Canada
Related: About this forumMillion Dollar Shack couple’s story resonates with Vancouver buyers (Globe & Mail)
Published Friday, Nov. 04, 2016 3:15PM EDT
When a Bay Area couple decided to document their unaffordable housing experience on YouTube, they didnt expect their mini-documentary to become the lightning rod for the crisis.
<snip>
One of the very common responses to our documentary is: But its Silicon Valley! People want to live there! Its always going to be like that!
We point to Vancouver, and say, well, Why is it happening there? And why is it happening in Sydney [Australia]? How are we in this situation? We cant buy a house anywhere. Its been very frustrating because I know that in previous generations post-World-War-Two at least it was expected that if you had a full-time job and you were marginally responsible, you would be able to afford something. I am Gen X, and I look at Millennials and think, Whoa, if you havent started your own successful business, and youre not a millionaire, good luck having an average life, providing school for your kids.
In the film, we see Ms. Joyce attending a viewing for a $900,000 (U.S.) townhouse that has asbestos in the ceiling and is located near a freeway. It is packed with potential buyers. In another scene, she walks around a clearly vacant house in her neighbourhood, the curtains drawn and the lawn filled with weeds.
cont'd...
link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/million-dollar-shack-couples-story-resonates-with-vancouver-buyers/article32680676/?ord=1
wcast
(595 posts)Let them work harder so they can afford to live here. Someone from Google deserves it more.
Warpy
(113,131 posts)I'd sell it, take the money and invest it. That would give me enough to live on in a depressed area of the country while I looked for a telecommuting job (and something like Google on the resume would guarantee getting one), while looking for a relative mansion to buy for a tenth as much as the crap shack sold for.
If I were renting, I'd be looking for jobs elsewhere. Far elsewhere.