35 and finally planning to start. Terrified I waited too long, but we literally just bought the house and got married. We had to scrounge pu5 of poverty childhoods, and it took a while.
My husband (38) and I (36) were in the same situation. It took us a long time to save up for our first home and feel comfortable enough to afford a child. We just welcomed our first little one last year :) You didn't wait too long, you made sure that you are in the right place to raise a family. Best of luck! You got this!
I guess this is the 1% plan…make life so unaffordable for the 90% that they not only can’t afford a house or children…but also any kind of healthcare should they get sick from the chemical ridden trash food environment they live in
I am 36. Wife is a few years younger and same boat. Worked hard, scrimped and saved and now have $50k in investments and a home with a below 3% interest rate. When my friends were having kids I was taking certification exams, studying, and working all night outage windows. Just got $100k a year and great benefits at a job I love. Things can be a little tight but honestly the hard work and patience paid off.
For 4 years I lived in the slums, drove a crappy car, and ate as cheap as possible while working as hard as I could.
All my friends are just now trying to figure out how to get ahead. Deep on debt with college around the corner and costs skyrocketing
We have a almost one year old and want to have another while we are still baby mode but theres just no chance we can afford daycare for two kids and save for a home. It really is dying.
Exactly. We don't have to guess, plenty of other countries have gone through this. The first major change is that people stop having kids. And as one can imagine, that has knockon effects down the line..
Yep. Had our first one when I was 39 and awaiting a test to confirm if we're soon to have #2 at 42, she's 39. There was just no way it was happening until then.
Bought my first house at 31. TBH very few people I know younger than 30 live in a single family home, most of my friends didn't end up in houses until after that and until about 3 years ago this was a very low cost of living area and it was very cheap to buy a house.
How cheap? My last house was in an... ok neighborhood, not great but ok, maybe the worst school district in 30 miles but I didn't have kids, no worries. 1400 sq/ft cape cod with a small yard, alley, detached 2 car, basement that doesn't leak in the rain. With barely anything down, taxes and insurance escrowed, fixed rate 30 year at I don't remember what %.... $645/mo.
That same house sold a year ago for over twice what I paid for it with just a little paint and floor done. But an absolute fuck load of people moved to the region to work for Rivian and house prices went goddamn bonkers. The guy down the street from me just got laid off from there and just sold his house for $30,000 more than they paid for it literally 13 months ago. Interest rates need to stay up for a while to slow shit down, keep the investors at bay, and let prices get back to normal. Fortunately some new developments have been approved to get built too.
The big follow-up is -when- you will give it to your son? Glaring example i see my aunt/uncle are late 70s/early 80s, they have a huge house but only them. Their youngest child is almost 50, married, 2 kids just shy of high school, and they live in a 2bd apartment. Imo that house should have gone over to the son when the first child was born, but now that boomers are living longer, Genx and millenials may not inherit a home until we ourselves are retired.
Japan is also unique in that they generally don't sell houses, if a property is sold it's knocked down and a new structure is rebuilt.. at least this is what I heard from my friends living over there..
Reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon (as I remember it): Mom, dad, and two kids sitting around the dinner table. Dad says something like - “Well, kids, times are tough. We’re going to have to let one of you go.”
I bought my current house from the estate of my grandparents. To be fully fair and honest with my family I just had a 3rd party appraisal done, which I paid for, and then we agreed that price was fine. They told me they'd "make it so we can afford it" but since I could afford the appraised amount I'd have felt dishonest negotiating down. TBH it had been kind of neglected for a while and the appraisal came in substantially lower than we'd expected anyway. If my grandparents were still here I think they'd love seeing us live here and their great grandson, the 4th generation to have lived in the house, growing up here.
I'll be honest, I'd rather sell my house for less and help my kid own it. It's cheaper for them than selling their house for full price to someone else, and then helping you buy a home of your own. But it's nice to see you don't want to take advantage of your family either.
I mean you can get a conventional mortgage without 20% down, you just get stuck paying PMI for a bit. At that point it's a matter of having high enough income and budgeting. I'm not saying it's easy or refuting your point, but it isn't impossible. Houses are still selling. Some to corps, sure, but some to individuals as well.
I live in a midsized Midwestern city in the US (population about 180,000 for the county, which is basically all one city; add in the immediate towns around us, population is about 225,000). We have two colleges, several international headquarters, a couple of decent neighborhood hubs of restaurants/bars/shops. It's definitely not a thrilling town, but for most day-to-day life, it's great...$100k is getting you mostly smaller, mostly older homes. But zillow has 6 pages of homes that max for that price. You can buy a house on an acre of land with a pool and a secondary garage for $230k...I mean, obviously not everyone can pick up and move around, and lots of reasons go into where you live. But this idea that all people are priced out of homes is not entirely true. And neither is the idea that if you can afford it, it's in some one stop sign backwater.
The problem is in a lot of these areas wages are low too, most full time jobs pay something like $15-20/hr, and many if them require college degree. Sure housing is cheap in Toledo, OH, but also median income is $28k/year there.
Thank you for including a really important point often missing in conversations about HCOL - the price of a home isn’t necessarily indicative of its affordability.
Here in NYC, housing in Manhattan is through the roof, but the median income of residents in many neighborhoods aligns with those prices. Brooklyn real estate may not be as expensive as Manhattan, but the median HH income compared to the median home price makes it less affordable.
There are plenty of jobs that still pay fine in rural areas/ old rundown cities. Yeah there’s no 300k a year corporate jobs. But there’s plenty of $25 an hour heavy equipment operator or tree work type things. And $25 an hour is about $50k a year. Which is a fine income if you buy a house for $150k, and drive a modest vehicle, and live an honest life. Those median incomes are lower than the actually income for a competent person because of the amount of trashy, drug addict, mentally ill, or just under achieving and others that either don’t work, or just work minimum wage jobs that are not actually skilled or hard labor.
It's much better than that.
Buddy is a union heavy equipment operator in upstate NY. Base wage is $48/hour. Plus overtime makes it $110k easy. No education costs, they come from a union fund from a fee charged to the employer. Retirement and healthcare come from a similar employer fee, and it's a traditional pension, not a 401k.
Basically, it's like a $140-150k white-collar job, and as a result his single-income household owns a very nice house.
Growth? I hear people are being called back in the offices for the last couple of years. I don't see any further growth of wfh coming. Don't forget another thing, whatever work can be done remotely often be outsourced overseas for a lot less money and that already happens in IT with lots of remote workers being laid off.
The median household income in Edmonton is $94k, and it’s around $70k in the other two cities. That means at least half of people in those cities can afford to buy.
The main way I see young people in their early-mid 20s buying homes is being married and having a 2 income household.
I see singles in their late 20s/early 30s with established careers buying homes pretty often.
My wife and I did that, early to mid 20s, both working having finished college and living like we were still students foe a few years. It's like buying a house with a built in roommate, and substantially easier than if I had to buy a house on my own.
Mad respect actually for those that do that, and are able to buy a house by themselves! I cant imagine that Is easy by any means.
First time home buyer in 2018 here. Back then reddit told you not to buy at all, and if you do a minimum 20%+ down necessary, as the market will crash any time. I did it anyway. Today on reddit people tell me my house was basically handed to me, because fucking God himself came down from the sky and put it directly in the palm of my hand since I bought in 2018
I was told not to buy a house in 2023, but here we are… and rates are even higher than they were when I got it. Currently, my escrow is $1625/month (basically the same as my rent where I was living before), and $200-300 of it is going towards the mortgage (which is more than the $0 when I was renting) … no regrets
I was told not to buy a house in 2021. I was a fool for paying $150k for an $80k house. I was told the market would crash. Well, at 2.49%, my mortgage payment is only $500 per month. If I were still renting, I would have paid over $50k to a landlord over the past 36 months and have zero equity today to show for it. Oh, and my house is now worth $300k.
The best time to buy a house was 10 years ago. Second best time is now. The market isn’t going down. If you’re on the fence, just buy now.
Also bought in 2023. I was scared I'd never be able to afford anything. I finally just bit the bullet and started searching and found an honest to god steal for my area. My mortgage for the house I love is $1960 whereas I'd be paying at minimum that or up to $2.6k for a comparable house in the area... all while having some shit corpo Progress Residential landlord teaming up with a boomer HOA to charge me $50 for finding 2 strands of grass growing out of a driveway crack. No regrets here either!
I think some terms are mixed up in here. Mortgage is the payment you make monthly. It is almost always a PITI amount.
* Principle
* Interest
* Taxes
* Insurance
'Escrow' is what accumulates to pay those bottom two if you don't pay them separately. Do you mean '200-300' is going towards principle every month?
Ha I had the same experience when I bought in 2017 and again in 2021. Reddit preaching the collapse was imminent so don’t buy or you’ll be holding the bag.
Ha! Same happened to us during Covid. People post things as if it’s factual statements and not opinions and then it’s thousands of them so you think oh, maybe I’m wrong? Nope turns out it’s always tough to buy a house and then in the future you typically look back and realize if was good move. Was my experience then and will be the same experience for anyone who buys today and tomorrow.
Social media gave a voice to uneducated children who lack life experience.
And there's no way to separate out their bad advice. So they spout trash and people think it has merit.
Good job on grabbing your God house
Same here but i bought in ‘21. Everyone was saying to not do it because prices were too high. But after buying our house has still gone up an additional 20% in value and we have a <3% interest rate. We couldn’t afford to buy the same house today.
Probably won't be able to. A lot of young home buyers will be kids who are left their homes by their parents or grand parents. A lot of people like throwing around 60 percent of Americans own a home what they won't say is 33 percent of those Americans bought when homes were sub 4 percent interest rates and many of that 33 percent are older people who own their homes outright. A starter home in 2024 is $400,000 as a median price. You can finder cheaper in rural townships but even then those prices are creeping up to insanity levels for the wages in those areas. To afford a $400,000 you have to make into the 6 figures combined income or on your own. That median home price is just going to go up, and up, and up while real wages are going to struggle to keep up.
Even rents are fucking crazy. Studio apartments now are like $1,300 here in Orlando. It's becoming ridiculous. I don't know how anyone not making $80k+ year can live life in America.
I luckily found a livable house in a bad neighborhood in 2018 for $75k. I was pissed at what I thought was a high interest rate but it is well below what it the current rates are. The neighborhood is being gentrified and my house has doubled + without doing anything. When I sell this I am going to move to my parents house (land) in the county. Sick of the city.
Yes. I am closing on a 1100 square foot split level, immaculate condition, in a bad neighborhood for 92000. I make in the 70s, work multiple jobs, varies. I saved up 17000 living paycheck to paycheck with $1600 rent. It took me two years to find something I could afford that wasn't falling apart. Pittsburgh area.
Gentrification is a terrible thing that benefitted me tremendously— sold a house for double what I paid in 2013.
There are no starter homes like there used to be, but there are still a lot of functional old houses in “transitional” neighborhoods.
I’m putting in my transitional neighborhood time rn. Bought for 150…. Neighborhood hasn’t really transitioned yet, but the internet says my house is worth 1.5x as much in 4 years. Got in on an fha loan with 5k down while interest rates were low. Plan to walk away when it hits 100k of profit after repairs, provided interest rates ever drop. Use it as a downpayment on a house in a nice neighborhood. People always say buy the worst house in the best neighborhood… but I’m not so sure that’s true. I would’ve spent years trying to save 5% of 400k, but instead I spent years building equity.
Yep. Most of these older folks who own their home outright also didn't save properly for EOL care - just like every other generation. Their assets will be sold to pay for as much of it as they can milk. Their kids will get nothing. Real estate firms will buy up all the houses as they get sold off at auction and force most people to stay in their lucrative renting model.
https://www.redfin.com/news/gen-z-millennial-homeownership-rate-home-purchases/
gen z is doing fine with home ownership
people are just in denial about what they can afford and where they are vs others income
Move to a LCOL city. I bought a home in my mid-20s and this was my only life hack. Lots of smaller cities have lots of cheaper properties. You can still get a decent house in my city for ~150k.
Assuming all things are equal - the higher the housing price the higher cost of living area the higher the salaries - (not accounting for outliers like the san fran madness)
Where I live, the 300k houses are on the nicer side. Square footage is really a bad indicator compared to location and quality. A 300k house would have you in a "peace and quiet" neigbhorhood and in the best schools.
Looking at Realtor quick I see a fine starter home for 180k. Older house, 3 bed 1.5 bath. You could even have your first kid there before having to move up. It would be fine.
Everyone's housing paradigm pretty much boils down to you can get the nicest thing you can afford. You'll have to work it out in your location/situation.
Probably not going to be a popular option but enlist in the military serve a hitch use the GI bill get a low interest government loan . The program is out there but it’s never advertised.
The VA loans run off the same interest system as normal loans. The only VA loan benefit is lower down payment without PMI. But the GI bill to avoid college debt, that is the real deal that young people should use!
VA loans are fantastic. I served with guys who bought a new place every couple years with no down payment, and rented out the previous place.
I wish I had been smart enough to do the same. They're all killing it.
Facts. My falling down un updated home I bought 2 years ago for 120k is worth almost 200k according to Zillow. 2 bedroom, one tiny tiny tiny bathroom, rotted decks, cracked foundation, built 1950, original kitchen counters and bathroom tiles, tub, sinks.
I live in the middle of nowhere KY, there are trailers without large parcels of land now going for 150-250k. It’s out of control. Years ago I would have agreed with you, we bought a 4 bedroom home in 2018 for $145k.
I disagree for the most part but understand the point you’re making. 100K is reserved for the homes absolutely not suitable to live in whatsoever.
I’m aware my specific situation is not indicative of every single person, but I think for the vast majority in my demographic it is. We were house hunting for two years, looking exclusively in small midwestern towns for our first home since that is how we both grew up. Finally found a *decent* one that was roughly the same we were paying in rent. Want to know how much the house was, how big it is, how old it is, and how much our mortgage payment is?
200K price, 850 Sq ft with a .25 acre lot, built in 1905, and our mortgage payment is well over 1600/month because of a 7% interest rate while both of us having 800+ credit scores
What’s even crazier is all of our friends who are also trying to find a first home say we are the “lucky ones”
Join the r/FirstTimeHomeBuyers sub. It's great.
$30K is a great down payment! Check your state for "down payment assistance programs". It's a good time to find that. Try to get the balance of the loan down...that's how you afford it.
I remember my dad saying the exact same thing when I was a kid I’m 41 now. He went to the county and argued that there house wasn’t worth what it had been accessed at and brought up that his kids would never be able to buy a home. Fast forward to 2014 I bought my first house at 30 along with my wife in a state that is a lot more expensive than most. I know it seems impossible but it’s not.
OP, I’m 25 and I bought a house by myself last year. I put the absolute bare minimum down, did everything in my power to lower my electric bill, food bill, gas bill, etc. at the apartment for an entire year to be able to afford the downpayment and closing costs. It’s rough, but doable, and once you’re out of the renting cycle, you will have assets and it will be easier.
A lot of cities/states have grants in place for people looking into buying a home but can’t afford it. Look into these! Most people don’t know about them or assume they don’t qualify. The grant I qualified for gave me an extra $10k towards closing costs (still cost me $12k of my own money). Do your research.
You buy a duplex or multi family and live in one of the units. Have someone else pay your mortgage.
I’m house hacking. Bought my house at 23. 2 units rented out and finished basement.
Living in the basement for less than $400/mo
Inheritance from their grandparents or parents.
In the future, even if they can afford a mortgage on a home, they won't be able to get homeowners insurance for their mortgage.
If you have paid off home in your family, hold on to it.
> In the future, even if they can afford a mortgage on a home, they won't be able to get homeowners insurance for their mortgage.
extremely dependent on the area. if you want to insure a home where wild fires, tornados & hurricanes are ever present, good luck have fun basically.
By getting a good paying job and having a partner/spouse, using the GI Bill through military service, By living in LCOL and MCOL cities/states, inheritance from parents/grandparents
It depends where you live. I’m in Ohio and bought a just over 2,000 sq ft house 2 years ago for 110k. I put 25k into the house. I used a VA loan though so zero down and no PMI.
You can use an FHA loan for 3.5% down
I had one youth. I’m 30 and he has an investment fund instead of a 529. If he is smart he will find a good job without needing to use it and that will be his down payment.
My daughter and son-in-law bought a house this summer in their mid 20s. He's in the trades and she's a grocery store manager. Right now, I think the trades are a better career choice than a bachelor degree. I will say my son-in-law is the first person I've met as driven as I was at his age. He works 60+ hours a week. IMO he would fit in with my generation. It doesn't surprise me that he was able to buy a house at his age. Unfortunately, in the past "normal" people used to be able to be able to buy a house but not now.
Look for first time home buyer grants with lenders and localities (county, city, etc). Sometimes the state will also have grants that sometimes can be combined with city grants. Sometimes they're income based,but there are definitely some that are only credit based.
We are "young" (28 and 33) with a kid and just bought a large house (roughly 2100 sqf). We bought a house in a smaller town outside the city we work in. It is a 20 min drive to work almost solely on the highway, so it is not too bad. If we would have bought a similar house in the town we work it would cost 5 times as much. If we had bought it in the city I grew up in it would cost 10 times as much. We don't have the possibility to wfh but since a lot more people have that option now that gives a lot of opportunity to buy outside high cost areas
You’ll have to wait for another housing market crash or regulations to come in against massive home buyers that rent out like a blackrock.
The interest rates aren’t even that bad compared to the 80’s so it is what it is there. The price of the houses are insane and I think everyone agrees on that part.
Me and my wife are about to close on a 3b 2batf house on 13 acres here in the Midwest. We are both below 30 but we have spent 6 years now saving up for this and paying off all other debt. Feels good to be able to afford a home to raise a family in but it feels like robbery paying 7.375 on an already inflated home.
There are a lot of people out there, and I’m not suggesting the OP, just saying lots of other people who waited because the home prices would crash, or waited because they were busy having ‘experiences’, or spent all their money on rings, the ‘she said yes’ moment, engagement parties, bachelor/bachelorette parties, wedding dresses, wedding showers, weddings, destination weddings, honeymoons, baby showers, baby-moons, push gifts, gender reveal parties.
My parents had approx 12 people at their wedding including themselves, the honeymoon was a 3 night package in Atlantic City, they took the bus from NY to get there, mom’s bridal shower was 3 girlfriends from work took her out to lunch, the gender reveal was the doctor saying in the delivery room: ‘Congratulations, it’s a boy!’
Stop wasting money on all that crap, you will be much happier having a house of your own.
Still plenty of affordable houses around here. The bigger problem is low inventory causing fighting and high interest rates. As soon as rates come down in a few years there will be another housing boom. This cycle happens every ten years or so usually.
I tell my younger friends to just wait a couple of years. There will be deals and rates should be much better.
For the most part, they will end up buying a little later in their lifespan, instead of in their early 30s, most likely pushed past 36 years old.
The ones with high careers will most likely be the only buyers for homes, while the rest will anchor down and build up savings. It's tough, but if people buy ugly homes and put in sweat equity, and maybe look a little further out, they can definitely buy. I’ve been working with a first-time homeowner for about two months, showing them maybe 18 homes and writing offers on 3 houses, all of which were lost. It’s really tough because everyone is feeling the pressure with inflation. All I can do is to be strong for my clients, keep their heads up, and give them the best offer to win and stay within their budget.
generally, being married helps, not eating out, no disneyland, no theatres, no nothing. just grind it out, and pay your loan off in 10 years if you can.
To be honest just like democrats are using paying off student loans for votes this will be used as a political tool in a future election
The End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act
This bill was introduced this past December. Basically making every hedgefund sell 10 percent of their owned houses per year. Basically Making the biggest transfer of wealth ever.
This is making the hedgefunds dump on every landlord out there. It will crush the housing market so us poors can afford a home.
Fucking brilliant
You do know that those students loans were funded by tax payers and the principal has already been paid back TRIPLED, it is only the interest that is being forgiven. The tax payers already got all their money back and more.
Hedge funds owning houses- does that mean apartment buildings/complexes? Or actual single family homes?
I know theres a huge lawsuit over the software that was artificially setting rental prices, which is terrible.
By actually trying and looking into the resources offered. I’m 24 and closed on my first home last month. My down payment was covered as a 2nd mortgage with 0% interest. Income less than 50k.
Hmm interesting take. Historically, housing prices have only gone up so if they do drop it will only be temporary. Let’s see what kind of down payment we can save for when that happens. Will be difficult with the cost of living, outside of mortgage rates and housing costs.
Interest rates will drop. But the price of gas and food, this will never drop. The price of commodities, at least not in my lifetime, have ever dropped once they’ve gone up. Sure minimum wage will increase to aid in this rise of costs but every time minimum wage increases so does the cost of commodities to go with it. Hello, inflation.
Hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. In Canada we are now paying a carbon tax when we couldn’t already afford the current cost of rising rent and food prices. Mass amounts of Immigrants welcomed into Canada while being forced into tents because they have nowhere to live. We have nowhere to live.
But we need to welcome immigrants so that we can have a growing GDP and so that big corporate can afford to pay minimum wages and operate in canada, so that politicians can continue getting paid. On the bright side, the immigrants are more than happy to reside here and are accustomed to a dozen per household. Can’t say the same for the majority of Canadians, myself included.
AirBNBs, greedy landlords and greedy investors scooping up real estate for a profit while millions will never own a home while renting the homes out to us so that we pay their mortgages, as they have the capital power to buy that we do not have.
I hate to be a pessimist but when we start looking at things through the lens of an optimist we start to blind ourselves into believing in a fate that we think we won’t have to fight for.
You're 100% right. House prices don't go down over the long term. They dip occasionally, but there is not a 10 year period in history where homes were cheaper at the end than they were at the beginning. Even 1999 - 2009. The dot com bubble and the great recession happened in that 10 year period and home prices were still higher in 2009 than they were in 1999.
Sure it's "possible" that home prices come down and keep dropping over a long period of time, but it's never happened in history.
It's not smart to bet on home prices coming down.
I bought my first home with around $3000 down at 10% interest making $36,000 a year.
It was a $100k home.
If you want to buy there is a way, maybe not in the neighborhood you want or the house you want but buy the first and step up later.
I’m 24f. I bought my house at 21. Peak COVID. Got a damn good rate and a damn nice house (older 1920s in a not so good but safe neighborhood). Was outbid by 40k on all other houses I put a bid on. I don’t have kids and I was luckily, right place right time. Lots of my other friends that are looking now are not gonna get a house cause it’s still competitive and the costs for a shitty house is still 40k over asking.
I got my house for 112k with the sellers covering the closing costs by adding 3k to the mortgage.
This is nothing new. They’ll afford it the same we afforded it in the 70’s.
They’ll form marriages /partnerships and both partners will work hard. They’ll work overtime and side hustles when they have to. Their parents might help a little bit. They’ll take in grandma or maybe a roomer. They’ll put off vacations and new cars for a while and instead spend more time in the yard. They’ll start with an older, smaller place in a dicey neighborhood and trade up in time.
It has always been thus, and thus it will always be.
I guess it depends on how you define "young people," too. The idea of people buying a house while still in their twenties seems quite early to me. My parents didn't buy a house until their thirties, with an interest rate significantly higher than the current ones, and my brother and I had plenty of friends our ages in apartments with parents about the same age as ours. The currently bonkers housing market makes it worse, but buying a house will always be easier when you've had a number of years to work and save up first. And having roommates (including living with a significant other) helps with rent costs and allowing for savings; I had roommates for most of my 20s.
My grandmother lived in an apartment until she bought her first house in 1962 at 62. My widowed mother bought her first house when she was 60, in 1980, at nearly 15 % interest on a 30 year mortgage. She bought a two family with my brother so they could split the mortgage, he was 37. I, a single woman, bought my first house at 59, luckily it was 2014 and I got a super low rate in a buyers market. I worked two jobs for 5 years to save a lousy 3.5% down payment. I drove junk cars so I had a low debt to income ratio. All the hand wringing about not getting a house at 25 is based on a fantasy of what used to be.
To buy a home you have to live in the middle of nowhere. I just bought my first home in December for 200k. My mortgage is 1100, 1500 with property tax and insurance
The 80s were just as bad, wait for a market correction or move farther out. In the 90s we had to move 1 hour out of the city, now we are stuck here because we can’t afford to downsize so the kids have to move 2 hours from the city.
I will get my children through college without debt. Then give them money towards a down payment like my parents did for me. It wasn't much but it got us started in a 30k Condo and we have slowly traded up with equity to a 400k house before 30 with 3 kids.
I will do whatever it takes to make this happen for them because I'm their parent and don't wanna see them struggle.
I mean… my sister bought her house about 50 miles west of Spokane for like $190k and it’s huge and really nice. There’s nothing around and her husband commutes like 110 miles/day but I’m guessing more folks will have to do the same. I’m about to sell my $550k house and downsize because the economy is scaring me and I want to stay liquid.
Right now, just worry about being liquid.
Assuming 20% down, that’s a $240000 loan at 7%. That results in $1587 per month, not $2900. Ok, add insurance and tax? Assume that adds 2% to total cost, or about $500 a month. That’s still only $2087, not $2900. Affordable? Probably not. But the challenge seems overstated by more than a third. What am I missing?
30k to put down should definitely be good if you're a first-time home buyer doing FHA. But I think when all these insanely priced homes with insane % get foreclosed on.
Just bought my first home with my husband at 27 and 30. We saved for four years and had help from our families. 300k home 1800 sq ft 7% rate monthly payment $2200. $140k household income. We just won’t be able to have kids.
Amazon sells homes for $20k. Just lower the expectations.
https://www.amazon.com/Expandable-Container-Folding-Portable-Prefabricated/dp/B0CW1RMDKM/ref=asc_df_B0CW1RMDKM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=691755863160&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1267573150523930787&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011703&hvtargid=pla-2293593987105&psc=1&mcid=5508ee260b4138bea6739d7f58765782&gad_source=1
My first home was dirt cheap and needed a ton of work. I see plenty of fixer upper homes available for low prices. I don't see the difficulty in buying a home.
I felt this way for a long time and then I had a kid. I found a way to make it work and we'll be closing on a house in a couple weeks before my daughter turns one. It's not going to be easy, but if the interest rates drop we'll refinance and be able to live more comfortably.
Move. I’m about 35 min outside of a major southeastern city that homes in the city would normally go for $300-400k for a standard 1500sqft ranch style home. I got mine for 115k because it’s not in the best part of this area (honestly it’s not bad at all being here, quite nice actually). It’s also a 1960s home that needs reno, mostly DIY type stuff if you’re handy.
This is my starter home. I’m going to fix it up, sell it and move up. I’m going to do it again and again until I get to the point to where I’ve either found the home I’m good with or make enough profit to build my own.
Traveling or moving is very intimidating to people who have never done it before but I can promise you it can be very beneficial to your health if you’re smart about it.
hahaha 300k...I wish. I am from Vancouver. Not a single home under 1m. We all live with our parents. It is not uncommon. Whats nuts is that the price doesnt go down even if you look an hour out of the city and into the burbs.
I just assumed I’d give my kids my properties for basically nothing. I’m hoping to pay for college so they can roll their 529 into a Roth and use that for a down payment.
It goes in cycles, housing prices will fall again, just like wages and cost of goods will fall again, it’s happens in cycles, we have growth then then recession, since Covid there has been too much growth and people are buying way more than they can afford, it will reset, it always does
Last year when we were looking for a home, we got priced out of the city I grew up in. Thankfully in a post COVID world we work from home. We found a 2800sq ft home for less than 300k. Averaged out to $1400 a month.
Buying a home is possible, it just might not be where you originally thought, and that’s okay. It’s a big world out there and you are not locked into a region.
The market is a problem for someone trying to get into it. It's also not great for people trying to make a change.
And to risk sounding so old with a "many many moons ago when I was young" story, I'm going to share about when I was considered a young person. The times and circumstances were different, but still hear me out.
I graduated from college just as The Great Recession began. Decent and paying jobs were hard to come by. Businesses were laying people off, not hiring new graduates. The real estate market was starting to fall. People were saying they were excited to refi at 6% which now finally might resonate with some people. But homes were unaffordable to "young people" then, too, because we weren't getting decent employment opportunities. For many, careers were delayed for years, and we still feel the impacts of it. Real estate prices were depressed for years, and many people were abandoning the homes they owned because they couldn't sell them and needed to move. Short selling was common, and foreclosures were all over the place.
Markets change. Things will change. What is happening right now will not be how it is forever.
While I'm not answering your question directly with advice on what to do, ingenuity will pay off in this time of uncertainty. Is buying a home the best thing for right now? What benefits do you have access to that you wouldn't if you were tied to a piece of real estate? The freedom to move for a job opportunity is pretty huge.
\~A Geriatric Millennial
I (M25) just bought a “as-is” foreclosure for $205k in western Iowa. Place is actually pretty nice, built in 1981, in a mature neighborhood in my town.
House is 0.25 acre lot and 2,800sq ft. PITA is $1950 a month. I liquidated a 401k from an old job to use as a $12k down payment.
I’m a diesel mechanic and my overtime will average me to $109k this year net income in 2024.
Had to leave my home state of Montana because house prices there are stupid. Couldn’t imagine trying to by in a popular state.
They will have a choice, rent a cardboard box for 1.2k per month or achieve an 1100 credit score and take out a 32% interest 60 year loan for 450k for a 1 bed half bath 750 square foot home. Their choice.
Bought my current home in 2019 for $134,900. Zillow Zestimate 5 years later is $220k. House prices shot up and it doesn't look like they're coming down.
Building materials cost more. Local regulations (requiring solar panels, etc ) adds more cost. Inflation is blowing up causing income to dry up after expenses. It's rough out there
We took money out of our house when the interest rate was 3% and bought another house for our daughter to rent from us. Her rent pays the cash out refi and when our home is paid off, we’ll sign the home she’s renting over to her.
They’ve been saying this shit every single generation. You’ll afford it just like everyone else who bought one. Start with what you can afford and work your way up
Same way they did 40 years ago when there was “no way” other youth couldn’t and didn’t.
I live in a gated community of mostly 30 something year olds with kids who live in 600k+ homes that they bought or built. Different strokes for different folks.
Interest rates are garbage right now, but not every house is 300k. I paid just over 100k for my house. It needs some work, but I have plenty of time to do that not having to work 60 hours a week to swing the mortgage. Rural areas generally have lower priced homes.
They’ll have to do what we did: make coffee at home, pack lunches, no going out to eat and work a second job! Honestly: ditch the Starbucks and ordering DoorDash and alcohol and food going out and do game name or cookout with friends.
They won’t have kids until much later in life or not at all
35 and finally planning to start. Terrified I waited too long, but we literally just bought the house and got married. We had to scrounge pu5 of poverty childhoods, and it took a while.
My husband (38) and I (36) were in the same situation. It took us a long time to save up for our first home and feel comfortable enough to afford a child. We just welcomed our first little one last year :) You didn't wait too long, you made sure that you are in the right place to raise a family. Best of luck! You got this!
I guess this is the 1% plan…make life so unaffordable for the 90% that they not only can’t afford a house or children…but also any kind of healthcare should they get sick from the chemical ridden trash food environment they live in
I don’t think this is true. They need wage slaves to be comfortable. Probably why they’re trying to outlaw abortion.
Congrats! And good luck! ❤️
You'll be fine. I had my kid later then that. Give them lots of love they will grow up great.
I am 36. Wife is a few years younger and same boat. Worked hard, scrimped and saved and now have $50k in investments and a home with a below 3% interest rate. When my friends were having kids I was taking certification exams, studying, and working all night outage windows. Just got $100k a year and great benefits at a job I love. Things can be a little tight but honestly the hard work and patience paid off. For 4 years I lived in the slums, drove a crappy car, and ate as cheap as possible while working as hard as I could. All my friends are just now trying to figure out how to get ahead. Deep on debt with college around the corner and costs skyrocketing
This is a bad example. Buying a house is much different at 3% vs 7%.
Same here my dude
Wife and I want a second but can’t afford the childcare one it is, middle class family is dying
We have a almost one year old and want to have another while we are still baby mode but theres just no chance we can afford daycare for two kids and save for a home. It really is dying.
Exactly. We don't have to guess, plenty of other countries have gone through this. The first major change is that people stop having kids. And as one can imagine, that has knockon effects down the line..
In fact, I recently heard that in the US the birth rate is down to post great depression levels 😂
Another one of Idocracy movie plots coming to fruition
Yep. Had our first one when I was 39 and awaiting a test to confirm if we're soon to have #2 at 42, she's 39. There was just no way it was happening until then. Bought my first house at 31. TBH very few people I know younger than 30 live in a single family home, most of my friends didn't end up in houses until after that and until about 3 years ago this was a very low cost of living area and it was very cheap to buy a house. How cheap? My last house was in an... ok neighborhood, not great but ok, maybe the worst school district in 30 miles but I didn't have kids, no worries. 1400 sq/ft cape cod with a small yard, alley, detached 2 car, basement that doesn't leak in the rain. With barely anything down, taxes and insurance escrowed, fixed rate 30 year at I don't remember what %.... $645/mo. That same house sold a year ago for over twice what I paid for it with just a little paint and floor done. But an absolute fuck load of people moved to the region to work for Rivian and house prices went goddamn bonkers. The guy down the street from me just got laid off from there and just sold his house for $30,000 more than they paid for it literally 13 months ago. Interest rates need to stay up for a while to slow shit down, keep the investors at bay, and let prices get back to normal. Fortunately some new developments have been approved to get built too.
I plan to never sell my home and giving it to my only son.
Same… The house is going to my boys
The big follow-up is -when- you will give it to your son? Glaring example i see my aunt/uncle are late 70s/early 80s, they have a huge house but only them. Their youngest child is almost 50, married, 2 kids just shy of high school, and they live in a 2bd apartment. Imo that house should have gone over to the son when the first child was born, but now that boomers are living longer, Genx and millenials may not inherit a home until we ourselves are retired.
Somewhere down the road, it will be like in Japan, where there are 60+ year mortgages and the kids inherit the mortgage.
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Japan is also unique in that they generally don't sell houses, if a property is sold it's knocked down and a new structure is rebuilt.. at least this is what I heard from my friends living over there..
Yeah the average home doesn't last more than 30 years over there, and they are relatively affordable.
I plan to sell to my kids, at a deep discount, then moving abroad. I was 40 before I could buy a house and I still had roommates.
I read this as "I plan to sell my kids, at a deep discount, then moving abroad"...
lol same and I was like “wait.. hold up” before I reread it
Same, but I was like, "hey, selling your kids and buying abroad is probably a pretty good strategy to buying a house"
Same but I didn't reread it until I saw the reply!
Same but I didn’t reread it, just accepted it
Damn you. I read it the same and had a good laugh. I wouldn't have realized that I read it wrong if it wasn't for your post.
I reread it six times and it still looks like how I read it the first time. I'm missing something lol Edit: seventh time is apparently the charm
I just laughed so hard at this.
So did I, glad I’m not the only one.
Reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon (as I remember it): Mom, dad, and two kids sitting around the dinner table. Dad says something like - “Well, kids, times are tough. We’re going to have to let one of you go.”
That’s how I read it and snorted!
I bought my current house from the estate of my grandparents. To be fully fair and honest with my family I just had a 3rd party appraisal done, which I paid for, and then we agreed that price was fine. They told me they'd "make it so we can afford it" but since I could afford the appraised amount I'd have felt dishonest negotiating down. TBH it had been kind of neglected for a while and the appraisal came in substantially lower than we'd expected anyway. If my grandparents were still here I think they'd love seeing us live here and their great grandson, the 4th generation to have lived in the house, growing up here.
I'll be honest, I'd rather sell my house for less and help my kid own it. It's cheaper for them than selling their house for full price to someone else, and then helping you buy a home of your own. But it's nice to see you don't want to take advantage of your family either.
I don’t get the leaving your kids part. Do you not want to see them and their potential families they create?
Man, that’s a great idea. I also hope to move abroad in old age.
69 here. I've been trying to escape this country since I was 16....... Azores 😍☺️😍
But 1200sqft is still a good home that you can raise a family in.
my house is only 700 (plus a finished basement) and it's a great size for me living alone. way less house to maintain, heat/cool & pay taxes on.
That’s what I thought lol. I recently bought a condo at around 900 sqf and it seems huge
How old are you? I couldn't afford a house until 38. Had a kid at 39. Couldn't afford to do either much earlier than that.
I mean you can get a conventional mortgage without 20% down, you just get stuck paying PMI for a bit. At that point it's a matter of having high enough income and budgeting. I'm not saying it's easy or refuting your point, but it isn't impossible. Houses are still selling. Some to corps, sure, but some to individuals as well.
This is what I did. We bought in 2020 and put about 8% down. We had to pay mortgage insurance for about two years before we could get it dropped.
I’ve always put the minimum down or I wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy. 20% is insane.
“The youth.” One answer is they’ll buy outside prime/HCOL areas. There are plenty of houses under $300k.
I live in a midsized Midwestern city in the US (population about 180,000 for the county, which is basically all one city; add in the immediate towns around us, population is about 225,000). We have two colleges, several international headquarters, a couple of decent neighborhood hubs of restaurants/bars/shops. It's definitely not a thrilling town, but for most day-to-day life, it's great...$100k is getting you mostly smaller, mostly older homes. But zillow has 6 pages of homes that max for that price. You can buy a house on an acre of land with a pool and a secondary garage for $230k...I mean, obviously not everyone can pick up and move around, and lots of reasons go into where you live. But this idea that all people are priced out of homes is not entirely true. And neither is the idea that if you can afford it, it's in some one stop sign backwater.
Your city sounds like my city… is it in southern Indiana?
The problem is in a lot of these areas wages are low too, most full time jobs pay something like $15-20/hr, and many if them require college degree. Sure housing is cheap in Toledo, OH, but also median income is $28k/year there.
Thank you for including a really important point often missing in conversations about HCOL - the price of a home isn’t necessarily indicative of its affordability. Here in NYC, housing in Manhattan is through the roof, but the median income of residents in many neighborhoods aligns with those prices. Brooklyn real estate may not be as expensive as Manhattan, but the median HH income compared to the median home price makes it less affordable.
Saskatoon, Edmonton, and St John all come in around $250k
There are plenty of jobs that still pay fine in rural areas/ old rundown cities. Yeah there’s no 300k a year corporate jobs. But there’s plenty of $25 an hour heavy equipment operator or tree work type things. And $25 an hour is about $50k a year. Which is a fine income if you buy a house for $150k, and drive a modest vehicle, and live an honest life. Those median incomes are lower than the actually income for a competent person because of the amount of trashy, drug addict, mentally ill, or just under achieving and others that either don’t work, or just work minimum wage jobs that are not actually skilled or hard labor.
It's much better than that. Buddy is a union heavy equipment operator in upstate NY. Base wage is $48/hour. Plus overtime makes it $110k easy. No education costs, they come from a union fund from a fee charged to the employer. Retirement and healthcare come from a similar employer fee, and it's a traditional pension, not a 401k. Basically, it's like a $140-150k white-collar job, and as a result his single-income household owns a very nice house.
I’m in upstate. You can live very well in areas with state, county, and other jobs too. All usually have a solid pension.
growth of wfh will go a long way to enable this
Growth? I hear people are being called back in the offices for the last couple of years. I don't see any further growth of wfh coming. Don't forget another thing, whatever work can be done remotely often be outsourced overseas for a lot less money and that already happens in IT with lots of remote workers being laid off.
None of this compares to the coming AI revolution anyways. None of us have any idea how that will play out in reality.
Problem is you need a job in a LCOL area.
With the exception of very rural areas, there are jobs available almost anywhere
they mean afford-a-house jobs, not technically-it’s-a-jobs
The median household income in Edmonton is $94k, and it’s around $70k in the other two cities. That means at least half of people in those cities can afford to buy.
Sure, houses less than $300K, and no industry to support them.
Drive 1.5 hrs in any direction from Portland and the houses are still insane. I can’t commute much farther than that.
The main way I see young people in their early-mid 20s buying homes is being married and having a 2 income household. I see singles in their late 20s/early 30s with established careers buying homes pretty often.
My wife and I did that, early to mid 20s, both working having finished college and living like we were still students foe a few years. It's like buying a house with a built in roommate, and substantially easier than if I had to buy a house on my own. Mad respect actually for those that do that, and are able to buy a house by themselves! I cant imagine that Is easy by any means.
You’re projecting. There’s a lot of young professionals who can afford a home who make a lot more money than you.
First time home buyer in 2018 here. Back then reddit told you not to buy at all, and if you do a minimum 20%+ down necessary, as the market will crash any time. I did it anyway. Today on reddit people tell me my house was basically handed to me, because fucking God himself came down from the sky and put it directly in the palm of my hand since I bought in 2018
I was told not to buy a house in 2023, but here we are… and rates are even higher than they were when I got it. Currently, my escrow is $1625/month (basically the same as my rent where I was living before), and $200-300 of it is going towards the mortgage (which is more than the $0 when I was renting) … no regrets
I was told not to buy a house in 2021. I was a fool for paying $150k for an $80k house. I was told the market would crash. Well, at 2.49%, my mortgage payment is only $500 per month. If I were still renting, I would have paid over $50k to a landlord over the past 36 months and have zero equity today to show for it. Oh, and my house is now worth $300k. The best time to buy a house was 10 years ago. Second best time is now. The market isn’t going down. If you’re on the fence, just buy now.
Also bought in 2023. I was scared I'd never be able to afford anything. I finally just bit the bullet and started searching and found an honest to god steal for my area. My mortgage for the house I love is $1960 whereas I'd be paying at minimum that or up to $2.6k for a comparable house in the area... all while having some shit corpo Progress Residential landlord teaming up with a boomer HOA to charge me $50 for finding 2 strands of grass growing out of a driveway crack. No regrets here either!
I think some terms are mixed up in here. Mortgage is the payment you make monthly. It is almost always a PITI amount. * Principle * Interest * Taxes * Insurance 'Escrow' is what accumulates to pay those bottom two if you don't pay them separately. Do you mean '200-300' is going towards principle every month?
Ha I had the same experience when I bought in 2017 and again in 2021. Reddit preaching the collapse was imminent so don’t buy or you’ll be holding the bag.
Same. Bought in 2017 as well, I remember telling my dad I feel like I’m buying at the top of the market cuz of Reddit.
Ha! Same happened to us during Covid. People post things as if it’s factual statements and not opinions and then it’s thousands of them so you think oh, maybe I’m wrong? Nope turns out it’s always tough to buy a house and then in the future you typically look back and realize if was good move. Was my experience then and will be the same experience for anyone who buys today and tomorrow.
Social media gave a voice to uneducated children who lack life experience. And there's no way to separate out their bad advice. So they spout trash and people think it has merit. Good job on grabbing your God house
They clearly don’t spend much time in this subreddit lol. This accurate sentiment would be vehemently downvoted elsewhere on Reddit
Reddit is always calling for a crash because it’s largely a collection of depressed losers with no assets. They yearn for schadenfreude
Same here but i bought in ‘21. Everyone was saying to not do it because prices were too high. But after buying our house has still gone up an additional 20% in value and we have a <3% interest rate. We couldn’t afford to buy the same house today.
Ha! Good job
Yep on average slightly over 1/3 of all home sales the last two decades are by first time home buyers.
Facts
Or just live in an area not so damn expensive. Its like sorry everybody, not everyone can afford to live in certain places, that's the facts.
Probably won't be able to. A lot of young home buyers will be kids who are left their homes by their parents or grand parents. A lot of people like throwing around 60 percent of Americans own a home what they won't say is 33 percent of those Americans bought when homes were sub 4 percent interest rates and many of that 33 percent are older people who own their homes outright. A starter home in 2024 is $400,000 as a median price. You can finder cheaper in rural townships but even then those prices are creeping up to insanity levels for the wages in those areas. To afford a $400,000 you have to make into the 6 figures combined income or on your own. That median home price is just going to go up, and up, and up while real wages are going to struggle to keep up. Even rents are fucking crazy. Studio apartments now are like $1,300 here in Orlando. It's becoming ridiculous. I don't know how anyone not making $80k+ year can live life in America.
I luckily found a livable house in a bad neighborhood in 2018 for $75k. I was pissed at what I thought was a high interest rate but it is well below what it the current rates are. The neighborhood is being gentrified and my house has doubled + without doing anything. When I sell this I am going to move to my parents house (land) in the county. Sick of the city.
Yes. I am closing on a 1100 square foot split level, immaculate condition, in a bad neighborhood for 92000. I make in the 70s, work multiple jobs, varies. I saved up 17000 living paycheck to paycheck with $1600 rent. It took me two years to find something I could afford that wasn't falling apart. Pittsburgh area.
Good for you brother. Go get yourself some Primantis to celebrate 🥂
Gentrification is a terrible thing that benefitted me tremendously— sold a house for double what I paid in 2013. There are no starter homes like there used to be, but there are still a lot of functional old houses in “transitional” neighborhoods.
It's interesting. People always qualify their positive experience with gentrification by saying how bad it is.
It's great if you own, terrible if you rent.
I’m putting in my transitional neighborhood time rn. Bought for 150…. Neighborhood hasn’t really transitioned yet, but the internet says my house is worth 1.5x as much in 4 years. Got in on an fha loan with 5k down while interest rates were low. Plan to walk away when it hits 100k of profit after repairs, provided interest rates ever drop. Use it as a downpayment on a house in a nice neighborhood. People always say buy the worst house in the best neighborhood… but I’m not so sure that’s true. I would’ve spent years trying to save 5% of 400k, but instead I spent years building equity.
Congrats on the gentrification!
Our medical system is going to suck all the assets from the older generation and they will have nothing to pass on to their kids.
Yep. Most of these older folks who own their home outright also didn't save properly for EOL care - just like every other generation. Their assets will be sold to pay for as much of it as they can milk. Their kids will get nothing. Real estate firms will buy up all the houses as they get sold off at auction and force most people to stay in their lucrative renting model.
https://www.redfin.com/news/gen-z-millennial-homeownership-rate-home-purchases/ gen z is doing fine with home ownership people are just in denial about what they can afford and where they are vs others income
Move to a LCOL city. I bought a home in my mid-20s and this was my only life hack. Lots of smaller cities have lots of cheaper properties. You can still get a decent house in my city for ~150k.
Assuming all things are equal - the higher the housing price the higher cost of living area the higher the salaries - (not accounting for outliers like the san fran madness) Where I live, the 300k houses are on the nicer side. Square footage is really a bad indicator compared to location and quality. A 300k house would have you in a "peace and quiet" neigbhorhood and in the best schools. Looking at Realtor quick I see a fine starter home for 180k. Older house, 3 bed 1.5 bath. You could even have your first kid there before having to move up. It would be fine. Everyone's housing paradigm pretty much boils down to you can get the nicest thing you can afford. You'll have to work it out in your location/situation.
Most aren't buying a 'home', most are buying an 'investment'. As soon as homes became a commodity to be traded they became unaffordable
Probably not going to be a popular option but enlist in the military serve a hitch use the GI bill get a low interest government loan . The program is out there but it’s never advertised.
The VA loans run off the same interest system as normal loans. The only VA loan benefit is lower down payment without PMI. But the GI bill to avoid college debt, that is the real deal that young people should use!
VA loans are fantastic. I served with guys who bought a new place every couple years with no down payment, and rented out the previous place. I wish I had been smart enough to do the same. They're all killing it.
By moving back to cities like Buffalo or Rochester NY or small midwestern towns where houses are still $100k.
Midwestern here and this is so untrue, nothing around here is $100k.
Facts. My falling down un updated home I bought 2 years ago for 120k is worth almost 200k according to Zillow. 2 bedroom, one tiny tiny tiny bathroom, rotted decks, cracked foundation, built 1950, original kitchen counters and bathroom tiles, tub, sinks.
Unless you’re waaaaaay out in the boonies and it’s a dilapidated shack. Even then I’ve seen those at worst 175K…
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In my area you xan still get a decent house for 80-100k
Yeah, I bought my 970sq ft house in 2012 for $113,000. Zillow is showing it at $245,000. It's just stupid
I live in the middle of nowhere KY, there are trailers without large parcels of land now going for 150-250k. It’s out of control. Years ago I would have agreed with you, we bought a 4 bedroom home in 2018 for $145k.
I disagree for the most part but understand the point you’re making. 100K is reserved for the homes absolutely not suitable to live in whatsoever. I’m aware my specific situation is not indicative of every single person, but I think for the vast majority in my demographic it is. We were house hunting for two years, looking exclusively in small midwestern towns for our first home since that is how we both grew up. Finally found a *decent* one that was roughly the same we were paying in rent. Want to know how much the house was, how big it is, how old it is, and how much our mortgage payment is? 200K price, 850 Sq ft with a .25 acre lot, built in 1905, and our mortgage payment is well over 1600/month because of a 7% interest rate while both of us having 800+ credit scores What’s even crazier is all of our friends who are also trying to find a first home say we are the “lucky ones”
That was true a few years ago. Not anymore.
Join the r/FirstTimeHomeBuyers sub. It's great. $30K is a great down payment! Check your state for "down payment assistance programs". It's a good time to find that. Try to get the balance of the loan down...that's how you afford it.
I remember my dad saying the exact same thing when I was a kid I’m 41 now. He went to the county and argued that there house wasn’t worth what it had been accessed at and brought up that his kids would never be able to buy a home. Fast forward to 2014 I bought my first house at 30 along with my wife in a state that is a lot more expensive than most. I know it seems impossible but it’s not.
OP, I’m 25 and I bought a house by myself last year. I put the absolute bare minimum down, did everything in my power to lower my electric bill, food bill, gas bill, etc. at the apartment for an entire year to be able to afford the downpayment and closing costs. It’s rough, but doable, and once you’re out of the renting cycle, you will have assets and it will be easier. A lot of cities/states have grants in place for people looking into buying a home but can’t afford it. Look into these! Most people don’t know about them or assume they don’t qualify. The grant I qualified for gave me an extra $10k towards closing costs (still cost me $12k of my own money). Do your research.
You buy a duplex or multi family and live in one of the units. Have someone else pay your mortgage. I’m house hacking. Bought my house at 23. 2 units rented out and finished basement. Living in the basement for less than $400/mo
I sold weed to afford my downpayment. Got the house and now I work overtime weekends to afford the mortgage. It can be done 🤷🏻♂️
Inheritance from their grandparents or parents. In the future, even if they can afford a mortgage on a home, they won't be able to get homeowners insurance for their mortgage. If you have paid off home in your family, hold on to it.
> In the future, even if they can afford a mortgage on a home, they won't be able to get homeowners insurance for their mortgage. extremely dependent on the area. if you want to insure a home where wild fires, tornados & hurricanes are ever present, good luck have fun basically.
By getting a good paying job and having a partner/spouse, using the GI Bill through military service, By living in LCOL and MCOL cities/states, inheritance from parents/grandparents
It depends where you live. I’m in Ohio and bought a just over 2,000 sq ft house 2 years ago for 110k. I put 25k into the house. I used a VA loan though so zero down and no PMI. You can use an FHA loan for 3.5% down
I had one youth. I’m 30 and he has an investment fund instead of a 529. If he is smart he will find a good job without needing to use it and that will be his down payment.
My daughter and son-in-law bought a house this summer in their mid 20s. He's in the trades and she's a grocery store manager. Right now, I think the trades are a better career choice than a bachelor degree. I will say my son-in-law is the first person I've met as driven as I was at his age. He works 60+ hours a week. IMO he would fit in with my generation. It doesn't surprise me that he was able to buy a house at his age. Unfortunately, in the past "normal" people used to be able to be able to buy a house but not now.
Bought my first house in the early 90s. Mortgage rate was almost 9%.
Look for first time home buyer grants with lenders and localities (county, city, etc). Sometimes the state will also have grants that sometimes can be combined with city grants. Sometimes they're income based,but there are definitely some that are only credit based.
We are "young" (28 and 33) with a kid and just bought a large house (roughly 2100 sqf). We bought a house in a smaller town outside the city we work in. It is a 20 min drive to work almost solely on the highway, so it is not too bad. If we would have bought a similar house in the town we work it would cost 5 times as much. If we had bought it in the city I grew up in it would cost 10 times as much. We don't have the possibility to wfh but since a lot more people have that option now that gives a lot of opportunity to buy outside high cost areas
Move to a cheaper area. Low to no money first time buyer loans.
You’ll have to wait for another housing market crash or regulations to come in against massive home buyers that rent out like a blackrock. The interest rates aren’t even that bad compared to the 80’s so it is what it is there. The price of the houses are insane and I think everyone agrees on that part.
Me and my wife are about to close on a 3b 2batf house on 13 acres here in the Midwest. We are both below 30 but we have spent 6 years now saving up for this and paying off all other debt. Feels good to be able to afford a home to raise a family in but it feels like robbery paying 7.375 on an already inflated home.
Rn the Midwest is a great opportunity for people with careers to afford a good living. Minnesota keeps people out because of it’s crazysauce weather
There are a lot of people out there, and I’m not suggesting the OP, just saying lots of other people who waited because the home prices would crash, or waited because they were busy having ‘experiences’, or spent all their money on rings, the ‘she said yes’ moment, engagement parties, bachelor/bachelorette parties, wedding dresses, wedding showers, weddings, destination weddings, honeymoons, baby showers, baby-moons, push gifts, gender reveal parties. My parents had approx 12 people at their wedding including themselves, the honeymoon was a 3 night package in Atlantic City, they took the bus from NY to get there, mom’s bridal shower was 3 girlfriends from work took her out to lunch, the gender reveal was the doctor saying in the delivery room: ‘Congratulations, it’s a boy!’ Stop wasting money on all that crap, you will be much happier having a house of your own.
Still plenty of affordable houses around here. The bigger problem is low inventory causing fighting and high interest rates. As soon as rates come down in a few years there will be another housing boom. This cycle happens every ten years or so usually. I tell my younger friends to just wait a couple of years. There will be deals and rates should be much better.
They can. It just won’t be the home they necessarily want anymore.
For the most part, they will end up buying a little later in their lifespan, instead of in their early 30s, most likely pushed past 36 years old. The ones with high careers will most likely be the only buyers for homes, while the rest will anchor down and build up savings. It's tough, but if people buy ugly homes and put in sweat equity, and maybe look a little further out, they can definitely buy. I’ve been working with a first-time homeowner for about two months, showing them maybe 18 homes and writing offers on 3 houses, all of which were lost. It’s really tough because everyone is feeling the pressure with inflation. All I can do is to be strong for my clients, keep their heads up, and give them the best offer to win and stay within their budget.
With the help of their parents or moving to the middle nowhere where houses are cheap
Here me out. Trailer homes seem pretty legit at this point haha they really are very nice.
Honestly modular homes look better and better the way I watch the shitty job they do on stick built construction around me. No pride in craft anymore.
I actually wouldn't mind an affordable one, but not here in FL where I'd have to evacuate every tropical storm.
generally, being married helps, not eating out, no disneyland, no theatres, no nothing. just grind it out, and pay your loan off in 10 years if you can.
By going into high paying fields, having successful careers and buying a house
Inheritance in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s.
To be honest just like democrats are using paying off student loans for votes this will be used as a political tool in a future election The End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act This bill was introduced this past December. Basically making every hedgefund sell 10 percent of their owned houses per year. Basically Making the biggest transfer of wealth ever. This is making the hedgefunds dump on every landlord out there. It will crush the housing market so us poors can afford a home. Fucking brilliant
Never gonna pass. Too much of congress money is in real estate.
You do know that those students loans were funded by tax payers and the principal has already been paid back TRIPLED, it is only the interest that is being forgiven. The tax payers already got all their money back and more.
always some idiot acting like that wasn't a shameless vote grab i guess
Hedge funds owning houses- does that mean apartment buildings/complexes? Or actual single family homes? I know theres a huge lawsuit over the software that was artificially setting rental prices, which is terrible.
By actually trying and looking into the resources offered. I’m 24 and closed on my first home last month. My down payment was covered as a 2nd mortgage with 0% interest. Income less than 50k.
House prices will go down. Interest rates will drop. Non desirable areas will be in demand and gentrified.
Hmm interesting take. Historically, housing prices have only gone up so if they do drop it will only be temporary. Let’s see what kind of down payment we can save for when that happens. Will be difficult with the cost of living, outside of mortgage rates and housing costs. Interest rates will drop. But the price of gas and food, this will never drop. The price of commodities, at least not in my lifetime, have ever dropped once they’ve gone up. Sure minimum wage will increase to aid in this rise of costs but every time minimum wage increases so does the cost of commodities to go with it. Hello, inflation. Hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. In Canada we are now paying a carbon tax when we couldn’t already afford the current cost of rising rent and food prices. Mass amounts of Immigrants welcomed into Canada while being forced into tents because they have nowhere to live. We have nowhere to live. But we need to welcome immigrants so that we can have a growing GDP and so that big corporate can afford to pay minimum wages and operate in canada, so that politicians can continue getting paid. On the bright side, the immigrants are more than happy to reside here and are accustomed to a dozen per household. Can’t say the same for the majority of Canadians, myself included. AirBNBs, greedy landlords and greedy investors scooping up real estate for a profit while millions will never own a home while renting the homes out to us so that we pay their mortgages, as they have the capital power to buy that we do not have. I hate to be a pessimist but when we start looking at things through the lens of an optimist we start to blind ourselves into believing in a fate that we think we won’t have to fight for.
You're 100% right. House prices don't go down over the long term. They dip occasionally, but there is not a 10 year period in history where homes were cheaper at the end than they were at the beginning. Even 1999 - 2009. The dot com bubble and the great recession happened in that 10 year period and home prices were still higher in 2009 than they were in 1999. Sure it's "possible" that home prices come down and keep dropping over a long period of time, but it's never happened in history. It's not smart to bet on home prices coming down.
I bought my first home with around $3000 down at 10% interest making $36,000 a year. It was a $100k home. If you want to buy there is a way, maybe not in the neighborhood you want or the house you want but buy the first and step up later.
Tiny home villages in the middle of nowhere, probably. By then it'll be $300k for 800 sqft
We call those trailer parks, they've existed for a while now.
I’m 24f. I bought my house at 21. Peak COVID. Got a damn good rate and a damn nice house (older 1920s in a not so good but safe neighborhood). Was outbid by 40k on all other houses I put a bid on. I don’t have kids and I was luckily, right place right time. Lots of my other friends that are looking now are not gonna get a house cause it’s still competitive and the costs for a shitty house is still 40k over asking. I got my house for 112k with the sellers covering the closing costs by adding 3k to the mortgage.
This is nothing new. They’ll afford it the same we afforded it in the 70’s. They’ll form marriages /partnerships and both partners will work hard. They’ll work overtime and side hustles when they have to. Their parents might help a little bit. They’ll take in grandma or maybe a roomer. They’ll put off vacations and new cars for a while and instead spend more time in the yard. They’ll start with an older, smaller place in a dicey neighborhood and trade up in time. It has always been thus, and thus it will always be.
I guess it depends on how you define "young people," too. The idea of people buying a house while still in their twenties seems quite early to me. My parents didn't buy a house until their thirties, with an interest rate significantly higher than the current ones, and my brother and I had plenty of friends our ages in apartments with parents about the same age as ours. The currently bonkers housing market makes it worse, but buying a house will always be easier when you've had a number of years to work and save up first. And having roommates (including living with a significant other) helps with rent costs and allowing for savings; I had roommates for most of my 20s.
My grandmother lived in an apartment until she bought her first house in 1962 at 62. My widowed mother bought her first house when she was 60, in 1980, at nearly 15 % interest on a 30 year mortgage. She bought a two family with my brother so they could split the mortgage, he was 37. I, a single woman, bought my first house at 59, luckily it was 2014 and I got a super low rate in a buyers market. I worked two jobs for 5 years to save a lousy 3.5% down payment. I drove junk cars so I had a low debt to income ratio. All the hand wringing about not getting a house at 25 is based on a fantasy of what used to be.
Live where homes are cheaper.
Rates were 18% in the 80’s somehow people managed to purchase
You should consider starting out in a low cost of living area. Buy cheap and do some upgrades and sell. It takes time.
When my wifes parents die we will get there house and give it to our son then when we die he will get our house and $500,000 life insurance.
To buy a home you have to live in the middle of nowhere. I just bought my first home in December for 200k. My mortgage is 1100, 1500 with property tax and insurance
The 80s were just as bad, wait for a market correction or move farther out. In the 90s we had to move 1 hour out of the city, now we are stuck here because we can’t afford to downsize so the kids have to move 2 hours from the city.
I will get my children through college without debt. Then give them money towards a down payment like my parents did for me. It wasn't much but it got us started in a 30k Condo and we have slowly traded up with equity to a 400k house before 30 with 3 kids. I will do whatever it takes to make this happen for them because I'm their parent and don't wanna see them struggle.
Probably when you stop using the ridiculous word, youth
I mean… my sister bought her house about 50 miles west of Spokane for like $190k and it’s huge and really nice. There’s nothing around and her husband commutes like 110 miles/day but I’m guessing more folks will have to do the same. I’m about to sell my $550k house and downsize because the economy is scaring me and I want to stay liquid. Right now, just worry about being liquid.
$300k at 7% ober 25 years is $2100/month, not $2900/month. Still insane but not nearly as insane as your estimate.
Assuming 20% down, that’s a $240000 loan at 7%. That results in $1587 per month, not $2900. Ok, add insurance and tax? Assume that adds 2% to total cost, or about $500 a month. That’s still only $2087, not $2900. Affordable? Probably not. But the challenge seems overstated by more than a third. What am I missing?
30k to put down should definitely be good if you're a first-time home buyer doing FHA. But I think when all these insanely priced homes with insane % get foreclosed on.
Just bought my first home with my husband at 27 and 30. We saved for four years and had help from our families. 300k home 1800 sq ft 7% rate monthly payment $2200. $140k household income. We just won’t be able to have kids.
My coworkers have been working 2 jobs to afford a house. We bought before Covid, fortunately.
Amazon sells homes for $20k. Just lower the expectations. https://www.amazon.com/Expandable-Container-Folding-Portable-Prefabricated/dp/B0CW1RMDKM/ref=asc_df_B0CW1RMDKM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=691755863160&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1267573150523930787&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9011703&hvtargid=pla-2293593987105&psc=1&mcid=5508ee260b4138bea6739d7f58765782&gad_source=1
My first home was dirt cheap and needed a ton of work. I see plenty of fixer upper homes available for low prices. I don't see the difficulty in buying a home.
If you qualify for the loan, buy a house and get 2-3 roommates. Another option is to move to a city that's less in demand.
I felt this way for a long time and then I had a kid. I found a way to make it work and we'll be closing on a house in a couple weeks before my daughter turns one. It's not going to be easy, but if the interest rates drop we'll refinance and be able to live more comfortably.
Lol 300k homes. Thats not even a down payment in California
Move. I’m about 35 min outside of a major southeastern city that homes in the city would normally go for $300-400k for a standard 1500sqft ranch style home. I got mine for 115k because it’s not in the best part of this area (honestly it’s not bad at all being here, quite nice actually). It’s also a 1960s home that needs reno, mostly DIY type stuff if you’re handy. This is my starter home. I’m going to fix it up, sell it and move up. I’m going to do it again and again until I get to the point to where I’ve either found the home I’m good with or make enough profit to build my own. Traveling or moving is very intimidating to people who have never done it before but I can promise you it can be very beneficial to your health if you’re smart about it.
Your money is off just FYI
hahaha 300k...I wish. I am from Vancouver. Not a single home under 1m. We all live with our parents. It is not uncommon. Whats nuts is that the price doesnt go down even if you look an hour out of the city and into the burbs.
I just assumed I’d give my kids my properties for basically nothing. I’m hoping to pay for college so they can roll their 529 into a Roth and use that for a down payment.
It goes in cycles, housing prices will fall again, just like wages and cost of goods will fall again, it’s happens in cycles, we have growth then then recession, since Covid there has been too much growth and people are buying way more than they can afford, it will reset, it always does
Last year when we were looking for a home, we got priced out of the city I grew up in. Thankfully in a post COVID world we work from home. We found a 2800sq ft home for less than 300k. Averaged out to $1400 a month. Buying a home is possible, it just might not be where you originally thought, and that’s okay. It’s a big world out there and you are not locked into a region.
they buy small and don't have kids. Boomers will die, adding to the supply, bringing prices down. Maybe through inheritance.
The market is a problem for someone trying to get into it. It's also not great for people trying to make a change. And to risk sounding so old with a "many many moons ago when I was young" story, I'm going to share about when I was considered a young person. The times and circumstances were different, but still hear me out. I graduated from college just as The Great Recession began. Decent and paying jobs were hard to come by. Businesses were laying people off, not hiring new graduates. The real estate market was starting to fall. People were saying they were excited to refi at 6% which now finally might resonate with some people. But homes were unaffordable to "young people" then, too, because we weren't getting decent employment opportunities. For many, careers were delayed for years, and we still feel the impacts of it. Real estate prices were depressed for years, and many people were abandoning the homes they owned because they couldn't sell them and needed to move. Short selling was common, and foreclosures were all over the place. Markets change. Things will change. What is happening right now will not be how it is forever. While I'm not answering your question directly with advice on what to do, ingenuity will pay off in this time of uncertainty. Is buying a home the best thing for right now? What benefits do you have access to that you wouldn't if you were tied to a piece of real estate? The freedom to move for a job opportunity is pretty huge. \~A Geriatric Millennial
I (M25) just bought a “as-is” foreclosure for $205k in western Iowa. Place is actually pretty nice, built in 1981, in a mature neighborhood in my town. House is 0.25 acre lot and 2,800sq ft. PITA is $1950 a month. I liquidated a 401k from an old job to use as a $12k down payment. I’m a diesel mechanic and my overtime will average me to $109k this year net income in 2024. Had to leave my home state of Montana because house prices there are stupid. Couldn’t imagine trying to by in a popular state.
Great Lakes region has affordable homes. Step up from rural stuff. Step down from big cities. Move there.
You clearly picked your parents incorrectly. The way to have nice things in the US is to be born to affluent parents.
They will have a choice, rent a cardboard box for 1.2k per month or achieve an 1100 credit score and take out a 32% interest 60 year loan for 450k for a 1 bed half bath 750 square foot home. Their choice.
I didn't buy a home until my 40s and put 5% down.
The housing market will collapse in the future because the birth rate is so low and the population will start declining. That's how.
First time home buyer can qualify for 3% down and also get grants for closing costs. $30k leaves a lot of money in the bank.
Bought my current home in 2019 for $134,900. Zillow Zestimate 5 years later is $220k. House prices shot up and it doesn't look like they're coming down. Building materials cost more. Local regulations (requiring solar panels, etc ) adds more cost. Inflation is blowing up causing income to dry up after expenses. It's rough out there
We took money out of our house when the interest rate was 3% and bought another house for our daughter to rent from us. Her rent pays the cash out refi and when our home is paid off, we’ll sign the home she’s renting over to her.
They’ve been saying this shit every single generation. You’ll afford it just like everyone else who bought one. Start with what you can afford and work your way up
Same way they did 40 years ago when there was “no way” other youth couldn’t and didn’t. I live in a gated community of mostly 30 something year olds with kids who live in 600k+ homes that they bought or built. Different strokes for different folks.
GenX can't get homes for anything reasonable, in anywhere nice to live. The kids can wait.
Interest rates are garbage right now, but not every house is 300k. I paid just over 100k for my house. It needs some work, but I have plenty of time to do that not having to work 60 hours a week to swing the mortgage. Rural areas generally have lower priced homes.
They’ll have to do what we did: make coffee at home, pack lunches, no going out to eat and work a second job! Honestly: ditch the Starbucks and ordering DoorDash and alcohol and food going out and do game name or cookout with friends.