Boomers are not moving out of their big homes, here’s why | CNN Business
www.cnn.com
After 33 years and four children, Baby Boomers Marta and Octavian Dragos say they feel trapped in what was once their dream home in El Cerrito, California.

After 33 years and four children, Baby Boomers Marta and Octavian Dragos say they feel trapped in what was once their dream home in El Cerrito, California.

Both over 70, the Dragos are empty nesters, and like many of their generation, they’re trying to figure out how to downsize from their 3,000-square-foot, five-bedroom home.

“We are here in a huge house with no family nearby, trying to make a wise decision, both financially and for our well-being,” said Dragos, a retired teacher.

But selling and downsizing isn’t easy, appealing or even financially advantageous for many homeowners like the Dragos family.

Many Boomers whose homes have surged in value now face massive capital gains tax bills when they sell. This is a kind of tax on the profit you make when selling an investment or an asset, like a home, that has increased in value.

Plus, smaller homes or apartments in the neighborhoods they’ve come to love are rare. And with current prices and mortgage rates so high, there is often a negligible cost difference between their current home and a smaller one.

  • betheydocrime@lemmy.world
    102·
    9 months ago

    The reason they’ve earned some frustration is not because they bought a house in SoCal the 90s. The reason they’ve earned some frustration is because after living in a house in SoCal for 33 years and raising four children in it, they felt like they wouldn’t earn “enough” money from reselling it. This feeling of entitlement was so strong that they complained to an international news corporation about it.

    Even if they didn’t create the unjust system, they clearly benefit from it and will do whatever it takes to get what they consider to be their piece of the pie. They want the real estate system to work as designed-- because how else would they get their money?

    The thing that really gets me is that one of them is a retired teacher. He dedicated his life to helping young people. He’s got to be educated enough to do some self-reflection. But this mindset that he has about real estate and profit is destroying the world for the same exact people he’s worked so hard to help.