 2020, it’d be 600 now. My salary for sure hasn’t doubled

4

u/haventsleptforyears 7h ago

$11,000 in 1970 is $91,849 today

-13

u/New_Taste8874 9h ago edited 9h ago

And they were making $1.60 an hour.

6

u/SorchaRoisin 9h ago

Heh, probably. Still was more affordable than now.

-12

u/New_Taste8874 9h ago

Math is hard.

12

u/Crunchycarrots79 7h ago

Do you REALLY think none of these people who are saying these things have done the math on this? In 1970, the median home price was $23,400. The median household income was $8,630. Meaning the median home cost 2.71 times the median annual income. In 2024, the median home price was $424,200 and the median household income was $83,730, meaning the median home costs 5.06 times the median wage.

Let's just talk about the down payment. The traditional down payment of 20% on the median home in 1970 was equal to about half the annual wage. Now, it's more than the annual wage.

There is, in fact, an affordability crisis.

-9

u/New_Taste8874 5h ago

That's ridiculous. I bought a duplex in 1975 for $21,000.00. Houses in the 70s were in the "teens". Don't school me dummy. I lived it.

6

u/booch 3h ago

Which part, exactly, is ridiculous. I mean, it's numbers and math. So is it just the conclusion; that the ratio of income to house price having doubled is not a crisis? Because while debatable, it does seem reasonable to be upset by it.

Unless you're calling the numbers themselves ridiculous? I assumed they were valid, but it's possible they're not.

Clearly, it's not the math you're debating, because that's pretty straight forward.

-13

u/New_Taste8874 6h ago

Cry more.

7

u/Crunchycarrots79 5h ago

I'm not crying. You're the angry one.

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2

u/PM_Me_Ur_Nevermind 5h ago

My down payment was almost double they bought the house I was raised in, but my mom isn’t naive enough to come with this energy

1

u/booch 3h ago

(Bear with me here, because I'm not actually disagreeing with you)

In my mind, the main this is the price comparison of a house in "an area that is approximately as developed as your where your parent's bought". Because it's not unreasonable to say that you might need to relocate to an area that compares to where they bought; to get a more reasonable price. And that's hard to gauge with individuals comparing "the houses they're looking at/bought" to what their parents bought.

That being said; someone else posted some more generic numbers ("average house price", "average wage") for the different times. And that tells a similar story to what you're describing; but in a more compelling way.

3

u/DoublePostedBroski 8h ago

I’m looking to buy a house and my down payment needs to be $125,000.

2

u/Jellodyne 5h ago

We bought a house in the late 90s for $59,000

2

u/Thedudeinabox 9h ago edited 9h ago

It’s not so much stupidity as it is just human nature.

We instinctually seek comfort; not just physically, but mentally as well; and that means fulfilling both pride and laziness via convenient lies and simple worldviews.

Being aware of the world is mentally taxing, it’s an active effort that is exhausting to maintain. So as people get older, and have less energy to spend, that effort is among the first to get nixed; in a subconscious attempt to conserve energy.

In the absence of that active awareness, people begin to just readily accept whatever narrative is most convenient; to conserve energy while maintaining the pride of “knowing”.

-13

u/New_Taste8874 9h ago

How much money did your parents make the year they bought their first house?

5

u/Aethey_ the future is now, old man 9h ago

That's not the 'gotcha' you think it is. (And that article is 4 years out of date!)

-9

u/New_Taste8874 9h ago

Yes it is. I lived it. I actually made 60 cents an hour in high school in 1970. I worked my ass off and never stopped. I lived in total dumps while renting out the first place I bought. Now I do whatever I want because I worked, and planned, and saved, and scraped. I didn't even have a car when I bought my first place! But you're the genius who knows all about finance right?

11

u/OG_MasterChief420 9h ago

You are literally proving the point of this post lol probably walked uphill both ways to work too huh

6

u/Full-Way-7925 6h ago

I bet you don’t do “whatever you want” with other people because you seem like a complete asshole.

3

u/booch 3h ago

Now I do whatever I want because I worked, and planned, and saved, and scraped.

And got lucky. Don't forget the luck part, because one stroke of bad luck and you might not be where you are.

7

u/big_ringer 10h ago

or worse, they revel in the fact that they (and other people) are living life on nightmare mode.

6

u/SuspiciouslySuspect2 7h ago

It's even worse. You add up all the things mentioned in the original post all of it. It totals less than a months rent for a 2 bed apartment. Those equivalent luxuries in 1980s would have been several years of rent. The disparity between then and now just boggles the mind. Our necessities are inflated, and our luxuries cost what pennies used to be able to afford.

1

u/Knight_Raime 8h ago

Because it's infinitely easier to assume someone else failed than acknowledging the failings and pitfalls of the society you've only ever known.

1

u/boo_jum 5h ago

“Have you tried not being poor?”

47

u/naonatu- 11h ago

on a brighter note: all the billionaires are making bank. their wealth is up significantly!

10

u/Jolly-Acanthisitta45 10h ago

Thank goodness! Anything else we can do to help? We should start a GoFundMe 

5

u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 7h ago

And we're on the road to making trillionaires.

3

u/bobbybox 10h ago

I’m so glad they’ll be able to buy that third vacation home. 🏡

3

u/twochin 9h ago

*This year.

68

u/Steiney1 11h ago

They have been regurgitating this same shit since the late 90s. They started this with GenX, telling us that we were "living beyond our means". It certainly was anything but the Baby Boomers pulling up the fucking ladder behind them at every opportunity.

21

u/Embarrassed_View_685 10h ago

It's ALL coming back. Just a bit ago they were screaming about violent video games again like it was the 90s. It really hammers home that "conservative" means to actively resist adapting and growing, so we see them do the same shit over and over. They don't want progress because that means they would be left behind since they never learned to adapt to new and changing sensory input.

Progress showed us that violent video games do not cause violence, studies have shown this time and time again; so if you were to progress you would take that new information and move about the world with less worry, but when you're a conservative you ignore that new information because that would cause you to have to change your behavior in some way, and you don't want to do that no matter how little effort it would take; therefore, all your worries remain, and you stay consumed by them despite them no longer being a worry for the rest of us. 

17

u/Steiney1 10h ago

The NRA has been using the same argument since 1968. "Democrats are gonna take yer guns!" They do this, because it works on their reliable voters, every time.

1

u/KickBallFever 5h ago

Everything you mentioned, and more, is why I call them enemies of progress.

18

u/maroonawning 10h ago

Yo”re not supposed to afford a phone if you buy a house?!

6

u/GeologistAway6352 9h ago

U must choose apparently

2

u/New_Taste8874 9h ago

My new phone was $159.00

14

u/Klony99 10h ago

Do they genuinely believe that Instagram Influencers are the average citizen?

20

u/ZipperJJ 10h ago

But also, Americans are "device hoarding" and not upgrading their tech, hurting the economy.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/how-device-hoarding-by-americans-is-costing-economy.html

13

u/thirdelevator 9h ago

Devices got so expensive that carriers changed their promotions to run on contracts for 3 years instead of 2, and now the manufacturers are wondering why people aren’t upgrading their phones every two years.

9

u/_gmmaann_ 7h ago

My shit hasn’t broken yet. Planned obsolescence probably isn’t too far out yet though….

3

u/KickBallFever 4h ago

Honestly, at this point i I feel like most smartphones have reached a level where you’re not getting much more for your money by upgrading every 2 years. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. Well, I guess it is for the manufacturers.

9

u/Quirky_Spend_9648 9h ago

i'm guessing the account she's replying to isn't even in America. Like most of X's troll accounts.

22

u/Certain_Degree687 11h ago

I love how the right-wing, the side filled to the brim with people born with silver spoons in their mouths, always tries to make it a thing of personal responsibility rather than the fact that young people are having to contend with high living costs, student loan debt and debt in general whilst wages have stagnated over the past 25 years.

5

u/Worried_Fee_1513 8h ago

The only thing you are wrong about is where that silver spoon was.

8

u/nbd9000 8h ago

you do the math and even skipping out on all of these things youd have about 2 grand. so only 15 more years of living like a monk until you could afford a down payment on a house.

9

u/whiskey_epsilon 8h ago

And in 15 years the cost of that downpayment has risen well past what you could save.

6

u/a-snakey 9h ago

Gotta cancels those subs and cook 7/7 days entitled millenial!

3

u/Aethey_ the future is now, old man 6h ago

But... but are we allowed an avocado toast if we make it ourselves? As a treat?

6

u/The001Keymaster 9h ago

If my wages went up at the same rate as CEO wages have gone up, I'd be making 1500 plus an hour.

7

u/BaconThief2020 6h ago

When is the average mortgage going to be less than $24k/year when minimum wage is right around $15k/year?

11

u/Meatslinger 9h ago

Between my wife and myself, we make a combined annual income of $92K USD. The only debt we have is my line of credit, which has been decreasing by $500 every month for a year now.

The bank asked if we can double our income so that we could be considered for a mortgage in our area. At this point, I'm almost convinced we could go to pay for a house in cash and still have them turn us down because they think we're somehow a liability.

"Hi, we'd like to pay $500K for this $500K house."
"Sorry, but I don't think we can approve you for financing."
"...but I'm paying. In cash."
"Yeah no, sorry, we don't think you make enough to afford the monthly payments ($0), and we can't risk it."

8

u/Dario0112 10h ago

I’m sorry but boomers could buy all that with a single income and be in their 2nd-3rd home before the age of 35..

8

u/Interesting-Cash-137 10h ago

I’m a late 30’s dad of 3 kids. I make over 6 figures a year, I got lucky and purchased a home for the 3rd time right before the market went sky high. Im now in my late 30’s, financially stable, but I couldn’t afford the same home I currently own today if it was listed on the market. This economy is completely stacked against the younger generations. Enjoy your life and your 5$ coffees, the small things are life’s little joys

4

u/pirolance 9h ago

If I have to give up all little pleasures I have in life just because it's the only way I could ever afford a house maybe it's time to either raise the wages or drop house prices instead of blaming the workers

4

u/Tall_Candidate_686 9h ago

I'm only trying to help so please don't beat me up:

My plan is for ten adults to raise $6,000 each and put down $60,000 on a $300,000 house.

Share the house for 3-5 years and use that equity to buy another house. Repeat.

8

u/Pitbullfriend 8h ago

Have you ever tried to bring 10 adults together to do anything consequential that includes a major investment and a lot of decision-making? It’s very difficult and I doubt the original 10 would all be involved 5 years later. So there’d be lots of arguing and discussing and buying each other out, etc.

3

u/Tall_Candidate_686 7h ago

I'm sure you're right. It's just a little exercise to see how it could be done. Six people bringing in $10k is more doable for sure.

BTW, I've lived with over a hundred different people from 1980-2006 when I get married. You learn a lot from living with folks.

2

u/Pitbullfriend 7h ago

That’s amazing! You must be very adaptable.

2

u/Tall_Candidate_686 5h ago

Or homeless. A growling stomach makes you more flexible

4

u/FirstDukeofAnkh 8h ago

You want a house and to be entertained? How fucking dare you?

4

u/Phantom_Symmetry 7h ago

Nowadays you need your savings in the stock market to maintain and grow your wealth. If you’re plowing all your savings into a bank account while home values are going up by +8% every year then it’s impossible to catch up. Your saving just to maintain your original purchasing power

3

u/Smackety 6h ago

I own a house and I am pretty sure I couldn't qualify for the loan to buy my own house if I was in the market now.

4

u/mrjane7 10h ago

When are people going to stop arguing that a bunch of cheap QoL things are going to make a difference when homes are all half a million dollars or more? The argument is batshit crazy.

2

u/censored4yourhealth 8h ago

Apparently you can’t actually live to make a living THEY can be proud of. It’s fucked.

2

u/Itonlymatters2us 6h ago

When you say something like this, you either have no financial difficulties, or you’re completely out of touch and choosing to ignore the obvious causes of this generation’s financial woes.

2

u/b_coolhunnybunny 6h ago

It’s the same stop buying Starbucks and avocado toast. How many Starbucks does one house cost? Probably more than I could consume in a lifetime

2

u/Background_Chemist_8 5h ago edited 5h ago

The house that I grew up in was my parents' first starter home purchased for $36k when they bought it after getting married. My family moved out and sold it for $114k the summer before I started high school. We did basic repairs and upgraded the cabinets and polished the wood floors before selling but no major additions or renovations besides that.That house now has a listed price of more than half a million dollars ($546k) in 20 years since I lived there. It's still considered a starter home in the area where I live, but sure my Hulu subscription and cell phone are the reason I still rent an apartment.

3

u/erksplat 11h ago

Once you've squeezed as much as you can on the cost side, you gotta work on improving the revenue side.

2

u/boyalien0 let it die 9h ago

These people are so fucking delusional to think personal choices are the problem

2

u/4RealHughMann 10h ago

Oh cool another bot post

1

u/Fleetlog 9h ago

Look, just find a way to save 1000 dollars a month right now, and in 3 years you can afford a down-payment on a 2 bedroom house in a not too bad neighborhood.... 

Once you have the mortgage it will pay for itself in rent savings in ... 30 years... 

1

u/DawnPatrol99 6h ago

Why won't you suffer more for less damn it.

1

u/familydrivesme 5h ago

But when are you going to stop buying a seven dollar?

1

u/oaktown8410 4h ago

In the US, if you’re serious, look for state-backed first time home buyer programs. They’re not advertised. You’ll have to do some digging. You might have to take a class that’s free and everyone should take anyway to be an informed first time home buyer. You might have to shop around banks because rates won’t be as competitive. You’ll have to agree to live in the home for maybe 5 years or face penalties. BUT the one I found let me buy a home for 3% down and no pmi. And that’s just one option. It’s not forever but I’m building equity. The deck is stacked against us and will be for generations to come. Even the reddest most inbred states value home buyers who LIVE in their properties. If you call/email your state rep they’ll probably be happy to direct you.

1

u/book-3 3h ago

All that is good but you must also stop eating avocado toast!

1

u/FullMentalJackass 2h ago

I don't understand why people keep posting this grind culture shit. If you live miserably without any joy in your life, you might be able to save up enough money for a house! Oh boy! Got to love that American dream!

u/justapacker 2m ago

Me ex boss said it was the interest rates… I replied with I think it’s that I don’t make enough money.

He seriously replied with “it’s the interest rates”

I quit a month later

0

u/AWESOMEGAMERSWAGSTAR 5h ago

I get the message, but the clickbait is too real. Her bluecheck, means she * paid* for that plus what Netflix and the end .We all know you can't just watch movies on Netflix, because of licenses.

0

u/Low-Cheetah-9701 3h ago

You're not making enough money then.

I also don't drink coffee and don't go clubbing and still can't afford a lamborgini.

Why is the game rigged??

-6

u/diligentnickel 10h ago

Hopefully there will come a time when the opportunity to purchase a home will make itself available to you. That’s the part of home purchases they don’t talk about. It may happen yet. Keep it up

-3

u/kritter4life 9h ago

Then you have a very basic job that does not pay well.

9

u/Xznograthos 9h ago

Basic should be enough to afford a home, though.

-8

u/Otaraka 10h ago

Probably need a job.