Hacker News Reader

Comment by sema4hacker | Hacker News Reader

In 1960 my parents bought a brand-new 3 bedroom 1.5 bath in Seaside California for just under $16,000, with no significant savings. He was an Army sergeant and she was a housewife and I had one sister. I doubt anyone in their situation could find a similar deal and location and pull that off today.

View on HN

Conversely, someone with my skin color would not have been allowed to buy that house in much of Monterrey County back in 1960.

Heck, most older houses across CA still have redlined contracts from that era included in the buying history.

"A Raisin in the Sun" was the reality barely 4-5 decades ago.

Interesting that you assume I'm not a minority. Black home ownership was 38% in 1960, and maybe even higher in Seaside, because a lot of Black GI's were based in adjacent Fort Ord.

People can build houses with the same characteristics of the 1970s and would likely be able to afford them. But people want modern sizes with all the appliances and nice kitchens, two car garages and whatnot.

lot of regulations nowadays prevent you from building anything else

> People can build houses with the same characteristics of the 1970s and would likely be able to afford them

No?

Bungalows built in 1970s are selling $500k CAD in Montreal's suburbs today.

> But people want modern sizes with all the appliances and nice kitchens, two car garages and whatnot.

Probably they 'want' but very few percentage wise live in such houses, at least in Canada.

Sure. But that's due to low unit build + immigration creating demand combined with builders mainly building 2500 sq ft houses. Back in the 70s it would have been 1,500 sq ft. But also people want amenities like central air, game rooms, big kitchens, etc. It's like making sedans vs SUVs. MFGs make money on S/CUVs and larger houses. Small units don't have the same unit profit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com