Article courtesy of Staten Island Advance via “The Rundown”
Elizabeth and Dmitriy Shenker were tired of handing over their hard-earned cash to a landlord.
So when they went searching last year for a place to live on Staten Island, they chose to buy a detached single-family home for $810,000 in a new development in Prince’s Bay.
“The interest rates are really good right now, and prices have been creeping up over the last few years. While that makes it more difficult to buy, it also makes it a little more appealing,” said Dmitriy Shenker, a branch chief for the Department of Homeland Security.
“When you rent, the money goes from your pocket into the air; when you’re paying a mortgage, you have an investment,” he added, noting his wife works as a business engagement manager for Pearson Education.
The Shenkers, both 32 years old, are part of a new wave of millennial home buyers who are boosting the housing market. For the first time in 13 years, twenty- and thirty-somethings have proven to be a driving force in the U.S. housing market.
Home Ownership Rates
Nationally, the home-ownership rate rose to 64.2 percent during the last quarter of 2017 — up from 63.7 percent during the same time in 2016, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
And the number of homes owned by people under age 35 rose to 36 percent during the fourth quarter of 2017 — up from 34.7 percent over the same period the previous year, Census Data shows.
The trend is prevalent among Staten Island home buyers, experts say.
“Millennials as a whole are expressing great interest in owning a home,” said Ron Molcho, director of the Staten Island Board of Realtors and a broker with American Homes Group. “We have seen a steady uptick over the past two years. They [millennials] have surpassed the baby boomers as the largest sector of buyers. They are looking to settle down, get out of renting and start building equity.”
Like the Shenkers, many millennials say rising rent prices have caused them to save up and sink their money into a home.
Young single Americans are tired, confused and scared about dating during #Metoo
(MarketWatch)
Dan Sheehan, a 27-year-old writer in Los Angeles, has felt a palpable shift in the dating world over the last six months compared to the last time he was single two years ago.
When the bill comes on a first date, he doesn’t jump to grab it first. Drinks with a potential partner can feel like a “job interview,” he said, and people on dating apps are flaking on meet-ups more often. That’s partly due to the monotony of online dating, but the tense political climate, the depressing news cycle, and the discourse surrounding #MeToo – a movement meant to highlight women’s experiences with sexual assault and unwanted sexual advances – have put a damper on the dating experience, he said.
“There is a weird apathy on both sides,” he said. “In and of itself dating is kind of exhausting even when there isn’t a larger political movement around it, so I think having to do it in addition to being reminded of this terrible stuff going on is hard,” he said.
Men and women must navigate new rules on dates
Single Americans say they are “extremely confused” about dating, particularly in the past three months following the #MeToo movement, a recent survey of 3,000 singletons by dating service Three Day Rule found. The October 2017 revelations of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein touched off the global #MeToo movement, which led to conversations about what is appropriate both inside and outside the workplace.
Men are concerned about crossing boundaries, having their actions misinterpreted, or even adhering to traditional gender roles like paying for a date, said Three Day Rule chief executive officer and founder Talia Goldstein. Meanwhile, some women said they were too worn out by inappropriate behavior or triggered by the news to want to spend time with men, and some worry about how and when to call out men they’re dating for harassment.
“I have definitely seen fatigue, for so many reasons,” Goldstein said. “It’s partially due to the #MeToo movement, but partially because people have been online dating for so long it really is exhausting.”