Soopermouse and I were talking about the difference between here (the US) and there (the UK). She was totally perplexed at how her country, which has a higher standard of living and higher wages has lower property costs. We were sending links back and forth of townhouses and the price difference was shocking. A two or three bedroom townhouse goes for about 175k in her neck of the woods and almost 400k here.

But that wasn’t the only difference. Everything here has been updated. Shiny new kitchens, extra bathrooms, new floors, etc. There they are what we might call cosmetic fixers, fine structurally but needing updating.

Everyone wants to live in a nice home. But I think our pathological obsession with remodeling tells more about the state of the economy than anything else. And it’s not that Americans are greedy assholes who can’t imagine sharing a bathroom with another family member. It’s about investment.

One of the best indicators of a person’s future wealth is the wealth of their parents.