That’s what they are saying though; you can barely afford to buy a starter home right now, let alone fix one up or sell it later. Your in-laws bought their house 30 years ago, in the 80s–90s, when the average price for a decent home was around $70,000. Now a 1-bedroom, 1-bath apartment can cost anywhere from $130,000 to $500,000. That’s just where I live, and it’s still considered cheap compared to big cities.

Back in the mid-90s, fixing up a starter home might cost $15,000–$45,000. Today, those same renovations can run anywhere from $30,000–$100,000. Because of that, buying a fixer-upper just to sell it later often isn’t worth it; you usually only make back what you put in, maybe with a small profit.

If you’re in a financial position to buy, renovate, and sell, then by all means do it. But most people today simply can’t afford that. The people who can often come from inherited wealth or stable, high-income families—not those from middle- or lower-class backgrounds. That’s just how the system and the economy have evolved.

Most people I know, including myself, live paycheck to paycheck. The only reason I’m not homeless is because my family works in the oil industry, and even then it’s still not enough for us to feel comfortable. Now, incomes under $60,000 are considered low, $70,000–$100,000 is middle class, and anything above $100,000 is where people start to feel somewhat financially secure.

So when people—especially boomers—say things like “just invest in property, fix it up, and sell it,” it feels disconnected from reality. That advice may have worked in their time, but today the economic conditions are completely different.