Housing Market's Black Hole

I continue to hear about the shadow market of foreclosures in the housing market. However, no one discusses the aging population and the housing market. I am.

Let’s face that we all have to die sometime. Yes, I know that most of us will spend some time in a care facility first. Before that we have to live somewhere.

At the end of 2010 the estimate was 40 million on Medicare. Therefore we have approximately 40 million that are now 66 and over since it has been one year. There are approximately 78 million in the Baby Boom. We are the generation born between 1946 and 1963 (some count into 1964 to handle the school year, etc). To government horror we have sent over 3 million onto Medicare this year.

You are asking what this has to do with housing. Stop and think. How many of these over 65 do you know that still live in their homes? How many of these are 1 person is living in that home? What happens when that person finally dies or goes to a nursing home? How many “boomers” have a home and are the sole owner? How many “boomers” are now “empty nesters”? Take a look at your family, neighborhood, friends and colleagues.

My neighborhood is a good study. There are a number of us that are the sole owners of these houses. When I go (I prefer that term or passed on, sort of like “went long, did not come back”), I doubt that my brother and sister will wait for a high price since my home is paid for. Also they are not going to want the hassle of checking on it. It is not worth that.

Some are sole owner and have mortgages or money on Home Equity Loans (HELOCS). Those may just default depending on the estate and where the heirs are located. Realize that heirs may not be able to check on the properties and may have to get out quickly.

Homes are on the market for various reasons. One or two are in foreclosure. The couple in one died and the son is trying to sell it. Another home owner has been injured and needs to move closer to family. Some have had to move for jobs. One is moving to granny’s home and selling this one.

Some start out trying to sale. Then they try to sale or rent. Some just go straight to the rent option.

About 2 years ago, 4 houses had senior couples living in them. Now they have widows.

I know of one home taking care of an illness. There are probably more.

How many of these people own timeshares or vacation homes? What will happen to those?

I do not think that anyone has the statistics on all of this. Most cities and counties get money from property taxes but they do not keep up with the age of the owners or who lives there. This could be scary for future budgets.

I am currently reading the “Black Swan”. Maybe this problem in the housing market is the next one. I think this is the true shadow over the housing market. I do not think that anyone can estimate it. It should be very interesting over the next few years.

Touring High Point University

This week I had the opportunity to attend an event at High Point University. My main goal was to hear Dr. Nido Qubein who is the President of the University. We also had a tour of the campus before lunch. Since then I have begun realizing lessons that I learned from the event.

If you are putting your name on something, budget for the maintenance of it. If people want to put your name on something, find out how it will be maintained. During the presentation we had seen pictures of old buildings that have now been replaced. They also have new names. During the tour, one cannot help but notice that they are maintained. I could not help but think that the name on the previous building meant old, dilapidated, unclean, and/or eyesore. Some way to be remembered! I am sure that is not what someone had in mind when they first gave the money for the building.

Remove bad distractions. The tour showed a clean campus. One does not have to dodge trash when walking on the sidewalks. Security guards were at each entrance. They were more like greeters but with uniforms and the nice fence and gates gave a feeling of security when driving onto the campus.

Be polite and assist others. Students hold open doors for visitors. They say “excuse me”. I walked back from lunch to the student center instead of using the shuttle. One student stopped his car for me to cross. How often do you see that?

Keep your focus. I was there to listen and learn. I cleared the day to just be for this event. I am still listing what I learned. I am glad of the lesson that I learned some years ago. Unless the item is life or death, it can wait or I am a slave to it. It is not a nice thought but it is real.

How many of us are spending time trying to handle something that we do not need to be handling? This campus is working to remove those distractions for the students, parents and faculty. Maybe that is the main lesson we all need to work on as the new year approaches.