Jeremy, before I saw the scale I expected “overcrowded” to be a much higher number. I grew up in a family of 5 kids. With our parents in one BRM with our baby brother, we had the 4 of us in the 3 other bedrooms w/ 2.5 bathrooms and 2 of us always shared a bedroom at some point until the older 2 went to college. Our neighbors had 7 kids and 2 adults in a smaller 3 BRM 2 bathroom house across the street. My best friend had 10 kids and 2 parents in a 4 BRM 2.5 bathroom house, and the basement was turned into big dorm room her 4 brothers shared, and the girls all shared the other bedrooms. My grandmother was one of 11! The nuclear / smaller families with 2.5 as the average per home is a relatively modern norm. Just some perspectives I always enjoy interrogating your maps. Yes, at times it was somewhat crowded, but we also would not trade growing up with our big, loud, loving family. 🫂
I’ll admit I expected the same thing too. Most of my experiences in these communities shows much higher rates of overcrowding. But I think the underestimation is likely because people don’t always want to report and a lot of this is immigrant families who don’t want to share either
Many seniors continue to live in large homes and refuse to downsize because they don't want to pay capital gains tax, which is not an actual gain but rather cumulative inflation over time. A $250K or $500K capital gains exclusion--idiocy since only one home is involved in either case--may suffice in some areas but not in many others. The cure is simple: revert to the prior law which obtained for most of my lifetime that sale of a primary residence is not a taxable event if the homeowner purchases another primary home of equal or greater value within 18 months. As matters stand, I live in a 1500 SF 4-bedroom apartment as a single person and I have zero intention of selling.
Yes, as indicated in my original comment: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701 But this is wholly insufficient in places like NYC and CA for seniors who have owned their home for years. And then if they did downsize and repurchase something smaller they would almost undoubtedly be subject to a "mansion tax" which can apply even to 1-bedroom or even studio market-rate apartments in many locales, which is a complete absurdity; no 1-bedroom apartment no matter how well appointed can ever be considered anything like a mansion. The essence of this subject/conundrum is taxation; it's taxes all the way down.
Yeah definitely true - and I think further enforces the point that we need better place-based policies that respond to some of these different local structures (like how expensive housing is in NY and CA is as you mention)
I find the topic of 'home', how it functions and what it means to different people rather interesting generally, so thanks for shining a light in to this dark corner. For what it's worth I'll just offer up a couple of anecdotal observations from my Gen X UK base. Lots of folks have spare bedrooms, whilst other domestic situations host adult children - as someone who fledged the nest as soon as I could I find this especially interesting. There appears to be a dearth of small or even super small homes available on the market for the expanding demographic of folks who live alone ?
I wonder how the Boomer cultural trend of "age in place" would negate the benefits of a tax credit for moving. My parents are investing heavily in their four-bedroom home to age in place instead of considering downsizing because they love their home. Is house culture similar between the US and Australia?
I’m confused- I understand how home overcrowding can happen in a high density area like San Francisco or NY- but the worst places cited are rural, low population areas. Why is there a shortage of homes with enough space? Are people in these areas renting? In the exurban area I live in there aren’t many rentals- in a place like South Dakota are people renting? I would assume that property is mostly passed down through families since it isn’t a popular area to move to. In these low population areas why is it difficult to simply add on to the structure? Yes I understand codes and inspections but around me this is very much ignored and people generally get away with it- I would guess that the fly-over-states would be as lax about this as southern states.
Many of the people in these rural areas don’t have enough money to live by themselves so they room with others to make rent more affordable. There’s also a housing shortage in these areas because developers don’t want to build in these remote areas (not worth their time). Houses are passed down to some degree, but if you have multiple children that doesn’t get you far. So yes there is space to build, but not enough money on either side of the equation for it
if I missed it, I beg your pardon. But I think you should note that boomers who live in houses with more bedrooms than people can’t downsize although Manny would like to. If you want to avoid an HOA, which common sense tells you you should, that definitely narrows down the possibilities.
Love the title !!
Jeremy, before I saw the scale I expected “overcrowded” to be a much higher number. I grew up in a family of 5 kids. With our parents in one BRM with our baby brother, we had the 4 of us in the 3 other bedrooms w/ 2.5 bathrooms and 2 of us always shared a bedroom at some point until the older 2 went to college. Our neighbors had 7 kids and 2 adults in a smaller 3 BRM 2 bathroom house across the street. My best friend had 10 kids and 2 parents in a 4 BRM 2.5 bathroom house, and the basement was turned into big dorm room her 4 brothers shared, and the girls all shared the other bedrooms. My grandmother was one of 11! The nuclear / smaller families with 2.5 as the average per home is a relatively modern norm. Just some perspectives I always enjoy interrogating your maps. Yes, at times it was somewhat crowded, but we also would not trade growing up with our big, loud, loving family. 🫂
I’ll admit I expected the same thing too. Most of my experiences in these communities shows much higher rates of overcrowding. But I think the underestimation is likely because people don’t always want to report and a lot of this is immigrant families who don’t want to share either
Makes sense, given the current situation.
Many seniors continue to live in large homes and refuse to downsize because they don't want to pay capital gains tax, which is not an actual gain but rather cumulative inflation over time. A $250K or $500K capital gains exclusion--idiocy since only one home is involved in either case--may suffice in some areas but not in many others. The cure is simple: revert to the prior law which obtained for most of my lifetime that sale of a primary residence is not a taxable event if the homeowner purchases another primary home of equal or greater value within 18 months. As matters stand, I live in a 1500 SF 4-bedroom apartment as a single person and I have zero intention of selling.
I think section 121 still exists right?
Yes, as indicated in my original comment: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701 But this is wholly insufficient in places like NYC and CA for seniors who have owned their home for years. And then if they did downsize and repurchase something smaller they would almost undoubtedly be subject to a "mansion tax" which can apply even to 1-bedroom or even studio market-rate apartments in many locales, which is a complete absurdity; no 1-bedroom apartment no matter how well appointed can ever be considered anything like a mansion. The essence of this subject/conundrum is taxation; it's taxes all the way down.
Yeah definitely true - and I think further enforces the point that we need better place-based policies that respond to some of these different local structures (like how expensive housing is in NY and CA is as you mention)
I find the topic of 'home', how it functions and what it means to different people rather interesting generally, so thanks for shining a light in to this dark corner. For what it's worth I'll just offer up a couple of anecdotal observations from my Gen X UK base. Lots of folks have spare bedrooms, whilst other domestic situations host adult children - as someone who fledged the nest as soon as I could I find this especially interesting. There appears to be a dearth of small or even super small homes available on the market for the expanding demographic of folks who live alone ?
I wonder how the Boomer cultural trend of "age in place" would negate the benefits of a tax credit for moving. My parents are investing heavily in their four-bedroom home to age in place instead of considering downsizing because they love their home. Is house culture similar between the US and Australia?
I’m confused- I understand how home overcrowding can happen in a high density area like San Francisco or NY- but the worst places cited are rural, low population areas. Why is there a shortage of homes with enough space? Are people in these areas renting? In the exurban area I live in there aren’t many rentals- in a place like South Dakota are people renting? I would assume that property is mostly passed down through families since it isn’t a popular area to move to. In these low population areas why is it difficult to simply add on to the structure? Yes I understand codes and inspections but around me this is very much ignored and people generally get away with it- I would guess that the fly-over-states would be as lax about this as southern states.
Many of the people in these rural areas don’t have enough money to live by themselves so they room with others to make rent more affordable. There’s also a housing shortage in these areas because developers don’t want to build in these remote areas (not worth their time). Houses are passed down to some degree, but if you have multiple children that doesn’t get you far. So yes there is space to build, but not enough money on either side of the equation for it
if I missed it, I beg your pardon. But I think you should note that boomers who live in houses with more bedrooms than people can’t downsize although Manny would like to. If you want to avoid an HOA, which common sense tells you you should, that definitely narrows down the possibilities.