[Aces4]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

It’s astonishing that people manage to live in some of those expensive places and have normal jobs. It’s also interesting, though, that 5ere are many cities where it is much cheaper to live, such as Atlanta, Columbus, Buffalo, St. Louis, Kansas City. There are also hundreds or perhaps thousands of small towns across the country where a decent three bedroom house costs a quarter of what one costs in The Villages. The expensive cities on the list are far higher than housing here, of course.

I’m only here because my retirement savings mutual funds zoomed up in 2016 and are now the highest they have ever been. That lets me afford a courtyard villa comfortably. People without that sort of nest egg would be wise to buy where they can afford it.

A huge aspect of this is higher mortgage rates of interest. I paid 3.5% when I bought here. At the current rate, I couldn’t have managed it. Those rates will go down soon, I think, and all these numbers will change.

It helps if people stop assuming they need bigger, fancier houses. The difference in quality of construction and quality of living between a home in The Villages that costs $300,000 and one that costs $600,000 is miniscule. Installing quartz countertops or crown molding would not make me all that much happier. In much of the country, people figure they need homes with 2,500 square feet, or 3,500. They would be wiser to aim at 1,500 square feet for their family and put 15% of their income into mutual funds every month.

I totally agree with your statement about reasonable sq footage and the huge barns out there now.

However, interest rates for lending are normal and healthy at between 5% and 8%. Money was never meant to be free for loans and that’s essentially what it’s been with recent manipulations. The real issue is the costs and how everything for owning a home has gone through the roof. There is also unplanned pressure on available housing.