A Boring Dystopia

Ok but let’s stop blaming people for buying places to live and recognize that a larger problem is corporations buying properties by the dozens and using them as sky-high rentals or just a place to park money.

I don't get it.

I understand the current housing market is messed up, but parents helping their kids putting a down payment for their house is dystopic "nepotism" now? Wouldn't you help your loved ones if you have the means to do so even if you are not super rich?

Would it have been better if they told their kids to pick themselves up by their own bootstrap and get a 30 year loan from big banks instead?

I hate this term ... giving your kids money to help them start out on their own isn't nepotism, it's parenting.

Nepotism is when you violate a responsibility you have to a third party (e.g., your employer) to act impartially in their interests, in order to benefit your family.

Is the idea that parents should donate their money equally to everyone's kids? This makes no sense.

You don't even need to have super rich parents. My mother helped me get my first home with 15K that she saved throughout the years. (I paid her back).

That was just enough for my down payment. Without that I couldn't have gotten the house.

God, if only people could just like pool their resources together to build homes or something...

We could even call it something like "social housing," and have it be a publically regulated service instead of treating housing as some sort of game of investment for the wealthy? No no, totally impossible...

And again, the corporate media is blaming anyone but real estate companies and market speculators.

That's not nepotism. Nepotism would be some land baron giving land to his kids, or a city official changing zoning to allow their family member to build something otherwise restricted.

What a clickbait title. How is giving your kids money "nepotism" ?

Don't worry, I was trying to buy a house with my parents this past year. Even if they sold their current house to help, we couldn't afford what we'd need (3 bed 2 bath) since they don't have a ton of savings and only one of them is working still.

So even with help, some of us are still too poor.

I got 20K from my parents for my down payment when I was 45 and they still had to co-sign for me to get approved. No way in hell I could have gotten the house without them.

I'll definitely be buying my children houses, with all that tons of spare money I have around. Piles of it. Yep. Sooooo much money

Seriously, who are these people that can fork out $100k to each child? I don't even have retirement savings, and I'll die on the job, with any luck! #genx

Shit. I was in my 40s and it took a generous gift from my parents to buy my first house

There are home buyers under 30? Shit I can barely afford to eat.

Almost reads like the author is fucking mad other people have rich parents who have the brains to help the very humans they created and brought into this life.

Well I’m pretty mad that I’ll never be able to afford a house, despite having a good solid job. My parents aren’t rich, so they can’t help me. And while I’m not mad at them for not being able to help, I am mad that all other things being equal that puts me at a disadvantage.

Here’s a hypothetical scenario: Let’s say I make $60K a year, am single, with significant student debt. Let’s also say because of the pandemic payment pause, maybe I was able to save, like $5K, and I want to buy a house. Not gonna happen. Now take all the same things but add in well-off parents who could help with a down payment. That hypothetical person gets a house. They have a definite advantage. To me, that’s not just unfair, it perpetuates a system of wealth transfer that only helps part of the population. Everyone should have the same opportunity to own a home, if they want to.

Helping kids with their down payment isn't exactly some new thing.

Only 40%? That seems....not true.

My wife and I had enough for a down-payment but my parents leaning me $10k at a lower rate was helpful, vitally getting rid of the PMI quicker.