3 ms·

Don't hold your breath. Kind of hard to find the exact figures, but median home equity is somewhere in the range of $30-150K. (Probably per-household, so divi

Don't hold your breath. Kind of hard to find the exact figures, but median home equity is somewhere in the range of $30-150K. (Probably per-household, so divide by two?) I'm sure substantial transfers do happen, but I've never met anyone that was so lucky.

Digory 7y ago
Parents do take out equity to co-sign college loans. Or HELOC's to pay for their assisted-living. So the transfer is from boomers to doctors, banks, and schools. But I agree that in the anecdotes I hear about, kids of boomers rarely get property free-and-clear.
- killjoywashere 7y ago
  > HELOC's to pay for their assisted-living. So the transfer is from boomers to doctors Eh, I did some work for nic.org. Assisted living is a real estate game, and the market reports are identical to apartment market reports. The medical bills go to Medicare and private insurance. Doctors aren't getting rich off Granny reverse mortgaging her house. Unless said doctors own an assisted living facility, preferably in one of the 30 major MSAs. I vaguely recall Florida being particularly attractive.
  - Digory 7y ago
    True, not HELOCs. I was thinking of Medicaid spend downs there. It's been a few years since I've looked at it, but if you needed nursing home care, the typical advice was to spend down your assets in a hurry to qualify for medicaid. And in some circumstances, medicaid could put a lien on your home for post-death repayment of services.
esotericn 7y ago
The relevant figure is median home equity at retirement or potentially age of death. The overall median would include 20-30 year olds that have only a deposit, 30-40 that are still paying it off, etc. They're not handing down anything for another 20+ years.
- downerending 7y ago
  Good point. Would be interesting to know that numbers. On the flip side, people late in life can incur immense medical costs, and it's easy to zero out equity entirely in that case.

Digory 7y ago

Parents do take out equity to co-sign college loans. Or HELOC's to pay for their assisted-living. So the transfer is from boomers to doctors, banks, and schools. But I agree that in the anecdotes I hear about, kids of boomers rarely get property free-and-clear.

killjoywashere 7y ago
> HELOC's to pay for their assisted-living. So the transfer is from boomers to doctors Eh, I did some work for nic.org. Assisted living is a real estate game, and the market reports are identical to apartment market reports. The medical bills go to Medicare and private insurance. Doctors aren't getting rich off Granny reverse mortgaging her house. Unless said doctors own an assisted living facility, preferably in one of the 30 major MSAs. I vaguely recall Florida being particularly attractive.
- Digory 7y ago
  True, not HELOCs. I was thinking of Medicaid spend downs there. It's been a few years since I've looked at it, but if you needed nursing home care, the typical advice was to spend down your assets in a hurry to qualify for medicaid. And in some circumstances, medicaid could put a lien on your home for post-death repayment of services.

esotericn 7y ago

The relevant figure is median home equity at retirement or potentially age of death. The overall median would include 20-30 year olds that have only a deposit, 30-40 that are still paying it off, etc. They're not handing down anything for another 20+ years.

downerending 7y ago
Good point. Would be interesting to know that numbers. On the flip side, people late in life can incur immense medical costs, and it's easy to zero out equity entirely in that case.