Boomers, Clueless and Wondering
Chuck Ponzi February 13th, 2007
Just such a post from the ActiveRain blog shows how clueless many Boomers are about Xer’s interests, or for that matter, even who they are. This was stated by “The Harper Team” associate who blithely posted a blog entry with the original title that appeared to be XXX Adult Market until he/she realized that it perhaps would attract the wrong kind of internet crowd… OK, if you don’t find that funny, you probably won’t find this cluelessness funny either:Everyday over at The Harper Team, we are interacting with more and more young people looking for their first home. I happened upon a post from The New York Times has a post Young Buyers, Prepared and Fearless and it got me thinking again about Gen X.
This is a great read to help us understand the mind set of Gen X buyers entering into the housing market. These young buyers are not afraid of carrying more debt (they’ve never been through hard times) and they come prepared with a great deal of online research to support their purchase offer.
It’s funny how most Gen X posts I read always originate from a baby boomer who’s read some book or article on the subject, … often written by another baby boomer.
I have worked with Gen-X in the last year, and I can tell you that none of them were fearless about loans. In fact quite the opposite. I think that a lot of young people are still very conservative and conscientious about their mortgage. Where this generalized notion of fearlessness comes from is unknown to me.
“Never been though hard times”
What sort of bullshit is that? Pretty much every GenXer I know believes the overwhelming majority of us will be working until the day we die trying to pay off the soon to be bankrupt social security system, and shameful national debt.
Good job baby boomers overbuilding 55+ condos like confetti in Times Square on New Years eve. You don’t seriously think they will retain value once you guys start kicking the bucket do you?
I wonder who will have to clean up the mess you guys make?
…oh yeah…
Gen X will.
The funniest part of that whole interchange was that the Boomers hadn’t at all realized that they should have been talking about GenY all along, not GenX. The New York Times article was talking about early 20 somethings. Xers are now making their way through the 30’s and 40’s.I seem to have an insatiable appetite for anecdotal housing bust stories. I simply never get tired of reading about the mistakes others have made and the miserable situations they are in. If they are in denial about the trainwreck they are on it doesn’t really diminish my enjoyment of the event. If anything it just heightens the anticipation.
I don’t care for either side in this story. The “lets get a second home on the lake as a weekend house”, child-like, tantrum having, baby boomers or the backstabbing, jilted, snakeoil selling real estate family. I hope we keep getting updates as this mess unwinds further.
Oh man, this one was too funny…especially that post from the Mish Blog. I remember reading that when he wrote it originally.
Now back to SubPrime Shitstorm…
Did someone mention marketing to Gen X?
Are your clients coming to you armed with more product information than you or your sales team know?
Bark!
The early wave of Xers (myself among them) spent their childhoods under the cloud of the ’70s stagflation, then struggled to find summer jobs in a time of double-digit unemployment, missed the mid-80s boom while in college, then graduated from college into the teeth of a recession.
“Never known hard times” indeed. I remember unwrapping a really sweet birthday present once, only to have my parents immediately exclaim: “It’s broken!” and return it to the store. Funny, I never did get a replacement.
Those experiences taught me to be frugal and practical … Now my irresponsible Boomer in-laws are teaching me to be hard-hearted, because if I bail them out financially one more time I’ll have no savings left.
The Boomers may worship Greenspan, but Volcker is my hero.
[...] is much like an entry I made some time ago, Boomers, Clueless and Wondering. Not that you would paint the entire generation with the same brush, but there are a number of [...]
Check out a book called Generations by Strauss & Howe. It postulates that American society fluctuates on a four-generation cycle that takes about 80-90 years to cycle through. And we’re about at the point where the problems festering under an Idealist generation (the Boomers) reach critical mass and have to be cleaned up by the next two generations in a nation-shaking crisis comparable with the Civil War, Great Depression, or WW2.
Other books on the subject by Strauss & Howe are 13th Gen, an application of their cycle specifically to Gen X, and Fourth Turning, an attempt to predict what’s next based on past iterations of the cycle.
Their books should be available on Amazon; their website should come up if you google the phrase “Fourth Turning”.
I recommend that the GenXers take a ride on the Foreclosure Bus. For 20 bucks they can see first hand what is happening to their generation. Greed drives the bus and leads the tour.
Jackie, you got it babe! Mozilo and his pals paid for that bus with your hard earned bread. Check out the plates on that Foreclosure Bus. FUBAR What’s that mean Jackie. Your pal, Ed Norton.
Boyz,
This is Moze writing to you. Mozilo to you Jackie and Eddie. My boyz and I built that F’n bus. You drive it buddy…..Norton you ride with him. Point out the fact that before I came along…no one new my name. Subprime Subhuman Mozilo spell it right…Mosilito akas Man without soul. Mosilo…Mozilo oh what the Friggin difference does it make…no one knows my name Countrywide!