291. The Starter

A recent analysis published by Zillow, which is the company that shows you photographs of houses you cannot afford, found that the average price of a "starter home" now exceeds one million dollars in two hundred and forty-two American cities.

The phrase "starter home" was coined to mean the house you buy when you cannot yet afford a real one. It is the home you start in. You start there, then you move somewhere better. That was the concept. The concept assumed a price point that made starting possible.

Zillow's chief executive officer is Jeremy Wacksman. He has not announced plans to change the name of the category.

(I am not certain what name would be more accurate. "Arrival home" implies you will finish there. "Compromise home" is honest but unpleasant. "The thing you will not be able to afford" is technically a description, though it may test poorly with buyers. Zillow will presumably sort this out.)

In these two hundred and forty-two cities, a household earning the median income can afford to spend approximately four hundred thousand dollars on a home, according to standard mortgage guidelines, which assume the household would also like to occasionally purchase food. The gap between four hundred thousand dollars and one million dollars is six hundred thousand dollars, which is the amount a median household would need to save before they could begin to start.

The analysis was thorough. It included data from cities of varying sizes in multiple states. It identified the specific neighborhoods where starter homes cross the million-dollar threshold. It did not explain how someone who needs a starter home accumulates a million dollars to spend on it.

Jeremy Wacksman has not addressed this question publicly.

The starter home is still called the starter home.

You are allowed to be wherever you are in the process of finding this funny.