Where are the baby boomers going?
“Baby Boomers, stop hog-holding the house. Millennials can’t win with post-child-rearing generations making up a third of the market,” Dallas Cottram, Sunday Opinion.
Cottram is spot on about the Baby Boomers dominating housing, but not enough: We are an active, retired couple with two dogs living in a large 4 bedroom, 4 bath home with a pool and large yard. Our home is in a great location, near a creek with walking paths, near shopping, near the library, in a safe neighborhood, and with easy freeway access to the theater and symphony.
Our neighborhood is stable with few rentals. The school district is great and our home is perfect for our family, which is why we bought it years ago. But we have no plans to move. The house is paid off and the taxes are incredibly low, so it costs us very little, except for maintenance and home insurance.
We would like to relocate to a smaller property that is easier to manage, but we just can’t find a smaller property in the same great location. Build us a smaller home in a great location, close to shopping and entertainment, in a safe neighborhood, most of the units are owner-owned, dog friendly, and we would move in a heartbeat. The demand is there, but property planners are not keeping up with the wants and needs of retired baby boomers.
Georgia Surfling, Plano
I can’t afford to move
Cottram’s opinion piece is highly critical of baby boomers for continuing to own homes after they have had their children and not letting younger generations buy: As a baby boomer who owns homes after they have had their children, I’ll give you the opinion: The reason we haven’t moved to smaller homes is because we can’t afford it.
All the new homes being built seem to be Mackenzie mansions. There don’t seem to be any new smaller homes. Why? Is it because developers want more money so they build bigger homes? Is it because the land is too expensive and they only build 2 story homes very close to the property line?
I wish I could achieve the wealth of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and build the kind of houses Fox & Jacobs used to build, smaller homes with one story and one to three bedrooms, so that first-time home buyers could start out in a smaller home and then move up to a bigger one as their family grows.
It also allows older homeowners to downsize without compromising on their multi-million dollar homes, continue to live where they work, have access to more advanced healthcare facilities and avoid leaving huge debts for their children.
Sheila Swenholt, East Plano
Happy Travels to Burns
“83-year-old steps 1 million steps in Spain, big goal” by Scott Burns, from the Sunday Business column.
Buen Camino,Scott. Ultrea!
Keith Jones, Dallas/Knox Henderson
Names Have Meaning
Regarding the Sunday news article “The Story of a Street Name on a Long and Winding Road.”
The street name “Bong” may not have referred to marijuana as the story implies; use of the slang term probably did not begin until the 1960s. The name perhaps commemorates Major Richard Bong, an American WWII fighter pilot ace and Medal of Honor recipient.
Peter Haskell, Lewes, Delaware
The NFL and NBA need minor leagues
“College sports are in decline — shifting players coached by shifting coaches at shifting schools in shifting conferences,” by Robert Hall, Saturday Opinion.
I agree with most of what Hall says, and I think I have a solution: the NFL and NBA should create minor leagues, which would help soak up players who would rather just be athletes than student-athletes.
Currently, high school football players who want to go professional have no choice but to sign with a university. Minor leagues (similar to baseball’s AAA or hockey’s AHL) allow players to get great instruction and game experience, and if their talent and experience is recognized, they can move up to the NFL. College play is still an option for dedicated students, as is basketball.
If more top players were to choose fully professional, paid positions on teams rather than semi-pro college teams, the college game would become less important in American sports and the problems Hall cited could go away.
Paul Bradburn, Dallas
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