I am not surprised that Millennials bought more homes than baby boomers between 2022 and 2023. According to the National Association of Realtors: Millennial buyers aged 25 to 33 years (younger millennials) and buyers aged 34 to 43 years (older millennials) make up the largest share of home buyers at 38%; older millennials at 21%, and younger millennials at 17% of the share of home buyers.
Here is a break down from the National Association of Realtors. Baby boomers sold more real estate than they bought as did the silent generation. People in the silent generation are 78 to 96 years old.
Hone buyers and sellers by generation
Baby boomers make up the largest share of sellers at 45%.
Sellers aged 69 to 77 years were most likely to downsize their home.
Today is Earth Day and it looks like we are still here on earth. Part of Earth Day 2024 is advocating for a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040, in recognition that plastics pose a danger to humans and the natural environment, as well as the future of the climate.
There is a lot of trash in the woods. Plastics are the most common but there is a lot of aluminum, glass and some fabric too.
As it gets warmer out and we spend more time outside there are numerous opportunities to pick up trash and there is plenty to pick and it is always nice to tidy up a bit. People are such pigs.
It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. Spring should start up again early next week. Expect tulips and crabapple blossoms. The spring flowering season is short, don’t miss it.
This is a kind of public service message I write each spring about agency in Minnesota.
Here are some basics: If you list your house with a real estate agent and that agent brings in an offer from a buyer that she is representing you now have dual agency which means that the agent cannot represent the buyer or the seller but instead becomes a facilitator. The agent facilitates the sale and can not do anything to the advantage of one party and the detriment of another.
What most home sellers and buyers do not understand is what a broker is. All real estate agents work under a broker. If the listing agent and the buyers agent both work for the same broker that is dual agency.
There are a couple of large real estate companies in the area that have one broker for a few thousand agents. When they list your home they will tell you all about the networking and how they will market your home to other agents. What they don’t tell you is that if one of those agents brings in a buyer those agents go from being able to advocate for their clients to being facilitators.
Homebuyers need to be aware when they go into an open house or new construction the nice agent who is showing them around is representing the seller and anything they say can be to their detriment later on. Buyers should choose an agent to work with who will work for them as an advocate and not just a facilitator.
Real estate is locally regulated and the law may be different in your state.
Most of the houses I sell are old because St. Paul has mostly old houses and that is mainly where I work. My own house is over 165 years old. I have sold new houses and new construction too.
One mistake old house buyers commonly make is to try and fix and or upgrade everything right away. That isn’t a good idea. A home buyer can end up spending too much money.
The best approach, and this advice is from a Realtor® and an old house owner is to come up with a plan. Prioritize repairs and upgrades and create a budget. Start with a big list and break it down into a 3 or 5 year plan.
Also have an emergency fund. Things wear out in any house. It helps to have funds available to replace major appliances.
It is important to keep in mind that everything doesn’t have to be fixed right away.
Owning an old house, or a historic house like mine isn’t for everyone but all houses require maintenance and periodic repairs. Most everything in a house can be upgraded.
According to the IRS: Individual taxpayers spent a total of 897 million hours in FY 2022 just on record-keeping. This is in addition to the 1.15 billion hours spent on tax preparation of individual returns. Business entities spent about 1.14 billion hours and $48.3 billion on tax preparation in FY 2022.
Tax season causes stress all year long. I’ll never forget how when my dad was 90 years old and in hospice care he told me to be sure and file his income tax return. He seemed very concerned.
The truth is that every penny of his income was reported to the IRS and he should not have had to have a tax return prepared at all.
As a business owner I pay $$$$ to have my taxes prepared. I can do them myself but found it too stressful and time consuming.
I especially remember warm sunny April weekends where I had to stay inside and work on my taxes.
I have to keep a lot of records but these days most of my record keeping is automated and I keep records as I go. It takes me about 3 hours to gather my information for the tax preparer. I mostly understand my taxes which helps me make decisions about business expenses.
I do my best to not over pay when I pay quarterly taxes because I don’t want to rely on the IRS to send me a refund. If I am due a refund I roll it over to pay first quarter taxes which are also due on April 15th.
