On Aug 23, 2007, at 3:20 PM, Jordan Hayes wrote:
> We're all in a much better position than our parents
> were to buy a home and to benefit from it.
Depends on your generation. My father (age 91) bought a house in Bergen County, New Jersey, for $11,000 in 1951. It was appraised at $509,000 in 2006; it's probably now worth 7-10% less than that. Adjusting for inflation (with the CPI), the change from 1951-2006:
my father's house +493% per capita GDP +218% Shiller's house
price index + 95%
And my father had a subsidized GI mortgage with an interest rate of 3%.
I'd go for a deal like that, but I don't think there's one on offer.
Doug