The house you grew up in...

**nuisance26** · 08-15-2008, 08:21 AM

~I've been pondering how it seems to take so much longer for my generation to get ahead and a big roadblock is housing inflation. So just for comparison can we discuss the homes we grew up in?

When did your parents buy it?

How much was the purchase price?

What was their income at the time?
~

**nuisance26** · 08-15-2008, 08:27 AM

When did your parents buy it? 1984(mine) and 1979(DH)-and 2000 for us

How much was the purchase price? $10K and $30K-and ours was $75K

What was their income at the time? My parents' house price was less than half of my dad's yearly income. DH's parents paid a bit more than their annual income on their home. Both places were about 1000 sq ft. The house DH and I bought was 2.5 X DH's salary at the time and is 800sq ft.

**Neeley** · 08-15-2008, 08:39 AM

When did your parents buy it?1979 - I was about to turn 6 years old.

How much was the purchase price?$80,000/3 BR-2B/3000 sq ft. My parents paid for it in cash, in full at closing. They never carried a mortgage on it. The builder gave them a $10K discount since they paid in cash.

What was their income at the time?My dad had lost his arms in an on the job accident a couple of years before. He was 25 and fully retired when they built it. He had received a substantial settlement from his former employer as a result of the accident. He also received Social Security check and an annuity check every month. My mom was making around $20k in the medical field. I received a social security check every month for $350 in my parents' name. Although, that money was put directly into a savings account for me and not spent. My mom also was issued a monthly check as a part of the settlement.

**justpeachy92** · 08-15-2008, 09:01 AM

The house I grew up was purchased by my stepmom prior to her marrying my dad. I was 8 when they got married and we moved into her house. I don't know what the price was, but know there was 25 years on the mortgage and my dad paid it off in 10. After they were married she didn't work. When they were married my dad made around $6/hour, when he left that job 25 years later he was up to $15/hour.

**quiltingmommy** · 08-15-2008, 09:03 AM

Well, the house I grew up in was the same house my Dad grew up in.

His parents bought it in 1928 for $1 in back taxes.

It was a cape cod style with 4 bedrooms, parlor, dining room, kitchen 1 bathroom. Shed and shed porch attached. Over the years we made the shed and shed porch actual rooms that housed the washer/dryer, another bathroom with a shower and another bedroom. There were 9 people living in the house back when there was only 1 bathroom. We had to line up on the radiator to wait our turn.

I don't know what their income was at the time.

My parents married in 1949 and were planning on moving to Alaska (my dad was an engineer) but my pepere died 3 weeks after my parents married and my dad didn't want to leave his mother alone since there were no other children, and memere did not want to move to alaska. so my parents lived with memere.

Additionally, my mom and memere had war bonds and bought property on a lake in NH. My dad designed the 'camp' and my parents built it. They never had a mortgage to pay ever.

DH parents owned a row house in Philly then bought a house in Levittown PA. I'm not sure what they paid...I know it wasn't much. Then they were transferred to AZ, then NH in 1986 (?). MIL never worked so they probably paid about 2x my FIL salary.

**quiltingmommy** · 08-15-2008, 09:05 AM

Oh, and my mothers grandmother was the 'chief cook and bottle washer' for my dad's parents and lived in the house until she passed away. I actually grew up in the same bedroom she occupied! My parents met because she cooked/cleaned for them.

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 08-15-2008, 09:13 AM

Folks purchased the 2 story 3 bedroom 2 bath livingroom, kitchen, family room 2 car garage in 1964 for $17,000.00. The company helped Dad get the house in Clearwater and moved us from Milwaukee. Since Dad was transfering from a Union plant to a non-union plant the company helped out in many ways. My Dad's main jobs were secert cold war contracts so I have no idea what he was making either at the plant or money wise. But the plant is no no longer in business and has become a government cleanup site. The family joke is he glows in the dark.
My folks still live in that house which my sister paid off when she came into a huge chunk of money years ago. Sis also lives there now along with her 18 year old daughter. We all live within an hour of the house and are home often. Christmas eve is still held in the same livingroom and birthdays celebrated on the back porch.

Laurie in Bradenton

**DJ1972** · 08-15-2008, 09:26 AM

My parents never owned a home. I think my mom was part gypsy. She loved to rent because she loved to move. I tried to count how many houses I lived in growing up, I stopped at 25. My mom loved to move her furniture into different positions as she never felt the house was clean unless everything was moved and cleaned under......so Dad always said, "when the furniture has been in all possible positions I know to start packing." Dad passed away when I was 13, but we still moved a few more times after that. I don't know how she found so many houses to move into in such a small town LOL.

**mom2matty** · 08-15-2008, 09:33 AM

I'm not 100% sure on this since it was a long time ago, the first house I remember.....

-bought in 1965 (I was 3 and Dad had just retired from the Army)

-paid.....I think I remember him saying it was $17K......it was a single story, 3 bdr, 1 bath brick home in NE Kansas.

-their income........good question and I'm not sure but I will ask my Mom when I talk to her this weekend!! I do know that Dad went right to the police force when he retired and my Mom was a waitress working full time as well.

**Michelle** · 08-15-2008, 09:45 AM

In 1970 my parents bought a 3 BR, 1 bath ranch house in MA for $22K. I have no idea what their income was at the time.

We moved in 1979 to a different part of MA, and I don't know how much they paid for that house.

**Momto2Boyz** · 08-15-2008, 09:52 AM

My parents bought their original house (the one I grew up in) in the mid-70's for about 30K. I have no idea what their income was at the time. They turned around in '92 and sold it for $180K...nice little profit there!

We researched houses forever before we bought ours. We bought ours in early 2003. The house was in the beginning stages of forclosure due to a divorce...he left her with the house payments, etc. She couldn't afford it and was happy to sell it to us, just to get out of what was left on her mortgage. So we lucked out (actually, it was smart purchasing...not luck) and got a house valued at $160K for around $80K. Our friends cringe when they hear that our mortgage and escrowed property taxes are under $700! But it took us almost 5 years of renting and looking at properties to find the right house at a good deal!

**jas** · 08-15-2008, 09:54 AM

Neat thread!

My dad was military and retired the year I was born 1961, They bought a home for 13,000 in Kenosha Wisconsin. It was one story, 3 bed, 1 bath, kitchen and livingroom with a basement. (1000sqft)

They finished the basement, added a garage and a family room in the 12 years we lived in it.

I don't know what by dad was making, He got one pension and was working Civil Service for the Navy. My mom didn't work.

When my dad retired and we moved to Florida in 1976 they bought their second home for 32,000 the payments were $267.00 a month. (1200 sqft) 1 car garage

My husband and I bought our first place in1993 a one story ranch 3bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage for 65,000 it was about 2x my dh salary.

The house we live in now my dad bought after my mom died for 79,000 he lived in it for about 10 years and we bought it from him (he was 80 and stayed with us till his death at 82) He sold it to us for 80,000, It needed alot of work. We have put about another 40,000 into it. It is probabaly worth (hopefully 180,000)

**stinkbug** · 08-15-2008, 10:12 AM

My dad built our house in 1962 when I was 3. (he was 28, mom was 25) They married at 19 and 16 and I have an older sister and brother. He worked full time (electrician) and built on it in the evenings/weekends. Took him 9 months and we moved in right before Christmas. It is a large rambler with a full basement on an acre. The bank loan was for 16,000 on 20 year mortgage. They have been married 55 years in Sept. and still live there. I have no idea how much dad was making at the time (mom never worked) but I do know he usually worked his regular job plus several others....my dad is the most awesome man I have ever known!!! A lot of men today could learn a lot if they modeled their work ethic after my father! He *retired* last year @ 74 from his business....my brother runs the family business now. My grandfather started it in 1936. I should mention, my dad was born with two clubbed feet, (so was my brother) and then had polio as a child. And, had two major accidents that damaged his legs.....he limps, but I've never heard him ever complain about any of it..

**Jayne** · 08-15-2008, 10:29 AM

Dad and Mom bought their first and only home in 1963
They paid a whopping 2,500.00 for it!!!
Dad worked for Packard Electric in Warren Ohio and I know he made less than 100.00 a week..Mom was a sahm,
It is a very small cape cod style home and dad pretty much rebuilt the whole inside.
When they both passed, myself an my 4 sisters gave the house to our brother..he still lives there!!
You can raise three children in a house with only three bedrooms and one very small bath!!!

**Mo-BayMom** · 08-15-2008, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by quiltingmommy

Oh, and my mothers grandmother was the 'chief cook and bottle washer' for my dad's parents and lived in the house until she passed away. I actually grew up in the same bedroom she occupied! My parents met because she cooked/cleaned for them.

LOL I laughed right out loud when I read " chief cook and bottle washer' I've never heard anyone off the island use that expression before.