3 ms·

It's more than just stubborness. 1) As others have mentioned, many people look forward to paying off their mortgage and gaining an instant monthly cash benefit

It's more than just stubborness. 1) As others have mentioned, many people look forward to paying off their mortgage and gaining an instant monthly cash benefit from that. 2) Those who sell into an up market will probably have to buy into an up market. This causes problems with more than just money -- imagine a situation where a seller is a week from closing their house without a contract on a new house. They've become a landlord's wet dream. 3) Property tax relief for older people isn't just an expression of political might / parasitism -- it's a reasonable accommodation to the reality of fixed incomes. But we might have some opportunities here. Maybe more building designed for older people might break the housing logjam. 1) Older people, retirees more accurately, don't NEED to live close to jobs. Close to hospitals, maybe, or family, but not jobs. 2) Older people probably don't drive as much, so the need to upgrade road capacity isn't as pressing. 3) Older people frequently have needs that require extensive rework of their current homes.

richardknop 9y ago
Why would old people voluntarily move out of their nice old houses and move to some remote lower quality house?
- squozzer 9y ago
  Excellent question. The product would have to be compelling to entice older people to move. And generally speaking, what we have come to know as "the projects" have a reputation for as petri dishes for crime and other social ills. I'm guessing a "project" inhabited with older people might avoid that stigma. Moreover, it might thwart the NIMBYs who protest every proposed development in ways that ordinary projects wouldn't (what, you don't like old people??? AARP, aux barracades!) So at least it stands a better chance of being built. Not claiming that personal experience is data, but I live in a neighboorhood that emails everyone every time city hall has a proposed project on their docket. And those who show up voice the usual objections - traffic, other infrastructure concerns, "quality of life" issues -- essentially telling potential newcomers to move somewhere else. Having said all that, I myself am a couple of decades from official retirement age, but my GF and I wanted to move to a house that had no stairs. Talk about a housing shortage! That requirement alone filtered out about 90% of the available housing in my target area. So there might be an opportunity, though what form it would take, who knows?

richardknop 9y ago

Why would old people voluntarily move out of their nice old houses and move to some remote lower quality house?

squozzer 9y ago
Excellent question. The product would have to be compelling to entice older people to move. And generally speaking, what we have come to know as "the projects" have a reputation for as petri dishes for crime and other social ills. I'm guessing a "project" inhabited with older people might avoid that stigma. Moreover, it might thwart the NIMBYs who protest every proposed development in ways that ordinary projects wouldn't (what, you don't like old people??? AARP, aux barracades!) So at least it stands a better chance of being built. Not claiming that personal experience is data, but I live in a neighboorhood that emails everyone every time city hall has a proposed project on their docket. And those who show up voice the usual objections - traffic, other infrastructure concerns, "quality of life" issues -- essentially telling potential newcomers to move somewhere else. Having said all that, I myself am a couple of decades from official retirement age, but my GF and I wanted to move to a house that had no stairs. Talk about a housing shortage! That requirement alone filtered out about 90% of the available housing in my target area. So there might be an opportunity, though what form it would take, who knows?