May 2017 // Real Estate & Home Builders Guide // 15E
Millennials buying up a storm
By Ilyce Glink
and Samuel J. Tamkin
Tribune Content Agency
H
ere come the millennial home
buyers. Finally.
For the past decade, since the
Great Recession forced so many Ameri-
cans to put their lives on hold, the world
of real estate has been praying for the
arrival of millennials on the home buying
scene, to begin buying, selling, fixing up
and financing property.
It has been quite the waiting game.
When I first started writing about real
estate, the average age of a first-time
home buyer was about 26. Today, it’s
nearly 33. Over the past 25 years, we’ve
watched millennials wait an extra seven
years to buy their first home.
There are lots of explanations for the
millennial home buying delay:
• Millennials who graduated from
college in 2008 to 2012 found a weak job
market;
• Many of them moved home
PHILLIPS RESERVOIR PROPERTY -
BAKER COUNTY, BAKER CITY, OR - 21
miles from Baker City, the property offers a
beautiful timbered estate, gorgeous views
and year round recreation opportunities. This
property has a little over 2 acres in a secluded
area bordering the National Forest boundary.
$350,000 #RG00117
BALLARD CREEK - BAKER COUNTY/
OXBOW, OR - 160 acres hunters paradise
surrounded by BLM and NF 3 sides. Good
water and timber. Zoned timber/grazing.
$160,000 #RG01916
instead of moving out with a friend (or by
themselves) and renting their own place
(typically a precursor to home buying);
• Roughly a third of them are still
living at home;
• Older millennials watched as
parents lost jobs, tapped their 401ks to
survive, and took jobs that paid less (and
often didn’t offer benefits), and their
families struggle to make ends meet.
Millions of homeowners couldn’t sell when
they needed to and lost their homes to
foreclosure, destroying credit histories and
confidence in the process.
And, when you lose confidence in
yourself and your ability to pay the bills,
it’s awfully hard to make the commitment
to buy something as large and as perma-
nent as a house.
Millennials also have cash flow issues,
thanks to a huge amount of student loans.
About 44 million Americans are paying
off student loans these days, to the tune
of $1.4 trillion. The average amount of
student loan debt has tripled over the
past 20 years, and 2017 graduates were
carrying about $36,000 worth of student
loans as they made their way out of college
and into their adult lives.
Here are some facts about millennials
and student loan debt that make the real
estate industry very nervous:
• Some 58 percent of college gradu-
ates reported having student loans;
• 44 percent don’t know the difference
between private and federal loans;
• 45 percent don’t know what
percentage of their budget goes toward
paying down student loans;
• 37 percent don’t know what interest
rate their loans carry;
• 15 percent don’t even know how
much they owe;
• Default rates are running between
7 and just over 11 percent, depending on
the type of loan and whether the school
was private or public, according to the
Department of Education.
For those millennials who are making
their payments, paying off student loans
SOLD
can delay home buying because monthly
debt service payments are deducted from
the amount someone has available to repay
debts.
One of the reasons that millennials
are aging into becoming first-time home
buyers is that they’re finally getting
married and having children.
If you’re single, or even if you’re in a
long-term relationship but without kids,
you’re probably not looking for a condo-
minium, much less a house in the suburbs
with a good school district. And, because
you’re changing jobs fairly frequently,
having a longer-term commitment to real
estate isn’t particularly high on the list.
But times they are a changing.
According to the latest figures from
the National Association of Realtors,
millennials accounted for 34 percent of
home buyers in 2016, the latest year data
is available. And, almost all of them were
buying homes for the first time.
To which the real estate industry says,
“Amen!”
SALMON CREEK RANCH - PENDING - BAKER
COUNTY, BAKER CITY, OR - 42 acres, home,equestrian
facility, timber,pasture,springs andUSFS adjacent. 6 mil
from town. #RG00115 $599,000
Buell Farm - SOLD - Polk County/Sheridan, OR:
Bargain priced. 86+/- acres of potentially buildable rural
acreage. Small stream, 51 acres previously farmed, has
raised Christmas trees, oak trees, nice setting. $270,000
#RG01516
Couse Creek Property - PENDING - Umatilla County,
Milton-Freewater, OR: 16.93 acres with 14.5 acres fenced
and crossed fenced in pasture. Craftsman style, 1,442
sq. ft. home. Outbuildings include double car garage/
cook house, machine shed and shop. Couse Creek runs
through property. $380,000. #RG03016
McNamara Trust CRP - Umatilla County/Pendleton,
OR: 150.64 total acres of which 142 acres currently
enrolled in CRP. Great potential home site near Pendleton
with power located near property.
$250,000 #RG00716
Stevenson Farm #1 - Umatilla County/Pendleton,
OR: Development potential on this 76.37 acre parcel.
Zoned to allow the creation of 4ea nine acre lots with 40+
acres of river bottom remaining for recreation. $350,000
#RG02415
Elkhorn Mountain Getaway Ranch - Baker County/
Baker City, OR: 230 +/- acres timber parcel located
between Rock Creek and Muddy Creek. Adjacent to
ODFW area at the base of the Elkhorn Mountains.
Located 8 mi West of Haines. $230,000. RG#00717
10th St Commercial Bldg - Baker County/Baker City,
OR: This 122,726 sq. ft. lot includes a 1,644 sq. ft. building
built in 1981.The property has a perimeter chain link fence
and three entrances, on 9th Street, East Street and 10th
Street.
$299,000 #RG02014
Stevenson Farm #2 - Umatilla County/Pendleton, OR:
Potentially buildable lot of record. 39.24 acres with great
views of the Blue Mountains. Adjacent to a County road
and ½mile to power. Past uses include wheat production.
$150,000 #RG02515
Big Buttercreek CRP - Morrow County/Echo,
OR: CRP income property. 186.9 acres of land with
157.7 acres of CRP. Annual CRP payment of $10,992
with power and well located on the property. CRP
contract runs through 2020. The balance of the
property is range pasture. $295,000 #RG03515
The Whitney Land Co.
SEE BACK PAGE
SKEELS
PROPERTY
-
UNION
COUNTY, UNION, OR - Secluded
buildable 80 +/- acres near Tollgate and
the Spout Springs Ski Resort. Mixed
timbered and open parcel on the breaks
of Lookingglass Creek. Forest Road
access is seasonal. Bordered on 2 sides
by Umatilla National Forest. Great view
property. WMU 56. $290,000. #RG02316
OLD RATTRAY RANCH WEST
- GILLIAM COUNTY, CONDON,
OR - 939.75 total acres. Property
consisting of 612.27 acres of range,
229.52 acres currently in wheat
production, and 97.96 acres of CRP.
Abundant deer and upland birds with
occasional elk. $385,979. #RG02516
101 S.E. 3RD • P.O. Box 1614 • PENDLETON, OR 97801
Phone: (541) 278-4444
E-Mail: farms@whitneylandcompany.com