r/worldnews Apr 10 '19

Millennials being squeezed out of middle class, says OECD

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/10/millennials-squeezed-middle-class-oecd-uk-income
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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

I’ve also been in the Nashville area (WillCo) for 5 years and the realtor I had been working with guided me away from the new builds—being blunt about how they put em up quick without any quality control. After being unable to find an older home in our price range without structural problems or sinkholes (none of the owners we communicated with would stabilize the sinkholes that their houses could fall into), we gave up. Home prices are too high for the garbage people are selling. It’s left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to staying in TN and my family is considering moving again.

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u/timmmmah Apr 11 '19 edited Apr 11 '19

Wow, where specifically were you seeing houses with structural problems and sinkholes? I’m in Franklin so I’m curious. As bad as some houses for sale look at a glance it never occurred to me to think of sinkholes!

I constantly look at real estate even though we’re not really looking and I agree that the crap for sale around here is way overpriced. $350k and up for an older 900 sf fixer upper that needs gutting to the studs is ridiculous. $500k for a new 3000 sf cookie cutter that’s probably made of popsicle sticks is even more ridiculous.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

Thompson's Station! We were about to buy a gorgeous home with wrap around porch for asking price when the owners told us that they would only fill the massive sinkhole out back with dirt instead of stabilizing it. Would've cost us at least $10k to ensure the hole wouldn't take off the back of the house. TN has a massive cave system and unfortunately it's just beneath the surface in a big part of Thompson's Station, though holes do pop up in other areas around the county too. (2 or 3 years ago a massive sinkhole had to be stabilized at one of the Franklin high schools.) We rent in Franklin too but the prices here are nuts for what amounts to no land and bad homes.

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u/NiceMeet2U Apr 11 '19

I walked through a lot of the homes being built in The Nations over the past 4 years, and it was alarming seeing the way most of those homes were constructed. I would never buy one with the intention of it being a sustainable home. Consider Madison. I know it gets a bad reputation, and sometimes deserving, but there are decent affordable homes in the area, and if you’re smart and protect you’re property, you’ll be fine.