[honkycat]

My parents build a big ass house in the middle of nowhere around the year 2000

It was a nice place! rooms for the kids, a pool, etc.

Then 2008 hit. WOW. We went from a prosperous family to NOTHING incredibly fast.

This asset was so toxic the bank wouldn't even fucking take it. It was an albatross for YEARS and my parents had to liquidate their 100 year old family business, and all other assets before they could wiggle out from under it in 2014.

For little podunk rust belt towns, there was no "recovery." The car parts plant was gone. The tire plant was gone. The steel casting plant was gone. EVERYTHING went to Mexico. Why buy a nice place if there is no job to support it?

That house now sits empty out on a lot next to a closed down golf course. So it goes

[nunez]

Basically the story of most of the Midwest. Suburbanization and the auto industry globalizing their supply chains was the one-two punch that sent most of those big cities into downward spirals. I'm reminded of this every time I fly into STL, MCI or CVG. (These were two massive hubs for Braniff, then Delta. Huge, huge airports, both of which are shells of their former selves.)

[pram]

Oof, that sucks. My parents managed the exact opposite. We had a house in the middle of nowhere. Their business was slowly going under so they decided to sell and move in with my mothers father (lol) and did this at the absolute top of the market (2006)

The person who bought it is still holding the bag if Zillow is any indication, it’s still about $30k under what he bought it for. I often think about how many people are still screwed from that time.

[ThunderSizzle]

Its an interesting tale, because we might be in a very similar bubble. Or not. It's hard to tell, because the dollar has been so devalued, while housing is over-inflated, and money is expensive.

It's a cruel joke when money is worthless and expensive at the same time.

[throwaway2037]

    > because the dollar has been so devalued

Can you explain? The USD vs EUR FX rate has barely changed in 10 years. If you believe the US dollar has been "so devalued", then you must believe the same for Euro.

[LUmBULtERA]

Most nations had inflation -- so "devalued" is not in relation to other currencies but in what the monetary unit can purchase.

[ThunderSizzle]

I dont really need to, because it was clearly obvious during the pandemic response of the massive inflation that occurred, but the dollar is the base currency of the world outside of China/Russia's sphere. As you observed, the Euro is pegged to the dollar right now.

How has assets done compared to the Euro? How has house prices? Housing, land, stock indexes, and even consumables like tools, groceries are all doubled their 2021 prices.